Painting and decorating is preparing and finishing the surfaces of a home, including filling, sanding, priming and painting walls, ceilings and woodwork, hanging wallpaper and painting exterior walls and joinery, to protect them and refresh how rooms look.
In Scottish Borders, we price painting and decorating against our guide for Scotland, £1,150–£2,900 including VAT, then adjust it once we have surveyed your home. We work across Hawick, Galashiels, Peebles and Kelso and the rest of the county or region. Planning and building control requirements follow the rules for Scotland, and we look into your property's position before a written quote is sent.
- Guide price
- £1,150–£2,900 inc VAT
- Time on site
- 1–2 days per room; 3–7 days for a house exterior
- Planning rules
- Scotland
- Price level
- About 4% below the national guide
- Towns listed
- 4
- Survey
- Free, with a written quote
Painting and decorating prices in Scottish Borders
The costs listed here are typical for painting and decorating around Scottish Borders and include VAT. They reflect labour and material costs in Scotland, about 4% below the national guide, giving a range of £1,150–£2,900. Exact pricing depends on your home, so we only fix it once a free site survey is done.
| Type of job | What it usually involves | Guide in Scottish Borders |
|---|---|---|
| Single room | Walls, ceiling and woodwork in one average bedroom or living room. | £350–£850 |
| House exterior | Masonry and joinery on a typical semi, including access equipment. | £2,400–£5,800 |
| Whole interior of a 3-bed house | Every room, hallway, stairs and landing, including woodwork. | £2,900–£6,200 |
Your price depends mostly on:
- Amount of preparation, filling and repairs needed
- Whether woodwork, doors and wallpaper are included
- Paint quality, colour changes and number of coats
- Exterior access, scaffolding and the condition of surfaces
What’s included?
- Survey of each surface and agreed colours and finishes
- Floors, furniture and fittings protected with dust sheets and masking
- Filling cracks and holes, sanding and spot priming
- Mist coat on new plaster before finishing coats
- Woodwork sanded, primed where bare, and painted
- Wallpaper stripped or hung where included
Homes in Scottish Borders
Mill towns such as Hawick, Galashiels and Selkirk have stone terraces and tenements from the textile industry, Melrose and Kelso have older sandstone centres, and farmhouses and cottages across the Borders are built of whinstone or sandstone under slate roofs. Post-war and newer estates surround the larger towns.
Mill-town terraces and tenements often need lime repointing, re-roofing in slate and replacement windows. Newer homes commonly take extensions and garage conversions, and rural properties add fencing, porches and driveways.
Cold winters with frost and snow on higher ground, and the Tweed and Teviot can flood low-lying properties.
Do you need permission in Scottish Borders?
For anyone in Scottish Borders, the relevant framework is Scotland's. The summary below is general, so we always contact the council about your address before putting a price in writing.
Internal improvements do not need planning permission in Scotland unless the building is listed.
Like-for-like kitchen and bathroom replacements do not normally need a building warrant, but structural changes and some drainage or heating alterations do, and electrical work must meet the building standards.
Rules change and every property is different, so we check the planning history and constraints for your address before we quote.
The four stages
We look at the job
We begin by looking at the job in person. During the free survey we discuss options, materials and budget for painting and decorating, and photograph or measure anything the quote needs to reflect.
Quote in writing
We put everything into a written, fixed-price quote: the specification, what's excluded, staged payments and the expected time on site. Take whatever time you need to decide; there's no pressure to commit.
Getting ready
With the quote agreed, we book the work in and handle preparation: permissions where needed, building control notifications, material orders and access arrangements for your Scottish Borders property.
Finish and handover
Work goes ahead as scheduled and you deal with one contact throughout. When the last trade leaves, we clear and clean the site, talk you through what has been done and pass on any certificates and care instructions.
What you can expect from us
Questions about painting and decorating in Scottish Borders
Do I need to move my furniture?
You only need to remove small items, ornaments, pictures and anything fragile. We move larger furniture to the middle of the room and cover it, or into another room where agreed. Please empty bookshelves and cabinets that need moving. Let us know about anything very heavy, valuable or awkward, such as pianos or large wardrobes, so we can plan around it.
Why is preparation so important?
Preparation decides how good the finish looks and how long it lasts. Filling cracks, sanding glossy surfaces, washing greasy areas and priming bare wood all help paint grip and dry evenly. Skipping it leads to visible repairs, peeling and patchy colour. Most of the time on a decorating job goes into preparation, and our quotes always allow for it.
Do you cover Hawick, Galashiels and Peebles?
Yes. As well as Scottish Borders, we cover Hawick, Galashiels and Peebles and the rest of Scottish Borders. Our coverage is UK-wide, so the process is the same wherever you are: a free site survey, a quote in writing that fixes the price for the agreed scope, and one point of contact while the work is planned and carried out.
How much does it cost to decorate a room?
Decorating an average room costs roughly £350–£900, covering walls, ceiling and woodwork, while three rooms typically come to £1,150–£2,900. Large living rooms, high ceilings, stairwells and wallpapering cost more, and so do rooms needing a lot of filling and sanding. Strong colour changes may need an extra coat. We confirm a fixed price for the agreed rooms after the survey.
How long will painting and decorating take?
On a typical home, allow 1–2 days per room; 3–7 days for a house exterior. Larger projects, older buildings and extra work found once things are opened up can extend that, while simpler jobs may be shorter. Your quote includes an estimate of time on site, and your point of contact keeps you updated on the programme as the work progresses.
Towns in Scottish Borders
Our coverage for painting and decorating in Scottish Borders includes the towns listed here. Each page explains guide costs, typical timings and the neighbouring places we also serve.