Fence Painting Costs UK — What to Charge to Paint or Stain a Fence in 2026

How to Price Fence Painting

There are four common ways to price painting or staining an existing fence, and most decorators use a blend depending on the job. Get comfortable converting between them — a customer who asks for a "price to do the back fence" will usually have a length in mind, while your costing is driven by area and condition.

• Per panel — the most common method for standard 6ft close-board or lap panels. Quick to quote, easy for the customer to understand.
• Per linear metre — useful where fencing runs in a continuous line or isn't in standard panels (feather-edge, post-and-rail, hit-and-miss).
• Per square metre — the most accurate for costing materials and labour, especially on tall or non-standard fencing. This is the number that actually drives your time.
• Day rate — best for large runs, awkward access, or jobs where prep is the unknown. Most fence painters fall back to a day rate when a job is too variable to price per panel.

In practice, fences are usually priced per panel or per linear metre because that's how customers think about them. Whatever method you quote on, do your own sums in square metres behind the scenes so you know the job actually pays.

One Side or Both? This Doubles the Area

The single biggest pricing mistake in fence painting is quoting for one side and being expected to do two. A standard 6ft x 6ft panel is roughly 3.3m² on the face. If you paint both sides — which you should wherever access allows, because a fence painted on only one side weathers unevenly and looks half-finished — you've doubled the area to around 6.6m² per panel. That is double the timber, double the material and very nearly double the labour.

Always establish at the quoting stage whether the customer wants one side or both, and whether you even have access to both sides. Boundary fences are frequently only accessible from one garden — the neighbour's side may be blocked by their shed, planting or simply their permission. State explicitly on the quote: "Price covers painting the garden-facing side of all panels only," or "Both sides where access permits." This one line prevents the most common fence-painting dispute there is.

Brush, Roller or Spray?

How you apply the product has a big effect on your time, and therefore your price. All three methods have their place.

Brush and Roller

Brushing is slow but gives the best penetration into the grain, gets into the gaps between boards and is the most reliable finish on rough-sawn timber. A roller speeds up the flat areas but you'll still need to brush — "cut in" — the edges, the gaps and the post faces. Brush-and-roller is the default for small gardens, where masking up for a sprayer would take longer than the painting itself.

Spraying

For long runs, spraying is dramatically faster — an HVLP or airless sprayer can cover a large boundary fence in a fraction of the time it takes to brush it. The catch is masking and protection. Overspray drifts, so you must sheet up plants, paths, patios, sheds, furniture and anything on the neighbour's side of a boundary. Spraying is also weather-dependent in a way brushing isn't: even a light wind carries overspray onto cars, washing and next door's greenhouse, and that's a complaint and a clean-up bill you don't want.

Factor in whether you own a sprayer or hire one. Sprayer hire runs roughly £30–£60 per day, plus the cost of masking film, sheeting and tape. Spraying only pays on jobs big enough to absorb the setup time — for a handful of panels, the masking eats the time saving. Many decorators spray the open runs and brush the fiddly sections around borders and gates.

What Affects the Price

Two fences of the same length can be hours apart in labour. Before you put a number on it, run through these:

• Total length and height: 6ft is standard, but 4ft and 1.8m+ fences change the per-panel area. Measure, don't guess.
• One side or both: as above — both sides roughly doubles everything.
• Condition of the timber: this is the big variable. New or bare sawn timber drinks product and needs two coats. Previously painted fence in good nick is quick. Old, flaking or previously gloss-painted fence needs scraping, brushing down and sometimes sanding before you can touch it.
• The product: a basic shed-and-fence treatment costs a fraction of a premium opaque or coloured wood stain. The better products cover better and last longer, but cost more per litre.
• Number of coats: a single refresh coat versus a proper prep-and-two-coats job are completely different prices.
• Access: deep borders, mature planting, sheds, water butts and furniture pushed against the fence all slow you down. Anything you have to work around or move adds time.
• Masking and protection: particularly if spraying, but also relevant near light-coloured paving, decking and neighbouring property.
• Vegetation: ivy, brambles, climbers and overgrown borders often have to be cut back or tied off before you can even reach the timber.

Refresh Coat vs Prep-and-Two-Coats

Be clear with yourself and the customer about which job you're quoting. A refresh is a single coat over a fence that's already in reasonable condition and the same colour — a quick freshen-up. A full job means brushing down the timber, scraping any flaking material, cutting back vegetation, masking up, and applying two coats. The full job can easily be two to three times the labour of a refresh on the same fence.

The risk is quoting refresh money and discovering a flaking job on the day. Inspect the fence before you price it. If you can't see it in person, price conservatively and put a condition on the quote: "Price assumes timber is sound and previously treated; additional prep on bare or flaking sections charged at day rate."

Materials, Coverage and Coats

Coverage depends heavily on the product and the state of the timber. As a rough guide, a typical fence and shed treatment covers somewhere around 5–6m² per litre on smooth, previously treated timber, but far less on rough-sawn or bare wood — thirsty new timber can swallow a first coat at half that rate. Always read the tin's stated coverage and then assume the real-world figure is lower on the first coat.

Most fence jobs want two coats for a durable, even finish, and bare timber genuinely needs the first coat to soak in before the second builds the colour and protection. A single coat on bare wood will look patchy and won't last. Buy your product by tub for larger jobs — 5-litre and larger tubs work out cheaper per litre than small tins, and a continuous batch avoids slight colour shifts between containers.

Weather is non-negotiable. You need a dry spell, and the timber itself must be dry — painting damp or recently rained-on wood traps moisture and the coating peels. Don't apply in direct strong sun on a hot day either, as the product can flash off too fast. A run of settled, mild, dry days is ideal. Build a weather contingency into your schedule because fence painting in a British summer rarely goes exactly to plan.

Worked Example: a Typical Small Garden

Take a common job — a small rear garden with roughly 10 standard 6ft panels, garden-facing side only, in reasonable condition, two coats of a mid-range stain. At a per-panel rate of £15–£25 a side, that's broadly a £150–£250 labour job — comfortably a day for one person including prep, cutting in around borders and a tidy-up. Do both sides where access allows and you're looking at closer to a day and a half, and the price scales accordingly.

For bigger boundaries, or where the fence is old and flaking, drop the per-panel logic and quote on a day rate of £150–£250 per day plus materials. That protects you when the prep is the unknown, which on fences it usually is.

Quoting Tips for Decorators and Gardeners

A few habits keep fence jobs profitable and dispute-free:

• Price per panel, cost per m²: quote in the unit the customer understands, but always check the job pays in square metres behind the scenes.
• Spell out one side or both: put it in writing on every fence quote. This is the number-one source of fence-painting arguments.
• Inspect before pricing where you can: flaking, bare and previously gloss-painted timber are prep jobs in disguise. If you can't inspect, add a prep caveat to the quote.
• Build in a weather contingency: don't promise a fixed day if the forecast is shaky. Customers understand that you can't paint wet timber.
• Separate materials: quote labour and product clearly, and note the brand and number of coats so there's no argument about what they got.
• Upsell annual maintenance: fences need re-doing every few years. Offer a recurring refresh — far less prep, predictable money, and it fills quieter weeks in the calendar.

Quick Reference: Fence Painting Prices UK 2026