Painter and decorator
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Surface preparation, painting and finishing for buildings and interiors. Low entry cost, steady demand, and finishing quality is what separates a day-rate painter from one who is asked for by name.
- Route in
- ITI Painter, or learning on site. No formal requirement 1 course lead here
- Where you work
- Building sites, homes, commercial interiors, industrial painting Day work, seasonal peaks before festivals and handovers
What this is
Understand the role
Preparing and finishing surfaces — filling, sanding, priming and painting walls, woodwork and metalwork in homes, offices and industrial buildings. Low entry cost, constant demand, and the difference between adequate and excellent is visible to every customer.
What the work is
Day to day
Most of it is preparation, which is what customers do not see and what decides whether the finish lasts. Then cutting in, rolling or spraying, and cleaning up properly. Add texture finishes, waterproofing and industrial coating and the work becomes more specialised and better paid.
What you need
Capability
No formal requirement. ITI Painter or a short course helps for organised employers and overseas work. Practically: brushes, rollers, a spray setup as you grow, ladders or scaffolding access, and safety equipment — solvent-based paints and confined spaces are a genuine health risk that painters routinely ignore.
What people get wrong
Read this one
Quoting by the day rather than the job, and skipping preparation to finish faster. Both keep you at the bottom of the trade. Customers who care about finish will pay for it, and they are the customers who recommend you.
Take the health part seriously. Long-term solvent exposure and spray work without a proper mask cause real damage, and a dust mask is not a respirator.
The route in, step by step
6 steps from where you are now.
Class 8 or Class 10 Required
Open entry.
ITI Painter General Required
One year - surface preparation, primers, finishes, spray equipment and defect correction. Many painters skip this and learn on site; the certificate is what gets you contractor and industrial work.
Work under a contractor Required
One to two years. Preparation is ninety per cent of a good finish and it is the part that is learned slowly.
Learn finishes and specialist coatings Required
Texture and decorative finishes, wood polishing, waterproofing coatings, and epoxy or industrial systems. Specialist finishes command several times the rate of plain emulsion work.
Learn to estimate and quote Required
Area measurement, coverage rates, material and labour costing. Painters who cannot quote accurately work for those who can.
Take contracts, or become a painting contractor Optional
Your own crew and direct contracts with builders and interior firms. Paint company applicator programmes give you training and leads.
Courses that lead here
1 mapped route into this career.
Common questions
The ones people actually ask about this work.
Do I need any qualification to become a painter?
<p>No formal qualification is required. Most painters learn on site. An ITI Painter certificate helps with organised contractors and overseas work, but the trade hires on what you can produce.</p>
What actually decides how much a painter earns?
<p>Finish quality and reliability, more than speed. Customers who care about the result will pay for it and will recommend you; customers who only want cheap will always find someone cheaper. Specialising in texture finishes, waterproofing, wood polishing or industrial coating pays considerably better than general wall painting, and moving from day rate to quoting the whole job is the step that changes your income.</p>
Is painting work dangerous?
<p>The risks are real and routinely ignored. Long-term exposure to solvent-based paints causes genuine harm, and spray work without a proper respirator is the worst of it — a cloth or dust mask is not a respirator and does not protect you. Working at height on poorly secured ladders and scaffolding is the other common cause of serious injury. Buy your own safety equipment if the site does not provide it.</p>
How do painters get regular work?
<p>Through builders and contractors for volume work, and through word of mouth for household jobs, which pay better. Photograph every completed job. A set of clear before-and-after photographs is the single most effective thing a painter can have when quoting to a new customer.</p>
Test this against your own priorities
Pay, hours and entry route matter differently to different people. Compare this against the alternative you are actually weighing, rather than against the average.