If you've got practical skills and are looking for a varied working pattern, setting up as a painter and decorator might be an option for you. Our guide gives you all the essentials for starting up and running your own painting and decorating business.
- Research your target market
- Who will use your painting and decorating business?
- Decide what painting and decorating services to offer
- Consider your work rate
- Price your painting and decorating services
- Buy an existing painting and decorating business
Research your target market
It's very important to research your market properly. Try to find out as much as you can about the level of demand for your services, and about how much competition there is to meet that demand.
Customers - who and how many?
Think about how many people or businesses are likely to use your services and why. Which of the following will your customers be looking for when choosing a decorator:
- the best price
- the highest quality work
- the greatest breadth of service
Pay attention to the type of housing in your area. For example, are houses large or small? Are they old or new? Do they appear well kept? Do the majority of the houses have exterior walls with a natural finish like stone, or are they painted? Are some buildings spilt into several flats? Is accommodation mainly owner-occupied or mainly rented? Is some owned by the local authority or by a housing association?
Which type of housing is likely to generate the most business for you? This will depend on the range of services that you offer.
Think about other buildings in your area. Shops, pubs, offices, factories, schools and so on will all require the services of a decorator at some point.
Once you have identified who your potential customers are, you can start to think about how you will advertise your services. Start by setting up a Google Business Profile so you appear in local searches. Make sure you include details of the services you offer (interior or exterior painting, wallpapering, basic plastering etc) and customer reviews.
Make sure you have a presence on social media. For example, sign up to Next Door. Users of this app often ask for local recommendations and you can reply by offering your services. It's also worth encouraging your customers to post recommendations on Next Door - once three people have done this, your business will start to appear in searches.
You might also build a one-page website containing photographs of previous work and customer reviews. A leaflet drop in your local area can help you reach customers who might not be 'online' such as older residents.
Compare business bank accounts and loans
Do you want to open a business bank account or switch provider? Perhaps you need a loan to start or grow your business.
Trade customers
Larger businesses and organisations who invite firms to tender for contract work may be reluctant to use a newly established business. Also, as a young business you might struggle to fund a large contract, as many things will have to be paid for well before any payment is received. But it may be worth finding out who is responsible for putting decorating work out to tender in large organisation such as housing associations and local authorities. Try to find out how the tender process works and what you would have to do if you wanted to tender for a contract.
Try approaching other businesses that might be expected to need a decorator's services. You could, for example, leave your details with local building contractors and interior designers. Search online to find out about these types of businesses in your area. Consider joining online directories such as Checkatrade too.
Establishing the level of competition
Once you have decided who your customers might be, you need to find out how well they are already served.
How many other painters and decorators are there in your area? A quick look online will give you an idea of how many painting and decorating businesses there are in your area. How many offer the same services that you intend to offer? These are your direct competitors. Check to see if any other types of business offer decorating services - what about interior designers and general builders?
Try to find out what your competitors are like. Check online reviews and look at their website. Look at things like:
- do they seem to be large, medium-sized or small firms
- what services do they offer
- do they specialise at all
- what sort of impression does their Google Business profile give you (for example, does the firm come across as small and friendly, large and efficient, good value, upmarket)
Health and safety for painters and decorators
If you are working on a sole trader or self employed basis, you cannot afford to be off work as a result of an accident or injury caused by your work. You need to minimise risks and keep yourself safe by complying with workplace health and safety and fire safety legislation.
Some key areas where health and safety regulations affect your business, particularly if you employ staff, include:
- use of equipment such as high pressure sprayers
- access to first aid equipment
- adequate provision and use of protective clothing and equipment
- reporting of any accidents at work
- working at height
Note that the Work at Height Regulations cover all work done at height where there is a risk of falling that could cause personal injury. The Regulations place very specific duties on both employers and self-employed workers to make sure that all necessary safety precautions are taken when people are working at or above a certain height.
You must comply with workplace health and safety and fire safety legislation.
Insurance for painters and decorators
You will need insurance cover as a painter and decorator. Contact an insurer and explain how your business will operate including whether you will be working at height. An insurer can explain what cover you should have, which might include:
- employer's liability (if you employ staff)
- public liability (this is particularly important when working in other people's homes and premises)
- contractor's liability/contractor's all risks
- unfixed materials, plant and equipment on site
- combined property
- business interruption
- legal expenses
- premises, premises contents and stock
- motor insurance (for business vehicles)
Business insurance policies can vary in price. The Painting and Decorating Association provides members with free legal insurance.
Research current trends, plus legal and tax issues
Who will use your painting and decorating business?
Depending on the range of services that you offer, you may have several different types of customer, for example:
- home owners and landlords
- other businesses (for example shops, pubs, offices and so on)
- building contractors and property developers
- housing associations
- local authorities
- other organisations (for example schools, colleges, the National Trust and so on)
You might also do some sub-contract work for other larger painting and decorating firms.
Some painters and decorators market their services by keeping an eye on local planning applications and sending a flyer to any applicants who they think might want to engage them.
How will your customers pay you
Clients such as housing associations and local authorities will almost always pay you by direct payment to your bank account. You might also decide to accept payment by credit and debit card.
You will probably ask your private customers to pay you when a job is completed, although you might sometimes ask for a deposit or interim payment on a large job.
Interim payments are a common feature of public sector and contract work, particularly when the contract is a long one. Final payment is usually received some time after the job is completed, depending on the terms agreed.
Some contracts may specify that a certain amount (often known as 'retention money') is held back for a given length of time, after which it is only paid if all the work is found to be complete and satisfactory.
Decide what painting and decorating services to offer
Like many painters and decorators, you may well find that you spend a large amount of your time decorating the inside and outside of private houses. Some of the decorating services that you might offer to home owners include:
- basic painting - including brushing and rollering emulsion, glossing and spray-painting a range of different paint finishes
- special paint effects (like rag rolling, marbling and so on)
- traditional and heritage painting and decorating finishes
- wall lining and wallpapering - and other wall coverings such as vinyl and fabric
- minor repair work (for example plaster patching)
- artexing and coving
- floor coatings
- tiling
- decorative carpentry
You might also undertake these types of jobs on trade contracts at premises like offices, shops, schools, factories and public buildings. You might decide to undertake specialist industrial jobs such as spray painting large areas like industrial units. Perhaps you intend to offer specialist services such as flood and fire reinstatement.
The range of services that you offer your clients will depend on your own skills and training - and on the equipment you have available. Some well-qualified decorators advertise that they can undertake 'all aspects of decorating'.
You may decide to offer a range of other services if you find that there is demand for them. Some examples might include:
- interior design service
- site clearance (for example after building work has been completed)
- waterproofing, mould treatment and de-humidifying
- general building maintenance work
Some of these you may undertake yourself, others will require specialist input from an employee or sub-contractor.
Consider your work rate
Assuming that you get a steady stream of work, the amount that you can earn depends partly on the number of days you work and the length of your working day.
You may decide to stick to normal business hours, for example 8.30 am until 5.30 pm Monday to Friday and, possibly, 8.30 am until 1.30 pm on Saturdays. Or you may decide to work longer hours. Perhaps you are prepared to work very long hours when your services are in demand, taking some time off during quieter periods. There may be times when a customer wants you to work different hours - perhaps even overnight while a shop, office or industrial unit is closed or unoccupied.
If you have some experience as a painter and decorator, you should have an idea how long certain types of jobs will take you. It is very important when quoting for a job that you can make an accurate estimate of how long it will take. It's no good quoting for three days work if it ends up taking you five!
The speed at which you work depends on your own skills and experience, the type of work that you do and the quality of finish that you achieve. Your charges should reflect all of these things too.
Non-productive time
Unfortunately, some of your time will be spent working but not earning money. For example, when you are:
- visiting sites to price up new work
- finishing off jobs that take longer than anticipated (possibly due to unforeseen problems)
- re-doing faulty work
- travelling to and from jobs, or to get tools or materials from a supplier
- repairing tools or vehicles
Sometimes you will find that you are unable to work, because:
- the weather is too bad to work outside and you have no inside jobs that you can complete instead
- you are waiting for materials to be delivered
- you are waiting for paint or plaster to dry or for another tradesperson to finish their work first
- a vital tool or piece of equipment is broken, or your van is out of action
- unforeseen problems crop up on a job - for example a building turns out to have serious damp problems
- you are ill
Take all of these factors into account when you are estimating the maximum number of productive hours that you can work each month.
Price your painting and decorating services
You'll need to decide how you will charge for work done. For example, you might:
- charge for your services on an hourly or daily basis, adding to this the cost of any materials that you supply
- base your charges for certain types of jobs on the size of the area to be decorated
- quote on a 'fixed price per job' basis; you might, for example, have a standard charge for painting, say, the outside of a three-bedroom semi
You may decide to use different methods of costing for different jobs, depending on who the customer is and what the job is like.
It is very important that you set your charges carefully. You must make sure when deciding on what to charge that, assuming you get enough work, you will earn enough to cover all of your operating costs, including your drawings. Decorating is time-consuming and labour-intensive work, so make sure your prices mean that you will be working for a reasonable hourly rate. The same goes for any staff you employ - be sure that you will earn a reasonable margin for the business on top of the wages you pay them.
Also consider the following points when setting your prices:
- what do your competitors charge for similar work
- do you aim to take business from your competitors with competitive pricing (this may be particularly important if you want to tender for contract work, for example)
- will you vary your rate depending on the type and complexity of the work involved
- will you offer special trade rates to clients such as local authorities and building contractors
- will you build in wet weather contingency when pricing for outdoor work
Quote or estimate
If you give a quote for a job, that is a fixed price. Once it has been accepted by the customer the price can't be changed, even if you end up having to do a lot more work than anticipated when you prepared the quote. Make sure your quotes give precise details of what is included and make it quite clear that any variations or extras not covered by the quote will be charged separately.
An estimate is not a fixed price, it is just your best guess of what the job is likely to cost. You are not bound by it. It is perfectly acceptable to provide several estimates, each taking into account different scenarios.
Where necessary explain to customers situations that could affect the price - for example the discovery of crumbling plaster behind old wallpaper or previously undetected asbestos. And if the customer asks for extra work to be done during the course of a job, be clear about how this will affect the overall cost.
It is usual to provide estimates and quotes free of charge on a no-obligation basis. You might, though, decide to make a charge for more complex and time-consuming consultancy work - perhaps you will refund this charge if it leads on to a substantial contract.
Special trade rates
Trade customers might expect you to offer them a special trade rate. Large organisations that invite firms such as yours to tender for contract work will also expect your rates to be very competitive. So you may decide to price work for trade clients in a different way to domestic work.
Think carefully about whether or not scaffolding will be needed for a job, and be clear about whether your quote includes this cost. Health and safety legislation means that there are strict limits on the types of work at height that can be done off a ladder.
Be aware that many of your clients will get quotes from several decorating firms, so you need to be able to quote accurately and competitively. However, don't cut your own throat. Many clients value good, efficient service and are prepared to pay a realistic price for it. Above all, make sure that you don't end up working at a loss because your quote was too low!
Special guides are available to help you when pricing painting and decorating work. They include details of paint coverage and give up to date advice on what rates to charge for particular types of jobs.
Buy an existing painting and decorating business
You might decide to buy an existing decorating business rather than start your own venture from scratch. Buying a going concern can mean that the products, customers, regular sales, staff, premises and equipment are already in place.
If the business you're thinking of buying is a small one, look carefully at what you're getting for your money. Small decorating businesses may not have much in the way of assets, so you'll need to make sure you're getting good value if you're paying for things like goodwill, contacts lists and perhaps some ongoing long-term contracts.
Buying a business can be a hazardous, expensive process unless you have the right skills and experience on your team, including legal and financial know-how. Establish the genuine trading and financial position, so that the price you pay for the business is not too high.
