How Much Does Exterior Painting Cost? UK Prices for 2026

Two decorators can walk round the same 1930s semi and come back £1,500 apart, and neither is trying it on. One has priced two days of raking out cracked pebbledash and stabilising a chalky wall. The other has priced two coats over whatever is there, and in four winters you pay again.

Below are the 2026 numbers as they appear on real quotes — per square metre, per window, per metre of fascia, plus access and three itemised examples — and the part most guides skip: what a tenant can reversibly do without risking the deposit.

Supply-and-fit, excluding VAT: a large share of UK decorators trade below the £90,000 threshold and charge none, so add 20% if your quote carries a VAT number. London and the South East run 25–35% above these bands; the North East, South Wales and Northern Ireland sit 10–20% below.

• •Mid-terrace, front elevation only (render below the sills, two or three windows, one door): £550–£1,100
• •Three-bed semi, walls and woodwork, uPVC windows so no glazing bars to cut in: £1,900–£3,200
• •Three-bed semi with timber windows and a full scaffold: £2,800–£4,200
• •Four-bed detached, render plus woodwork: £3,800–£6,500
• •Woodwork only — fascias, soffits, bargeboards, windows and doors on a semi: £850–£1,700

Nobody prices a house as one lump: they measure, apply unit rates, add access, then round. A day for one experienced decorator is £160–£220 across most of the UK and £220–£300 inside the M25. Coverage is what homeowners underestimate — smooth render takes 25–30 m² per 5 litres per coat, pebbledash 12–16 m². Work yours out with our guide to how much paint you actually need.

• •Masonry walls, prep plus two coats: £12–£18/m² on smooth render, £16–£24/m² on pebbledash
• •Timber fascias, soffits and bargeboards: £14–£22 per linear metre
• •Timber casement window, external faces only: £55–£95 each; sliding sash: £90–£150 each
• •Alloy tower £70–£130 a week; scaffold to one elevation £350–£650; full house scaffold £900–£1,600 a fortnight
• •Pavement licence for scaffolding on a public footway: £60–£180, depending on the council
• •Trade masonry paint £11–£16 a litre; exterior primer, undercoat and satin £16–£24 a litre

On a straightforward masonry repaint the split is roughly 70% labour, 18% materials, 12% access. On a Victorian frontage with sashes it swings to 80/12/8, because cutting in around glazing bars is slow and no product speeds it up.

That ratio is a useful alarm. If materials come to under 10% of a masonry quote, the paint is being thinned or the second coat is imaginary. If access is missing from a two-storey job, ask how the gable is reached — the Work at Height Regulations 2005 make full-elevation ladder work indefensible. Prep decides whether you repaint in four years or eleven — budget a day and a half on a semi — and if the old coat is lifting, fix the cause first, because peeling paint returns through fresh coats over a damp substrate.

• •Substrate: pebbledash costs 30–40% more than smooth render on the same wall area, on paint consumption alone.
• •Solid walls: a pre-1919 house needs breathable mineral or lime paint at £14–£22 a litre, not acrylic masonry. On a listed building, changing colour — or coating bare brick at all — can need listed building consent.
• •Repairs: a rotten fascia board is £25–£45 a metre to replace, blown render £45–£90/m². Neither is in a painting quote unless written down.
• •Season: April to September, surface temperature above 8–10°C, no rain forecast for six hours. October slots are cheaper for a reason.
• •Element count: render, fascias, timber windows, doors, railings and a garage door is six systems, six products, six lots of masking. The same wall area in uPVC is a two-day job.
• •Drainage: overflowing gutters stain and soak new masonry paint within a season, so get the gutters cleared and sound first.

Reconstructed from real 2026 quotes, line items as written.

• •1930s three-bed semi, Leicester — £2,400. 95 m² of pebbledash, 26 m of fascia and soffit, seven timber casements, two doors. Labour 10 man-days at £180 = £1,800; materials £305 (20 L masonry paint, stabiliser, primer, undercoat, satin, masking); alloy tower for two weeks £180. Sole trader, no VAT.
• •Victorian mid-terrace, front elevation only, Bristol — £1,340. 18 m² of render below the sills, three sashes, door and frame, cast-iron railings. Labour 4.5 man-days at £185 = £833; materials £145; one week of frontage scaffold £420, including a £75 pavement licence.
• •Four-bed detached, smooth render, Surrey — £5,150 with VAT. 180 m² of render, uPVC windows and fascias so nothing to paint there, garage and front doors only. Labour 12 man-days at £235 = £2,820; materials £410; two weeks of full scaffold £1,060. Subtotal £4,290, plus 20% VAT.

Unauthorised redecoration is one of the commonest deductions the deposit schemes adjudicate, and a front door in a shade the landlord did not choose is an easy claim for them to win. Even repainting in the identical colour needs an email saying yes; if permission comes, name the exact product and shade and photograph the original first. What works instead is soft-wash and swap — reversible, nothing drilled, £60–£140 and half a Saturday. The indoor equivalent is in our rental-friendly decorating guide.

• •Soft-wash render and uPVC with a fungicidal exterior cleaner and a soft pole brush — £18–£30 for 5 L of concentrate. Keep the pressure washer off render and pointing.
• •uPVC restorer cream on chalky frames and a faded door: £12–£22, and it takes ten years off a 1990s frontage.
• •Swap the knocker, letterplate and numerals for £25–£70, keeping the originals bagged and labelled for check-out.
• •Furniture, a shed or decking that is genuinely yours is fair game — though staining it correctly matters more than the colour.
• •Report flaking paint, blocked gutters and rot to the agent in writing: it is the landlord's repairing obligation, and the paper trail protects you at check-out.

Divide the quote by the local day rate to see how many man-days it implies. £1,700 for a full semi in the Midlands is nine man-days — under five days for a pair, so there is no prep in that number. Expect a genuine 25–35% spread across three quotes; the cheapest is almost always cheap on washing, filling and priming rather than on profit.

Insist the written spec names the product and coat count, says what happens to cracked render, confirms a fungicidal wash, states who pays for access and any pavement licence, and evidences £2m public liability cover. Then judge the total against the repaint cycle: good masonry paint on sound render lasts 8–12 years, exterior satin on south and west-facing woodwork 3–5. A £2,400 semi over ten years is £240 a year, which reads differently.

Methodology: figures were compiled in Q1 2026 from quotes and day rates across five UK regions, cross-checked against trade counter pricing at national merchants, and are reviewed annually. For deeper whole-house scope, see the companion piece on painting a house exterior.