Price Update 2022: Due to the recent and well-documented price surges for home improvement projects, we’ve updated our cost guide for exterior house painting. Given the recent price volatility, we urge consumers to get a fixed quote by filling out this form with details of their painting project.
Painting the exterior of your house is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to brighten up and improve the outside of your property. In fact, many in the home improvement industry see this as an “easy win” because it’s quick, affordable and the results are impressive.
But how much does it cost to get a professional to come in and paint the outside of a house and how difficult is this project?
Before you read any further, we would like to point out that render and wall paints are great for modern homes that are made of airtight materials like cement. If your home is a period building, you should consider products that allow the wall to breathe, limewash being the best option. The contents of this page will only be of relevance if you live in a modern home constructed from modern materials (i.e. post 1900).
This page contains:
- A works schedule so you can see how much work is involved with painting the outside of a house.
- A price list.
- Timetable.
- Money-saving tips and other advice.
In a hurry?
This is how much it costs to paint the exterior walls, windows and roofline of a house in the UK in April 2022:
| Item: | Price: |
|---|---|
| Paint exterior render to small detached house with 4 sides | £1800 |
| Paint exterior render to small semi-detached house with 3 sides | £1400 |
| Paint wooden window frames with gloss | £50 - £75 per window |
| Paint timber roofline fascia and soffit boards | £25 - £50 per linear metre (includes re-fixing the guttering afterwards and cost depends on how many metres of roofline require painting) |
| Prefer a custom quote? - | Get a Custom Price Here |
About these prices: We sourced prices from 9 painters and decorators from various locations around the UK and then calculated an average price for the project.
Obviously, as a labour-intensive project, painting jobs like this cost less in the north of the UK compared to London and the southeast and the figures above are just an average.
Want a fixed price from a painter in your area? – Fill out this online form with your details.
Works Schedule
Below is a typical works schedule, it’s based on a house with rendered walls but also applies to walls made from bricks.
- Erect access equipment; this is usually access towers and platforms but some projects may require full scaffold at extra cost.
- Remove any existing flaky paint by scraping down the surface.
- Brush off loose dirt from walls.
- Stubborn dirt to be washed off with water and a brush.
- Clean any mould, moss or algae with either a bleach/water solution or a fungicide treatment such as this.
- Make good any repairs to walls with sand/cement mixture.
- Allow the walls to fully dry.
- Treat wall with a stabilising solution and allow to dry.
- Apply one coat of specialist masonry paint.
- Allow walls to dry.
- Apply a second coat of specialist masonry paint.
- If the wall is being painted for the first time, apply a third coat of paint.
How Long Does it Take to Paint The Outside of a House?
Below is a rough guide to how long you can expect the work to take.
If the wall is being painted for the first time then it will take longer, this is because new walls are generally more porous and require more paint and brush strokes.
The guide below is for a typical 3-bed semi-detached house and assumes two tradespeople are working on the project. That’s one experienced painter/decorator and a labourer/apprentice.
Day 1 – Put equipment into position, clean walls and make good any repairs. Apply stabilising solution.
Day 2 – Apply first coat of paint.
Day 3 – Apply second coat of paint.
Day 4 – (optional but recommended for freshly rendered walls) – Apply a third coat of paint.
Can I Save Money by Asking my Trades-Person to Use a Ladder Instead of Scaffold?
Current health and safety laws require anyone working at height for more than 30 minutes at a time or so to ditch the ladder and use a platform tower or scaffold instead.
While a full scaffold system erected around a house would cost a small fortune, most professional painters/decorators will have the own lightweight access towers which can be erected in around 15-20 minutes.
Most of these towers have lockable wheels so the tower can be relocated easily. This makes them perfect for painting the exterior of a house.
Our price guide below assumes that the contractor will use a combination of ladders and access tower equipment.
If you feel your property needs to be professionally scaffolded, then obviously that will add cost to the project and scaffold can be expensive.
The only way to be sure whether scaffold is required is to ask a few painters to inspect the property and to provide you with quotes and work schedules:
Cost to Paint the Outside of a House: A Price Breakdown
Below is a price breakdown which is based on the average price to paint the exterior of a small detached house with four sides.
| Item: | Price: |
|---|---|
| Stabiliser | £25 |
| Paint | £175 |
| Accessories, brushes, tape, spririt, sand/cement for repairs etc | £100 |
| Labour 2 x people for 4 x days | £1200 |
| Profits margins | Depends on whether a company or "one man" trader is used |
| VAT (only applicable if the business is VAT registered) | £300 |
| Total: | £1800 + profit margins |
| Get a Custom Price Here | Get a Custom Price Here |
Save Money With These 4 Tips
- When we sourced prices for exterior house painting, we noticed a big difference between the prices given to us by smaller firms and larger businesses, so we recommend getting at least 3 quotes for comparison.
- Not all businesses are VAT registered and those that are trading below the registration threshold can be significantly cheaper than those that are charging VAT. More details about how to legally avoid paying VAT can be found here.
- Choose a company that has its own access equipment and doesn’t need to hire it from a third party – this can save many hundreds of pounds off some painting projects.
- The cost of the paint can vary and so does the quality, for exposed walls it’s probably worth investing in a top-of-range quality product.
We recently concluded some research into trade “day rates”, so if you would like to know how much tradespeople like painters and decorators are charging for a day’s work then hit the button below:
Which Paint is Best?
This is debatable and while one experienced painter would suggest one brand and sing its praises, another would say the opposite.
We personally feel that Dulux Weathershield is the best paint on the market for this type of work. But in reality, even the best paint will fail if the preparation work isn’t completed successfully.
A sound, properly prepared base is more important than the type of paint that is used on the surface. Old walls with powdery, soft and friable surfaces sometimes need considerable preparation work so a good quality stabiliser should also be applied.
What’s The Best Time of Year to Paint External Walls?
We don’t recommend doing this type of work in the winter or even early spring. There is too much dampness in the air and the moisture can penetrate into the external walls.
Ideally, if possible, do any exterior painting work in the summer or at the least when it’s warm and dry. Warmer weather also means the paint will dry and be ready for the next coat much sooner.
List of Materials
Below is a list of materials we suggest for painting the outside of a house.
This is handy if you are considering doing the work yourself.
This is a very good stabiliser and is perfect for powdery old paint on external walls.
This site has paint products at reasonable prices. You’ll need to read the coverage information for each product and allow an extra 10%.
Covers and tarpaulins are generally required when working outdoors. See affordable ones here.
This brush and roller set is perfect for masonry painting.
Masking tape for around window frames.
Sand/cement is required for any minor repairs to rendered walls and can be purchased at any good local builder’s merchants.
Get a House Painting Price Online
Need a fixed price or quote for your external painting project?
Hit the link below to see how we can help you:
This guide was written by Danny Woodley and was last updated in April 2022.
Don’t forget; we have price guides for hundreds of home improvement projects.
Explore our full list of detailed price guides here.
