Guides / Costs
How much does it cost to paint a house before selling? (UK, 2026)
Prep is most of the price. Anyone quoting without seeing the walls is guessing.
5 min read
Painting costs vary less by square metre than people expect, and much more by condition. Two identical flats can be £2,800 and £5,200 apart purely because one has sixty years of filled-and-refilled plaster and the other doesn't.
Typical London and south east prices
| Property | Walls & ceilings | Including woodwork |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | £1,800–£2,600 | £2,400–£3,400 |
| 1-bed flat | £2,400–£3,400 | £3,000–£4,400 |
| 2-bed flat | £3,400–£5,200 | £4,400–£6,400 |
| 3-bed house | £5,600–£8,400 | £7,200–£10,400 |
| 4-bed house | £7,600–£11,000 | £9,600–£14,000 |
What pushes the number up
- Deep or dark existing colours needing extra coats
- High ceilings, stairwells and anything needing scaffold or towers
- Damaged plaster, artex, or woodwork that needs stripping
- Occupied properties — protection, moving furniture, working room by room
- Original period features that need care rather than speed
Day rate versus fixed price
A day rate transfers all the risk to you: if the prep takes longer, you pay. A fixed price transfers it to the decorator, which is why fixed quotes are often slightly higher on paper and usually cheaper in the end. Ask which you're being given.
The two questions worth asking any decorator: what's included in prep, and what happens if it takes longer than you thought?
Is it worth it before a sale?
Of everything you can spend money on before marketing, paint is the one most agents ask for first. It's visible in every photograph and it costs a fraction of the discount a tired-looking property attracts.
The Presentable way
We do all of the above as one job: painting, small repairs, carpets, garden tidy and a deep clean, for one fixed price, finished in less than two weeks.