---
title: "Is my quote fair? Check it against published UK rates"
description: "Enter the job, the size and the quote: see where it sits against the rates UK cost guides publish for painting, tiling, flooring, plastering and more. Dated, no verdict."
url: https://buildbatch.co.uk/quote-check/
---

# Check a quote against published rates

Enter the job, the size and the quote. Each cost guide's figure is worked for your size, and the page says whether your quote sits below, within or above it. No verdict, no average: the figures are the publishers' own, dated.

## How to read it

Each row is one publisher's figure, as its page gives it, worked for your size: a rate per square metre times your square metres, a rate per roll times your rolls. A figure per room or per day is worked only for the rooms or days you enter. Where a quote sits against a figure is arithmetic; whether it is fair is not. A quote above every published figure can still be right for a room that needs a lot of preparation, for London, or for a tradesperson who is busy; one below them all is worth a question about what is left out.

Compare like with like. Beside each figure it says whether it is for the labour only or takes in the materials, and whether VAT is in it. Say what your quote includes and the rows that cover something else are marked. The [labour costs page](https://buildbatch.co.uk/labour-costs/) has every figure with its date and address, and what to ask a tradesperson for in writing.

For the materials, [plan the room](https://buildbatch.co.uk/room-refresh/): the list adds up one shop's prices for them, dated, so a quote with materials in it can be set against the labour figures plus that total.

## Questions

**Is my painting quote fair?**

This page cannot say. It shows where your quote sits against the figures UK cost guides publish for a room or a day of painting, each named and dated. A quote can sit above them and still be right for a room that needs a lot of preparation, or in London.

**What makes a quote higher than the published figures?**

More surfaces (ceilings, woodwork), more preparation (filling, stripping, a mist coat on new plaster), more cutting (patterned paper, diagonal tiles, a small room), taking the old floor up and away, the region (London and the South East cost more), and VAT if the trader is registered.

**Do the published figures include materials and VAT?**

Each figure says what the publisher's page says: labour only, materials included, VAT included or not stated. Say what your quote includes and the page marks the figures that do not cover the same things, so you compare like with like.

**Where do the figures come from?**

From the cost guides named beside each one, with the date their page gave and the day it was read, on the labour costs page. BuildBatch does not survey tradespeople and has no rates of its own.

Directory last checked 3 October 2026. Written with AI tools; not yet checked by a tradesperson. BuildBatch sells nothing and shows no prices here.