Painter and decorator quote template

How decorators usually price a job

Decorators usually price per room for standard rooms, per m² for large or commercial areas, per roll for wallpapering, per item for doors and windows, and per day for preparation-heavy work. Most quotes mix them.

How to price decorating a room, step by step

Price a room by measuring every surface, deciding the preparation and coats, working out the materials, then adding labour and extras. Drying time between coats decides how many days the job takes, so count it.

1. Measure. Walls: the distance round the room times the height. Ceiling: length times width. Count doors and windows and measure the skirting.
2. Decide the preparation: filling, sanding, caulking, stain block, stripping paper, or a mist coat on new plaster.
3. Work out the paint. Area times number of coats, divided by the coverage per litre printed on the tin, rounded up to whole tins.
4. Work out the paper. Use the roll size on the label and the room height, and allow for the pattern repeat.
5. Add sundries and markup: filler, caulk, tape, sandpaper, rollers and dust sheets.
6. Work out the labour: preparation, cutting in, each coat, drying time and clearing up.
7. Add extras and VAT: moving furniture, access equipment, parking, and VAT if you are registered.

Markup and margin

VAT

Add VAT only if you are VAT registered. GOV.UK says you must register if your taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, measured on a rolling 12 months rather than your tax year. The standard rate is 20%, but some goods and services carry a reduced or zero rate, so check GOV.UK's VAT rates if you are unsure. If you are not registered, say on the quote that no VAT is charged.

What to include on a decorating quote

A decorating quote should leave no doubt about which surfaces, which products and which colours. That is where most decorating disputes start.

1. Your details, including your VAT number if you are registered.
2. A quote number, the date and a valid-until date.
3. The customer's name and the site address.
4. The scope, room by room and surface by surface, with the preparation and number of coats.
5. The product, colour and finish for each surface, or a note that the customer will confirm them before you start.
6. Who supplies the paint and paper.
7. What is not included, such as plastering, repairs to blown plaster or moving heavy furniture.
8. A price breakdown: materials, labour and other costs.
9. VAT, or a line saying no VAT is charged.
10. Payment terms, how changes are handled and how to accept.

Extras and variations

Agree on the quote that colour changes after work starts, extra rooms and repairs found during preparation are priced and agreed before you do them.

• A colour change after the first coat.
• Blown plaster or cracks that need more than filling.
• Extra rooms, doors or woodwork added on site.
• Weather delays on exterior work.

Write each change down with the price and the customer's agreement.

Deposits, payment terms and how long the quote lasts

Put the deposit, any stage payments, the due date for the balance and a valid-until date on every quote. Customers rarely argue with terms they agreed before you started. They argue with terms they first hear about on the invoice.

Deposits and stage payments

How much deposit you ask for is your decision, but tie it to something real, such as paint and wallpaper you are buying for that customer. Citizens Advice tells customers that if a deposit is worth more than the work done so far, they can propose a figure and ask for the difference back, so a deposit that matches what you have spent on their job is easier to defend than a round number. On a whole house or a long exterior job, link stage payments to finished rooms or elevations rather than dates.

When the balance is due

Write the due date in plain words, for example "balance due within 7 days of completion", and say how to pay. If your customer is a business, GOV.UK explains that on late business-to-business payments you can claim interest at 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the size of the debt. If no payment date was agreed, the payment counts as late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice or you finish the service, whichever is later.

How long the price stands

There is no fixed rule, so choose a period and write a valid-until date on the quote. Paint and paper prices move, and exterior work depends on the season, so a clear date protects you. Citizens Advice says a trader generally cannot raise an accepted quote just because their own costs have gone up, so that date is what protects you if a customer comes back months later.

Rules decorators should know before quoting

Exterior and stairwell work brings in working at height and scaffolding, and contract work brings in CIS. GOV.UK lists decorating among the construction work CIS covers.

Working at height

HSE explains that the Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply if you are an employer or you control work at height, and that the work must be properly planned, supervised and carried out by competent people, using the right equipment, after assessing the risks. Price the access equipment and the time to set it up safely as their own lines.

Scaffolding on the road or pavement

GOV.UK says you need a licence from the local authority to put up scaffolding or hoarding on a public highway. If the access sits on a pavement, include the time and any fee.

Working for a contractor: CIS and the VAT reverse charge

If you work as a subcontractor for a builder or main contractor, the Construction Industry Scheme will usually apply. GOV.UK says contractors deduct 20% from payments to registered subcontractors, 30% from unregistered ones and nothing for those with gross payment status. The deduction is worked out after taking off VAT and materials the subcontractor paid for, among other items, so show materials as their own line on your quote and invoice.

If you are VAT registered and you work for a VAT-registered contractor who reports the payment under CIS, the VAT domestic reverse charge usually applies: the customer accounts for the VAT to HMRC instead of paying it to you. HMRC's technical guide says the invoice must say "reverse charge" and make clear the customer must account for the VAT. It does not apply to work for householders, or to a customer who has told you in writing that they are an end user or intermediary supplier (GOV.UK guidance).

Put it in writing, and know the cancellation rules

Send every quote in writing and get the acceptance in writing too: a signature, an email reply or an online accept button. Citizens Advice describes a quote as a promise to do the work at an agreed price, and an estimate as the trader's best guess at the cost. If you can see and price the whole job, call it a quote. If part of it cannot be known until you start, say so, and either call it an estimate or quote the known part and list your assumptions.

If you agree the job with a customer in their home, it is usually an off-premises contract. Business Companion, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's guidance for businesses, says the customer then normally has 14 days to cancel a contract for services, starting the day after the contract was made. If you do not give them the cancellation information, that period can be extended by up to 12 months. To start inside the 14 days, the customer must expressly ask you to in a durable medium such as an email, and if they then cancel they pay for the work done up to that point. Contracts of £42 or less are exempt.

Common decorating quote mistakes

Decorators lose money on preparation and on time spent waiting for paint to dry.

• A per-room price with no list of what is included.
• Underestimating preparation.
• Forgetting drying time between coats when counting days.
• Not stating who supplies paint and which product.
• Leaving out woodwork, doors and windows.
• No allowance for moving furniture and protection.
• Colours agreed by word of mouth.

Quote on site with Graft'd

Graft'd is a quoting, invoicing and job app for UK tradespeople. Talk or type the job and it builds the quote with a plain-English scope of works for you to check. Parts are priced from supplier guide prices or your own rates, and it is set up for the way decorators price, per room, per m², per roll or per day. Your customer accepts the quote online, you invoice in one tap and get paid through your own payment link, and Graft'd chases late payers for you. Job notes, photos and receipts stay with the job, and CIS and the VAT reverse charge are handled on invoices.

It runs in your phone's browser, so there is nothing to download from an app store.