What's a painter's day rate in Sussex?

Between £250 and £300. Some large contractors may charge a bit more, but most of the decorators in the area work in pairs of two, so we have few large companies and they tend to do more commercial work. But for the average decorator serving the domestic market in Sussex you can expect to pay between £250 and £300.

Hallway Stairs and Landing

That being said it is important to point out that many professional decorators don't work on a day rate. Instead they prefer a fixed price or a quote, as that means the customer knows exactly how much a project should cost and there is less chance for potential disputes. Don't get me wrong the quote is still largely based on what the day rate is, and that's why it is relevant, but it gives the customer a fixed price which is not as misleading as a day rate charge. You may be asking yourself, why are day rates misleading? So let me paint a picture (no pun intended) say you hire a decorator on day rate and you think the job should take three days to complete, but it takes five. You'd feel ripped off, even if the decorator hadn't tried to do so, they just did the job following all preparation requirements as they should. That usually is a problem that comes from the lack of proper communication, and not managing expectations right. That's why professionals prefer to work on fixed price, it's just easier for everyone!

Let's talk about numbers! What does it cost to have a room decorated? This is a very difficult question to answer because it depends on so many things, but I'll do my best to give you an idea of the cost associated with a painting project.

Double Bedroom

• Double bedroom - £500/£700 (including materials)

• Large Living Room - £800/£1200 (including materials)

• Kitchen/Bathroom - £300/£400 (including materials)

• Hallway Stairs and Landing - £1200/£1600 (including materials)

These are some average prices, not very cheap, not very expensive either. Now let's talk about what affects those prices;

• Preparation, this is the most important step, unfortunately is the one that nobody sees in the finished product! This could sometimes take two thirds of the whole project, and if you get it right things will look lovely, but it's very time consuming! What is the preparation? Usually filling, sanding, priming etc. Some jobs require more preparation than other, hence why there might be a price difference for the decorating of two seemingly identical rooms.

• Size of the room. That is more or less self explanatory, so I won't be yapping about it.

• Materials used. Farrow and Ball paints are about double to the cost of Dulux paints, so depending on your choice of materials the price is affected accordingly.

• Amount of woodwork in the room. A bedroom with four doors two paint will cost more than the same size bedroom that only has one door. Same goes for windows, skirting boards, shelves etc. Woodwork takes a little bit more work to paint properly, because it needs to be prepared (rubbed down and filled) then one or several undercoats need to be applied, and only after that can be top coated.

These are some guides as to what you can expect to pay for a painter and decorator in 2025, I hope you have found the information useful. Before I forget let me just mention that a professional decorator is also hanging wallpaper which is something I have intentionally not mentioned here, as I am going to write blog specifically on that later!