A single number is the most confident thing a cost guide can print and the least honest. Here is what happens when you put the published figures side by side, and what a band is actually telling you.
Published 13 August 2026
Every cost page here prints a range, and most are wide enough to look evasive. The width is the shape of the evidence, and I would rather show you that than average it into a number that reads like a fact.
Start with the easiest case. A painter and decorator does well defined work in a well supplied market, so if any trade should have a settled rate it is this one. Here is what each guide prints for it.
Checkatrade, How much do tradespeople cost in the UK in 2026
Day rate: £250 to £350. Hourly: £30 to £40.
MyBuilder, How much does a painter and decorator cost 2026
Day rate: Three ranges on one page: £150 to £250 in the summary, £127 to £271 in the rate table, £150 to £300 in the questions at the foot. Hourly: £16 to £38. A fourth figure, £250 to £350, appears for the same trade in the trade table on the MyBuilder builder day rate page.
Superscript, What are tradesperson pay rates for 2026
Day rate: £150 to £220. Hourly: £20 to £35.
That is not the market moving between two visits. It is one publisher printing a different figure in its summary, in its rate table and at the foot of the same page, plus another one elsewhere on its own website.
The obvious next move is to look for agreement between publishers. That works less well than it sounds. These are three publishers, not three surveys of what people actually paid. Four ranges are identical in the Checkatrade and MyBuilder trade tables, and Superscript names Checkatrade as one of its own inputs. Where the guides agree, that agreement carries less weight than it looks like it does.
The air conditioning figures make the point in one table, because there the guides at least price the same thing: one indoor unit in one room, fitted.
| Guide | Single split, one room, installed |
|---|---|
| OVO Energy | £1,500 to £2,500 |
| Selectra | £1,500 to £3,000 |
| Heatable | £2,000 to £3,500 |
| MyJobQuote | £550 to £2,100 |
The three guides that price it the same way span £1,500 to £3,500 between them. The patch where all three overlap is £2,000 to £2,500, a fraction of what any of them advertises on its own. The fourth guide starts lower still, at £550 to £2,100. The low end here sits well below the other three guides, so read it as what a cheap unit with a simple installation can cost, not as the going rate.
No published London uplift survives its own source. MyBuilder claims 20 to 40% above the national average and then prints a regional table on the same page showing London at £233 against Manchester at £196, a gap of about 19%. That is why this site publishes no single London percentage.
A percentage is the most quotable form a price claim can take, and the least likely to survive its own source.
A range is not an author refusing to answer. It is the answer, and its width is information in its own right. A narrow band means the market agrees. A wide one is your cue to ask more questions before you sign.
The full spread per trade, with what every guide prints and where each one contradicts itself.
The figures in the table above in full, plus running costs and the planning rules for the outdoor unit.
Put a quote you have received against an independent range instead of against another quote.