How to Grow a Painting and Decorating Business

Most painting and decorating businesses stop growing at the same point: the owner is booked out, working every day, and still not making much. More work only means longer days, because every job still needs the owner's hands on the brush.

Growing past that point is not about more enquiries. It is about pricing and the kind of jobs you take. It is about the order you hire in, and the systems that let someone else work to your standard.

This guide is for owners of UK decorating businesses who are ready for that step. Want the plan built around your business? Book a free strategy call.

The four stages of a decorating business

Find your row. The next step is always the cell in the last column.

Step 1: price jobs for a team, not days for yourself

Published 2026 price guides put decorators at roughly £150–£300 a day. That works for one person. It does not pay for a second van, holiday pay, an apprentice's training days, the time you spend quoting, and a profit on top.

A growing business prices each job from:

1. Hours by task (prep, filling, sanding, each coat, woodwork, ceilings) at your true team cost per hour, including employer costs and non-productive time.
2. Materials, at what you really pay, including sundries.
3. Preparation as its own line, because that is where decorators lose most hours. Our decorating profit margin guide shows how. For a full worked quote, see how to price decorating jobs.
4. Your margin floor Divide the total by (1 − your margin).

Example: whole-house interior repaint, 3-person team (example figures)

At a day rate of £200 per person you would charge £4,800 for the same 24 person-days, plus materials. That leaves almost nothing once wages, vans and your own time are paid. This is why so many decorators are busy and broke.

Step 3: hire in the right order

Hiring is where most decorating businesses either grow or get stuck. A common order that works:

1. An apprentice or improver who does prep, protection and first coats, freeing your time for finishing and quoting.
2. One or two experienced decorators who can finish to your standard without you watching.
3. A foreman or lead decorator who runs jobs day to day, so you can sell and manage.

Apprentices cost less to train than they did. For new starts from 1 August 2026, non-levy employers pay nothing towards training for apprentices aged 16–24. For those aged 25 and over they pay 5%.

The government also pays the employer £1,000 for an apprentice aged 16–18, in two parts. You pay the apprentice's wages. A further hiring payment for non-levy employers starts from October 2026 for eligible apprentices: check the current funding rules.

Employed or self-employed? Self-employed decorators give flexibility for busy periods. But if you control how, when and where someone works, they may legally be an employee whatever you call them. Many decorating firms keep a small employed core and subcontract the peaks. Our guide to employing or subcontracting labour goes through the choice.

Step 4: build the system before you step back

You can only leave the brush when someone else can run the job to your standard. That needs paper, not trust:

• A job sheet for every job Scope by room, products and colours, number of coats, access notes, client preferences.
• A colour and product schedule signed by the client before you start. Colour changes after that are variations, priced in writing.
• A daily or end-of-week photo update from the lead decorator.
• A snag list walked with the client before the final invoice.
• Weekly job costing Hours and materials against the quote, so you see a job going wrong while you can still fix it.

Free guide, 14 pages

UK Painting & Decorating Profitability Playbook

Prep priced as its own line, the exterior season planned and job costing for interiors and exteriors.

Get the free guide

Step 5: make sales a system too

A bigger team needs a steady flow of bigger jobs. Ghennadi's turnaround came largely from a structured sales process and presenting quotes live rather than emailing a price and hoping:

1. Reply fast to every enquiry, the same day.
2. Visit and listen What the client wants, by when, and what worries them.
3. Present the quote in person or on a video call, room by room, with options.
4. Follow up every open quote on a schedule: how to follow up a quote.

Mistakes that stop decorating businesses growing

• Growing on low prices. More work at a price that doesn't pay a team only makes the hole bigger.
• Hiring before the system. A new decorator without a job sheet does it their way, and you go back to fix it.
• One big client. A single main contractor or housing association that becomes most of your turnover can stop paying, or stop calling.
• Staying the best decorator on site. If you are always painting, nobody is selling or managing.

At BizMentor, Sviat Jay works through these steps one-to-one with decorating business owners. He runs Craftex, a working construction company, and builds the same pricing, sales and job systems there. Every business is different: one owner is strong at sales, another at running sites. So he builds on what you already do well.

Owners who don't need one-to-one start in a small group with regular one-to-one calls. The aim is results in about 4 months, not a 1–3-year program. To see where your business stands first, take the free 4-minute Construction Business Scorecard, or book a free strategy call.

Funding and employment points are general information as of October 2026, for England. Check details with your training provider, accountant or HR adviser.