How to price a decorating job room by room
You price a decorating job room by room. For each room, measure the walls, ceiling and woodwork, then work out the litres of wall paint and woodwork paint for your coats. Price prep and painting time at your day rate, mark up the materials, and add VAT if you are registered.
By BrushDesk. Last checked 22/10/2026.
1. Measure the room for painting
Start with the walls, which are measured in square metres (m²). Perimeter times height gives the gross wall area. The living room is 4.5 m by 3.6 m and 2.4 m high. The perimeter is 16.2 m, so the gross wall area is 38.88 m².
Then take off the openings. An internal door is 1.8 m² and a medium window is 1.5 m². This room has 1 internal door and 1 medium window, so 3.3 m² comes off. That leaves 35.58 m² of wall to paint.
The ceiling is length times width: 16.2 m².
Woodwork is measured in metres. Skirting runs the 16.2 m round the room less the 0.8 m door opening, so 15.4 m. The door adds 10 m of casings and 3.4 m² of door faces. The window adds 1 m of sill and 5 m of frame.
2. Work out how much paint you need
For wall and ceiling paint, how much you need is area times coats, divided by what a litre of that paint covers. For woodwork, BrushDesk works out the litres at a standard woodwork coverage of 15 m² a litre. Do the sum twice, because the wall paint and the woodwork paint are different tins.
With 2 coats on the walls and ceiling, the room needs 6.1 litres of Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt Magnolia. With 2 finish coats on the woodwork it needs 0.93 litres of Trade Quick Dry Satinwood.
The woodwork is priced at Trade Quick Dry Satinwood's own coverage of 16 m² a litre, which is 0.87 litres at that coverage.
Paint is priced by the litres the area needs at that paint's own coverage, not by whole tins. Dulux Trade Vinyl Matt Magnolia costs £69.42 for 10 L, so £6.94 a litre. Trade Quick Dry Satinwood costs £38.00 for 2.5 L, so £15.20 a litre.
3. Add the time
Prep is always in the price. It covers the wall area and the woodwork area at 3.75 m² an hour. In this room that is 11.35 hours.
Painting time is area times coats, divided by the rate, for the walls and ceiling (the room coats) and for the woodwork (the woodwork coats). Painting runs at 10 m² an hour on walls and 10 m² an hour on the ceiling. Linear woodwork runs at 12 m an hour and door faces at 10 m² an hour. In this room painting is 16.27 hours.
Hours are charged at your day rate divided by the hours in your day. £175 a day over 8 hours is £21.875 an hour. Prep and painting together are 27.62 hours, so the labour is £604.19.
4. Add the materials
Paint starts at list price. One materials markup of 1.5 times goes on top. It is the same markup for walls, ceiling and woodwork.
Prep materials (filler, caulk, masking tape and sandpaper) are priced the same way. They take the markup once, and the room adds no second one. In this room the materials come to £173.48.
5. Worked example
Here is the living room: 4.5 m by 3.6 m, 2.4 m high, with 1 internal door, 1 medium window, 2 coats on the walls and ceiling and 2 finish coats on the woodwork. It is the room BrushDesk's free estimator opens on.
The paint prices are list prices read on 22/10/2026. Labour is at BrushDesk's starting rates of £175 a day. Change the sizes in the estimator and the price follows.
| Walls, after doors and windows | 35.58 m² |
|---|---|
| Ceiling | 16.2 m² |
| Skirting | 15.4 m |
| Door casings | 10 m |
| Door faces | 3.4 m² |
| Window sills | 1 m |
| Window frames | 5 m |
| Wall and ceiling paint | 6.1 litres |
| Woodwork paint, at 15 m² a litre | 0.93 litres |
| Prep time | 11.35 hours |
| Painting time | 16.27 hours |
| Labour | £604.19 |
| Materials | £173.48 |
| Total before VAT | £777.67 |
| VAT at 20% | £155.53 |
| Total | £933.20 |
6. VAT
If you are VAT registered, BrushDesk adds VAT on top of the net total, unless the job falls under the domestic reverse charge. In the table VAT at 20% on £777.67 is £155.53, which makes £933.20.
The table above keeps labour and materials on two separate lines.
7. Whose rates these are
This guide is for UK painters and decorators pricing their own jobs. These are BrushDesk's starting rates, not a survey of what decorators charge. Use your own day rate, your own markup and the paint prices you actually pay.
Paint prices move, so check them against your own supplier.