How Much Does It Cost to Paint a 3-Bed House in the UK?
Quick answer
For a typical 3-bedroom house (hallway, stairs and landing, 3 bedrooms, bathroom, and a kitchen/living/dining area) in London or Kent:
| Scope | Typical price range | Typical timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Full interior repaint | £3,000–£6,000 | 2–3 weeks |
| Exterior only (masonry, render, woodwork) | £2,500–£4,500 | 5–10 days |
| Interior + exterior together | £5,000–£10,000+ | 3–4 weeks |
These are ranges, not quotes — the spread exists because “3-bed house” covers everything from a tidy modern semi to a Victorian terrace with high ceilings, original coving, and decades of previous paint layers. The only way to get an accurate number is a site visit.
Why the range is so wide
Property age and construction. Victorian and Edwardian terraces (common across South East London and parts of Kent) usually have higher ceilings, more woodwork detail — picture rails, coving, deep skirting — and older plaster that’s more likely to need repair. A 1990s or new-build semi with flat, sound walls and standard 2.4m ceilings is faster to cover, room for room.
Condition of the existing paintwork. A house that’s been maintained and repainted every 5–7 years is quick to refresh. A house that hasn’t been touched in 10–15 years often has flaking gloss on woodwork, hairline plaster cracks throughout, and sometimes damp staining that needs treating before paint goes anywhere near it. This is the single biggest driver of both cost and time on a whole-house job.
Access, for exterior work. Terraced houses with no side access, or properties with a third storey or a steep roofline, need towers or scaffold rather than ladders. That’s a real cost, and it’s one reason exterior quotes vary more than interior ones.
How much is included. A “full repaint” can mean walls and ceilings only, or it can mean walls, ceilings, all woodwork (skirting, doors, frames, stairs, banister), and radiators behind. Get clear, in writing, on exactly which surfaces are covered before comparing two quotes against each other — a cheaper quote that excludes woodwork isn’t actually cheaper.
Colour changes. Painting light over light is fastest. Covering a dark feature wall, or a house that’s been papered throughout and needs stripping first, adds real time — see our guide on wallpaper vs paint if you’re weighing that decision.
A rough per-room way to sanity-check a quote
If you’d rather build the number up room by room than take a single whole-house figure, our cost-to-paint-a-room guide breaks down individual room prices — a 3-bed house is roughly: hallway/stairs/landing + 3 bedrooms + bathroom + kitchen/living space, each priced individually, then a modest discount for the decorator not having to reset up between rooms.
What to ask for in a quote
- A written breakdown by room or area, not just one lump total
- Confirmation of how many coats, and on what surfaces
- What prep is included versus what would be charged as an extra (e.g. major plaster repair, damp treatment)
- A realistic start date and how long the job will actually take — not just when they can fit you in
A full house is a big job to have strangers in your home for. A decorator who gives you a clear, written, room-by-room quote and sticks to the timeframe they promised is worth more than the cheapest number on paper.