Choosing a painting company in London is not difficult because there is a shortage of painters. The difficulty is working out what customers can actually verify before handing over a deposit or allowing a decorating team into their property.
Companies.London reviewed ten painting and decorating businesses serving London on 22 September 2026.
Instead of ranking businesses according to anonymous reviews or promotional claims, we examined information each company makes publicly available about its services, prices, insurance, guarantees, previous projects and quotation process.
This produced an interesting result: London painting companies are generally very willing to provide quotations, but considerably fewer publish enough information for customers to estimate costs or understand contractual protection before making an enquiry.
What Did Companies.London Find?
Our September 2026 review found:
| Information Checked | Companies Where Information Was Found |
|---|---|
| Direct quotation or enquiry route | 10/10 |
| Some public insurance information | 8/10 |
| Numerical painting/decorating price guidance | 4/10 |
| Exact public-liability insurance limit stated | 3/10 |
| Specific guarantee/warranty duration stated | 5/10 |
These figures refer only to information we could find publicly on the companies’ own websites when the research was conducted.
For example, “insurance information not found” does not mean a company is uninsured. It means Companies.London could not verify the information from the public material reviewed.
Likewise, the absence of published prices does not mean a business is expensive. Many decorators price jobs individually because preparation, access, wall condition and specification can significantly affect labour requirements.
This distinction is important because transparency and workmanship are different things.
How Did We Choose the Companies?
We concentrated on active painting and decorating businesses with clear evidence that they currently serve London.
For every business, we looked for:
| Research Field | What We Checked |
|---|---|
| London coverage | Clearly stated London areas or branch |
| Residential painting | Homes, flats or residential developments |
| Commercial painting | Offices, retail, hospitality or other business premises |
| Exterior painting | Dedicated exterior service |
| Wallcoverings | Wallpaper hanging, wallcoverings or related services |
| Project evidence | Portfolio, case studies or identifiable completed work |
| Pricing | Numerical publicly accessible guidance |
| Insurance | Insurance/public liability statement |
| Guarantee | Workmanship warranty or guarantee |
| Quote process | Clear way to request an estimate |
The research is deliberately based primarily on the companies’ own published material. Where a company does not publish something, we record it as not publicly found rather than making an assumption.
Which 10 London Painting Companies Did We Research?
1. The Good Painter
The Good Painter provides residential and commercial painting in London, including house painting, offices, hospitality premises, retail environments, exterior work, heritage decorating and wallpaper hanging. It lists a Westminster address at 23 Sussex Street and provides an online quotation form where customers can specify whether a job is residential or commercial and upload plans or photographs.
The company publishes a six-month warranty on every job. Its website also contains London case studies, including commercial work and residential projects such as a five-bedroom Chelsea house.
A separate service page states that the business has insurance and warranties, although we did not find a specific public-liability amount in the material reviewed.
What we found: quotation process, insurance statement, six-month warranty, project evidence and extensive London coverage.
What we did not find: clear numerical room or day-rate pricing.
Website: thegoodpainter.co.uk
2. Ignas London
Ignas publishes one of the most comprehensive sets of information in our sample.
Its services cover residential and commercial decorating, exterior work, spray painting, wallpapering, plastering and refurbishment. The company publishes extensive individual case studies spanning galleries, schools, offices, private homes, listed properties and exterior renovation.
Ignas states that it is fully insured and offers a two-year guarantee on its work. Its current contact address is 17 Hanover Square, London W1S 1BN.
It also publishes actual cost guidance. Its guidance gives approximately £300–£900 for a single room, £1,500–£4,000 for a flat repaint, with exterior work starting at about £2,000 and potentially exceeding £7,000 for larger properties.
That makes Ignas one of only four companies in our sample where we found useful numerical painting-price information.
Website: https://ignas.london/
3. MJ Kloss Painting & Decorating
MJ Kloss provides residential, commercial, exterior painting and wallpapering services across London and surrounding areas.
Its public company information identifies MJ Kloss Painting & Decorating Ltd, company number 04428242, with an address at 8 Seaforth Avenue, New Malden KT3 6JP. The business also provides an online quotation form and says it aims to respond to quote requests within 24 hours.
One of the stronger disclosures we found relates to customer protection. Its commercial painting page states public/products liability cover of up to £5 million, employers’ liability of up to £10 million and a two-year workmanship guarantee.
The company also publishes London project examples and uses quality-control supervision.
We did not find straightforward numerical room-price guidance comparable with Ignas, Novitas or Prime Coat.
Website: https://www.mjkloss.co.uk/
4. GSD London
GSD is structured much more like a commercial painting contractor than a domestic painter.
The company says it specialises in decorative finishes for commercial projects across Central and Greater London and works on commercial buildings, residential developments, hotels, heritage buildings, offices, healthcare environments and new-build developments.
Its website identifies GSD London Ltd, company number 10543768, with its head office at 40 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0NE. It also publishes CHAS Premium Plus, ConstructionLine Gold, Acclaim and ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 information.
GSD provides unusually detailed project evidence.
One Princes Gate project involved specialist finishes and wallpaper in a luxury residence and carries a published project value of £650,000. A Kensington Park Gardens project is listed at £150,000, while a 238-apartment new-build scheme at Hershall Street is listed at £600,000.
These are contract values, however, and should not be confused with consumer price guidance.
We did not find a simple public room/day price, a clearly stated company public-liability limit or a specific GSD workmanship-warranty period during this review.
Website: https://www.gsdecorating.com/
5. Bagnalls London
Bagnalls differs from most businesses in this comparison because it is a national painting contractor with regional branches and more than 600 directly employed painters and decorators.
Its current London branch is listed at Faraday, Unit 1, The Circuit Centre, Avro Way, Weybridge KT13 0YT. The company says this team serves London and the South East across commercial sectors including retail, offices, hospitality, healthcare, education, heritage and prime residential property.
Bagnalls also operates an East London branch in Belvedere that undertakes work ranging from individual domestic properties to high-rise and high-end commercial and residential buildings.
Its painting services include standard finishes, protective and specialist coatings, wallpaper hanging, spraying and heritage restoration.
Bagnalls publishes extensive project and quality-assurance material, but the website is structured around project enquiries rather than consumer-style room prices.
For this reason, its absence of a simple room price should not be interpreted in the same way as it might be for a company mainly targeting single-room domestic work.
Website: https://www.bagnalls.co.uk/
6. LGC Decorators
LGC provides residential and commercial painting across London, along with exterior painting and wallpaper installation.
Its current website states that interior and exterior projects come with a two-year warranty, that the company is fully insured including public liability insurance, and that free quotations are available.
LGC also publishes numerical market guidance. Its FAQ currently states that an experienced London decorator may cost around £200 plus VAT per day, while specialist or out-of-hours tasks may range from approximately £300 to £450 plus VAT.
That figure should be read as guidance rather than a guaranteed LGC project price.
The company identifies itself as LGC Decorators Limited, registered company number 09275176, and lists its address as 65 Ingleton Avenue, Welling DA16 2JY.
Website: https://www.lgcdecorators.co.uk/
7. Novitas Decorators
Novitas is based in Eltham and works across large parts of London, with particular coverage in South East London.
The company’s services include residential and commercial decorating, interior and exterior painting, wallpapering, murals, Lincrusta installation, hand-painted kitchens and spray finishing. Its official coverage page explicitly says it works in homes, rental properties, shops, offices and public buildings.
Novitas publishes particularly useful cost examples because it explains the specification behind them.
A 4m × 3m bedroom repaint covering walls, ceiling and woodwork, with materials and normal preparation, is given at around £850 plus VAT. A similar 4m × 4m living/dining room example is £1,100 plus VAT. Full-room wallpaper installation is shown at roughly £350–£550, excluding the wallcovering itself.
The company also states that it carries public liability insurance up to £5 million.
That combination of price specification and insurance detail is relatively uncommon among the websites examined.
Website: https://www.novitasdecorators.co.uk/
8. Prime Coat London
Prime Coat London is based in Royal Docks, E16 and provides painting and decorating across London.
It publishes perhaps the clearest quote process in this sample. Customers can send photographs or videos and a postcode, with the company advertising a fixed, itemised written quote within 24 hours.
It also openly publishes starting prices:
Prime Coat says its quoted painting price includes preparation, premium paint, protection, two coats as standard, cleanup and a one-year workmanship guarantee. It also publishes £2 million public-liability cover.
This makes it one of the easiest websites in our sample for a customer to understand the likely structure of a quote before making contact.
Website: https://primecoatlondon.co.uk/
9. Property Eye Building Services
Property Eye Building Services, or PEBS, differs from specialist decorating-only firms because painting is part of a broader property refurbishment and maintenance operation.
Its London painting service includes residential work, commercial decorating, wallpapering, exterior work, surface preparation and related property services.
PEBS publishes a six-stage process beginning with consultation and survey and progressing through quotation, preparation, execution, inspection and aftercare. It states that projects include insurance and a quality guarantee and says its painters carry public and employers’ liability insurance.
The website says workmanship guarantees may cover periods such as 12 or 24 months, depending on the work, rather than presenting one universal warranty length.
We did not find a simple standard room price during our review.
Website: https://www.pebs.co.uk/painting-and-decorating-in-london
10. K Wyatt Decorators
K Wyatt Decorators focuses particularly on West and South West London and publishes residential and commercial decorating services.
Its website lists interior and exterior decorating, kitchen spraying and recognised training including City & Guilds and specialist painting qualifications.
There is also a separate commercial decorating service covering offices, shops, restaurants and hospitality premises in areas including Hammersmith, Chelsea, Chiswick, Kensington and Ealing.
The company publishes a workmanship guarantee and aftercare information. Separate service pages state that the company is fully insured with public-liability cover and provides written guarantees.
We found detailed quote processes and project examples but no standard numerical room or painter day-rate price during the review.
How Transparent Are London Painting Companies About Prices?
This was the clearest content gap identified by our research.
Of the ten company websites examined, only four contained useful numerical painting or decorating price guidance that could help a prospective customer budget before requesting a personalised quote.
| Company | Example of Publicly Available Guidance |
|---|---|
| Ignas | £300–£900 single room; £1,500–£4,000 flat |
| LGC Decorators | Around £200 + VAT cited for experienced London decorator day rate |
| Novitas | £850 + VAT example for 4m × 3m bedroom |
| Prime Coat London | Interior painting from £700 per room |
These figures are not directly comparable prices for identical work.
Ignas publishes broad ranges. LGC discusses day rates. Novitas provides detailed model jobs. Prime Coat publishes service starting prices.
That itself is an important finding: even when painters publish prices, there is currently no standard London format for explaining them.
What Does Independent 2026 Pricing Data Say?
Companies.London also checked broader 2026 benchmarks rather than relying only on the businesses included above.
Which? published painting and decorating cost research in May 2026 based on a survey of nine Which? Trusted Traders. For a medium room measuring approximately 3.3m by 3m, its range was £250–£1,100, while a large room could range from about £350–£1,650. Which? notes that London and South East prices are likely to sit towards the higher end of quoted ranges.
Those very wide ranges help explain why a single statement such as “a London room costs £300 to paint” is not particularly useful without stating:
the dimensions, wall condition, whether the ceiling is included, whether woodwork is included, preparation required, number of coats, materials, VAT, access and parking.
What Did We Learn About Insurance Disclosure?
Eight of the ten companies in this study published some form of insurance statement that we could identify.
Far fewer published the actual level of public-liability protection.
Among the clearest examples were:
MJ Kloss: up to £5 million public/products liability.
Novitas: up to £5 million public liability.
Prime Coat London: £2 million public liability.
Other businesses stated that they were fully insured or had public-liability insurance without prominently displaying a numerical limit in the pages we reviewed.
This suggests a useful question for consumers is not simply:
“Are you insured?”
but:
“Can you send me your current insurance certificate and confirm whether its limit is appropriate for this project?”
How Common Are Written Painting Guarantees?
A further difference appears when looking at warranties.
We found clearly stated time periods including:
| Company | Published Period |
|---|---|
| The Good Painter | 6 months |
| Ignas | 2 years |
| MJ Kloss | 2 years |
| LGC Decorators | 2 years |
| Prime Coat London | 1 year |
Other companies publish broader quality or aftercare commitments, while PEBS says guarantee periods may vary according to the work.
The headline number should not be considered in isolation.
A two-year guarantee does not automatically make one contractor better than a company offering one year. Customers should establish precisely what the guarantee covers, whether materials are included, whether substrate failures are excluded and what happens if the original surface develops moisture, movement or plaster defects.
Why Are London Painting Quotes So Difficult to Compare?
Our pricing research shows that the word “room” is itself a poor unit of comparison.
Novitas’ £850 + VAT bedroom example, for instance, specifies:
4m × 3m dimensions, 2.4m height, walls, ceiling, woodwork, good existing condition, materials, preparation and two coats to the main surfaces. It excludes sash windows and parking.
Prime Coat’s £700 starting price includes preparation, paint, protection, standard two-coat application and cleaning.
Without that specification, two apparently different room prices may actually be quoting for entirely different amounts of labour.
What Should You Send Every Painter to Get Comparable Quotes?
Companies.London recommends creating one written project specification and sending exactly the same information to every contractor.
At minimum, specify the room dimensions, ceiling height, walls to be painted, ceilings, skirting boards, doors, windows, existing condition, repairs, wallpaper removal, desired number of coats, paint range, whether the property is occupied, parking/access conditions and expected completion window.
Photographs should accompany the brief where possible.
Then ask every contractor to identify separately:
labour, materials, VAT, preparation, access equipment, waste disposal, parking/congestion costs, estimated duration, insurance and guarantee.
That produces a much more meaningful comparison than simply asking three companies:
“How much to paint my flat?”
Which Type of Painting Company May Suit Which Project?
The businesses in this study are not interchangeable.
For large commercial contracts, new-build developments and technically managed programmes, GSD and Bagnalls publish evidence of projects at a scale very different from a typical domestic bedroom repaint.
For high-end residential, listed-property and detailed interior work, businesses such as Ignas and Novitas publish extensive examples involving heritage properties, premium wallcoverings and specialist finishes.
For customers primarily interested in understanding likely costs before arranging a visit, Prime Coat, Novitas and Ignas currently provide considerably more numerical information than most businesses in our sample.
For a project combining painting with broader refurbishment or property-maintenance work, PEBS operates across a wider set of trades rather than functioning only as a decorating contractor.
The relevant question is therefore not simply “Which painter is best?”
It is:
“Which company’s documented experience and operating model best match this particular property and scope?”
What Information Should You Verify Before Hiring?
A professional-looking website should be the beginning of the verification process, not the end.
Before work begins, confirm the legal or trading identity shown on the quote, business address, scope of work, materials, preparation, price, VAT treatment, payment schedule, start and finish expectations, insurance, guarantee and who is responsible for access or parking costs.
Where a website displays accreditations, customers can also check those with the relevant organisation rather than assuming that every logo remains current.
For significant projects, ask for examples of recent jobs involving the same type of building and work, rather than simply looking at attractive photographs of unrelated properties.
Companies.London Research Conclusion
The most important finding from this study is not which London painter has the highest star rating.
It is how much the amount of verifiable information available before contact differs between companies.
All ten businesses gave potential customers a direct route to obtain a quotation.
Only four published useful numerical price guidance.
Eight published identifiable insurance information.
Only a smaller group went further and disclosed the actual public-liability limit.
Guarantee periods also varied significantly, and several businesses did not present a simple universal warranty period.
Those differences give customers a more useful basis for asking questions than a generic Top 10 list based on unexplained scores.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does It Cost to Hire Painters in London?
There is no reliable single London room price. In this research we found published examples ranging from broad £300–£900 room guidance at Ignas to £700 starting prices at Prime Coat and an £850 + VAT specified bedroom example at Novitas. The specification behind each figure is different.
Why Don’t Most Painting Companies Publish Prices?
Preparation, height, wall condition, access, woodwork, specialist finishes and materials can substantially alter the amount of labour involved. Only four of the ten company websites in our sample provided useful numerical pricing guidance.
Should a London Painter Have Public Liability Insurance?
Customers should ask for evidence of appropriate current cover and check whether the limit is suitable for the size and nature of the job. Eight of the ten companies reviewed published some insurance information, but only a smaller number stated a specific public-liability limit.
Are Painting Guarantees All the Same?
No. The periods and terms vary. Our sample includes stated warranties ranging from six months to two years, while some businesses use project-dependent terms.
Should I Use Online Reviews to Choose a Painter?
Reviews can provide useful evidence but should be considered alongside recent comparable projects, the written scope, insurance, quotation detail, guarantees and the contractor’s legal identity.
Research date: 22 September 2026.
Editorial methodology: Companies.London reviewed publicly accessible information on company websites. A statement marked as not found means it was not identified during that review; it does not establish that the company does not provide the service, insurance or protection concerned.
Prices, services, insurance policies and guarantees can change. Customers should reconfirm current information directly before entering into a contract.