Painting cost in Dubai 2026: AED 10 to 25 per square metre

Every painting quote in this city is priced on one number and sold on another. The painter measures square metres of wall and ceiling. You are searching for the painting cost per square foot of your apartment. Those two figures differ by a factor of about three, which is why quotes for the same flat come back looking unrelated to each other.

Painting rates per square foot and per square metre in 2026

Start with the unit, because it decides everything else. Trade rates in Dubai are quoted per square metre of painted surface, meaning wall and ceiling area, not floor area. At AED 10 to 18 per square metre for standard work, that converts to just under AED 1 up to about AED 1.70 per square foot of painted surface. Premium work at AED 18 to 25 lands between AED 1.70 and AED 2.30.

Translated onto the number you actually know, the floor area, a standard repaint of an apartment sits at roughly AED 2 to 6 per square foot of floor area, and a premium job with heavy preparation at AED 4 to 9. The spread is wide because the multiplier between floor and paintable surface moves with the layout.

The working multipliers we measure off drawings:

• Compact studio, few partitions: paintable surface around 2.2 to 2.5 times floor area
• Partitioned apartment, ceilings 2.9 to 3.1 metres: around 3 times floor area
• Villa with a stairwell and any double-height space: 3.2 times and upward

Tiled bathroom walls, wardrobe interiors and glazed elevations come out of that figure, which is why a bathroom-heavy 2BR paints cheaper per square foot than an open-plan one of the same size.

Whole-unit bands for 2026, covering walls and ceilings with preparation, two topcoats and a mid-tier emulsion. Treat these as market ranges rather than a fixed DOMECO price list, since we quote after a walkthrough:

• Studio, 350 to 500 sqft: AED 800 to 2,000 standard, AED 1,400 to 2,800 premium
• 1BR, 650 to 900 sqft: AED 1,800 to 4,500 standard, AED 3,200 to 6,300 premium
• 2BR, 1,000 to 1,400 sqft: AED 2,800 to 7,000 standard, AED 5,000 to 9,800 premium
• 3BR, 1,400 to 2,000 sqft: AED 4,000 to 10,000 standard, AED 7,000 to 14,000 premium
• Villa, 3,500 to 5,000 sqft: AED 10,000 to 25,000 standard, AED 17,000 to 35,000 premium
• Villa exterior, two storeys: AED 8,000 to 25,000 including access equipment

One question separates a real quote from a guess. Ask what painted area, in square metres, the price was calculated on. A contractor who cannot give you that number priced your flat by looking at it.

What sits inside the painting cost: labour, paint, and the line nobody writes down

On a painting job the split runs roughly 60 to 70 per cent labour and 30 to 40 per cent materials. That is the reverse of a full fit-out, where imported tile, stone and joinery push materials to 60 or 70 per cent. Painting is a labour trade with a paint bill attached, and it prices accordingly.

Labour supply companies in Dubai invoice a painter at AED 120 to 200 per day including his tools and transport. Owners find that figure, multiply by four days, and conclude they are being overcharged. What the day rate excludes is supervision, protection materials, waste removal, the cost of coming back to correct a defect, and any warranty at all. A two-man crew at AED 160 a day is AED 1,280 over four days on a 1BR. The rest of a AED 3,500 quote is putty, primer, fourteen gallons of emulsion, masking film, dust sheets, site management and the fact that someone answers the phone in month six.

On paint volume, a 3.6-litre gallon tin covers about 30 to 35 square metres per coat on a primed, smooth surface. A 1BR with 220 square metres of paintable area needs two coats over 440 square metres, so around 14 gallons plus primer. At AED 60 to 120 a gallon for a mid-tier emulsion that is AED 850 to 1,700 of topcoat. Push to a premium line at AED 150 to 350 and the same tins cost AED 2,100 to 4,900, which is the entire distance between the standard and premium bands above.

Surface preparation: where 40 per cent of the money goes

Preparation is around 40 per cent of a painting budget and close to 100 per cent of the reason a job fails. It also happens to be invisible the day after it is done, which is why it is the first thing a cheap quote deletes.

What a proper preparation stage contains:

1. 1. Protection: floors sheeted, joinery and skirting masked, AC return grilles sealed so plaster dust does not reach the filters and coil
2. 2. Washing down to remove dust, cooking grease and the film that settles in any Dubai property
3. 3. Scraping and removing flaking or poorly bonded previous coats
4. 4. Crack repair: hairline settlement cracks at block and column junctions cut open in a V, filled, taped where they are live
5. 5. Two coats of putty and skim, with sanding between them, to get a flat wall
6. 6. Dust removal after sanding, which is a task on its own here
7. 7. Primer or sealer, adding AED 200 to 800 to the job depending on area

The condition of the property decides how much of that you need. A recently handed-over apartment carries a thin builder's coat over a single putty pass, and you can usually overcoat it after washing and spot-filling. A property at seven to fifteen years old is a different job. Previous cheap repaints, anchor holes, patch repairs around AC servicing and hairline cracking mean stripping and re-skimming areas, and that adds 20 to 30 per cent to the base figure.

Fresh plaster deserves its own rule. New render needs at least three to four weeks before paint, and it takes a minimum of three passes: an alkali-resistant primer or a thinned mist coat, then two full topcoats. Anyone quoting two coats total on new plaster has left the primer out. The result flashes and patches within weeks as alkalinity in the plaster attacks the binder in the film. Deep colours need three topcoats regardless, because tinted deep bases have poor opacity and the second coat will still show roller variation across a long wall.

Paint brands in the UAE and how they behave in this climate

Jotun has the largest presence in the UAE and manufactures regionally, so availability and batch consistency are the best in the market. Its premium interior lines sit at AED 150 to 350 a gallon. Dulux under AkzoNobel and Berger Paints Emirates price comparably at the equivalent tier, with Berger widely used in developer handovers because of local production and volume pricing. Asian Paints competes closely at both the value and premium ends. National Paints holds the budget contract end of the market.

The brand argument is mostly noise. The line within the brand matters far more than the badge on the tin. A budget line from a premium manufacturer performs worse than a mid line from a mid manufacturer, and both are beaten by two properly applied coats over honest preparation.

What is worth choosing deliberately in Dubai:

• Wipeable or easy-clean lines in corridors, stairs and anywhere children pass. Dust here is constant, and wiping a flat matt film burnishes it into shiny patches inside a year
• Interior emulsion with a fungicide in towers where the AC runs hard
• A quality exterior acrylic on facades. On a west-facing villa elevation a good exterior emulsion holds four to six years before chalking, a budget one two to three

The air conditioning question comes up on almost every job and gets answered wrong. Dark stripes appearing along the ceiling perimeter and around diffusers in a Marina or JBR apartment are condensation at a thermal bridge, not paint failure. An anti-fungal wash and a fungicidal paint slow it down. What stops it is the thermal detail, the diffuser insulation and a thermostat that is not set to 18 degrees. Repainting over it without addressing the cause buys you about one season.

Conditioned air changes application too. Dry air at 22 degrees shortens the open time of the film, so on a long wall a crew that does not keep a wet edge leaves lap marks that only appear once the light rakes across it. We shut the diffusers in the room being painted, keep the room temperature stable and work wall by wall corner to corner. Which leads to the rule owners resist most: you cannot touch up half a wall. Developer white is rarely a stocked tint, and a patched repair reads as a visible rectangle in daylight.

Timelines, and why paying for speed costs more

Realistic on-site durations for painting alone, with normal preparation:

• Studio: 2 to 3 days
• 1BR: 3 to 4 days, 5 to 7 if cracks and re-skimming are involved
• 2BR: 4 to 6 days
• 3BR: 6 to 8 days
• Villa interior, four bedrooms: 10 to 14 days
• Villa exterior: a further 7 to 12 days including scaffolding up and down

Those durations are governed by drying, not by headcount. Water-based emulsion needs two to four hours between coats at 24 degrees and a full cure of one to two weeks, which is why you should not wash a freshly painted wall in the first fortnight. Adding painters to compress a four-day job into two does not shorten the recoat interval. It only means more people standing in a small flat, and the usual outcome is a second coat applied over a first that has not properly set. That shows up as patchy sheen and poor washability a month later, once everyone has been paid.

Building management adds its own clock in towers, where work is generally restricted to 09:00 to 17:00 on weekdays with no weekend drilling, and the service lift has to be booked. In summer, plan around the midday outdoor work ban from 15 June to 15 September, 12:30 to 15:00, and around humidity that stretches every drying stage.

High ceilings, stairwells and decorative finishes

Access is priced separately from paint for good reason. A double-height entrance or a stair void needs towers or scaffolding, a second man for safety, and slower working at height. On a typical villa stairwell that adds AED 1,500 to 4,000 in equipment and time before a single litre is opened. Ceilings themselves price above walls when a quote is itemised honestly, usually 15 to 25 per cent more per square metre, since overhead work is slower and cutting in around cornices and diffusers takes the time. A quote that blends walls and ceilings into one flat rate is normally thin on the ceiling.

Decorative finishes are a different trade with different rates. Venetian plaster, marmorino, micro-cement and metallic systems run roughly AED 90 to 300 per square metre as a market band, depending on the system and the applicator's skill. The material cost is a minor part of that. You are buying an applicator who has laid the same system a hundred times, and there are fewer of those in Dubai than there are companies offering the finish.

Community NOC and exterior painting approvals

Interior repainting needs no Dubai Municipality permit. It is not structural and it does not touch MEP. What it does need, in any tower, is written approval from building management before your crew reaches the lift lobby, along with a work permit form, contractor trade licence and insurance copies, a service lift booking and often a refundable deposit.

Exterior painting is where owners get stopped. In master communities run by Emaar or Nakheel, the exterior colour is part of the community specification, and repainting a villa facade requires a developer or association NOC. Changing the shade generally requires approval of the specific colour before purchase, and on Palm Jumeirah scaffolding and access arrangements attract their own conditions. The approval itself is usually straightforward. The delay is in submitting it after your painter is already booked. The full sequence per developer is set out in our guide to community NOCs from Emaar, Nakheel and Palm Jumeirah.

Timing matters as much as paperwork on facades. Most manufacturers cap substrate temperature at around 40 degrees, and a sun-facing Dubai wall passes that comfortably by mid-morning from May onward. Paint applied to a wall that hot flash-dries at the surface, giving poor adhesion and visible lap marks. Exterior work belongs to the October to April window, or to early mornings following the shade around the building.

Painting inside a renovation against a standalone repaint

Here is the part that costs us work to say plainly. If all you need is paint, do not hire a fit-out company. A standalone repaint of a 1BR is a two-painter, four-day job, and a specialist painting crew will price it below a contractor carrying project management, insurance and a warranty structure. Paying fit-out overheads for a paint-only scope is money spent on capability you are not using.

Painting inside a renovation prices differently, because the expensive parts are already paid for. Protection, access, waste removal and supervision are on site for the whole programme, so the marginal cost of the painting stage drops well below a standalone visit. Sequence is the other gain: first coats go on before flooring, the final coat after skirting and joinery are installed and filled, and the deep clean comes last. Do it in the wrong order and you either damage new floors or leave a final coat with roller marks around every fixed element. Where painting sits within a full scope and what the other trades cost is broken down in our apartment renovation cost guide.

One caveat on new property. A handed-over unit carries the developer's defects liability, generally one year on non-structural items, and paint defects sit inside that. Repaint in month three and you have taken that cover off the developer and onto yourself. If the handover finish is acceptable, wait.

How to read a painting quote: seven red flags

1. 1. A price per room with no painted area stated. Rooms are not a unit of measurement, and a per-room price is where the preparation quietly goes missing
2. 2. No line for putty, skim or primer. If preparation is 40 per cent of a real job and it does not appear in the quote, either it is not happening or it is coming back later as an extra
3. 3. Paint described as "premium emulsion" with no brand and no product line. Ask for the exact product name and check its price yourself
4. 4. Coat count unstated. Two topcoats is the assumption. Get it written, and get three written for deep colours and fresh plaster
5. 5. Walls and ceilings at one blended rate, with no separate ceiling figure
6. 6. Nothing about who moves and protects furniture, or who removes the waste. Both cost money and both end up on someone
7. 7. No stated warranty period or defect visit. Painting defects appear at four to eight weeks, not on handover day, so a warranty that expires at final payment is decoration

A quote that is 30 per cent below the others is usually one thinned coat over unwashed walls. It looks correct for a fortnight and then flashes wherever the previous surface was patched. We fix scope and price by contract, back the work for one year, and pay a percentage for every day we run past the agreed date. If you want a painting or renovation quote checked against your own building and drawings, send us the unit details and we will tell you which lines are missing.

FAQ

How much does painting cost per square foot in Dubai?

Roughly AED 1 to AED 2.30 per square foot of painted surface in 2026, which is the unit painters actually price on. Measured against floor area, the figure most owners have to hand, a standard repaint works out at AED 2 to 6 per square foot and a premium job with deep preparation at AED 4 to 9. Paintable surface in a partitioned apartment is about three times floor area once ceilings are counted.

How much does it cost to paint a 2BR apartment in Dubai?

A 1,000 to 1,400 sqft two-bedroom apartment runs AED 2,800 to 7,000 for walls and ceilings with normal preparation, two topcoats and a mid-tier emulsion. Premium paint with full re-skimming and crack repair takes it to AED 5,000 to 9,800. A property at seven to fifteen years old typically adds 20 to 30 per cent for repairing what previous work left behind.

How many coats of paint does a new Dubai apartment need?

Fresh plaster needs three passes: an alkali-resistant primer or thinned mist coat, then two full topcoats. Two coats total is not enough, and the finish will patch as the alkalinity in the plaster attacks the paint film. Deep colours need three topcoats over any surface because tinted deep bases cover poorly.

Do I need a permit or NOC to paint my apartment or villa in Dubai?

Interior painting needs no Dubai Municipality permit, but towers require written building management approval, a contractor trade licence and insurance copies, plus a service lift booking. Exterior villa painting in an Emaar or Nakheel community needs a developer or association NOC, and the colour normally has to match the approved community palette. Get the colour approved before buying the paint.

Which paint brand lasts longest in Dubai?

Jotun, Dulux, Berger and Asian Paints all perform well at their premium tiers, and the differences between them matter less than the line you choose within each brand. Premium interior lines run AED 150 to 350 a gallon against AED 60 to 120 for mid-tier. Preparation and coat count affect durability more than the label does.

How long does it take to paint a villa in Dubai?

Ten to fourteen days for a four-bedroom villa interior with normal preparation, plus seven to twelve days for the exterior including scaffolding up and down. Those timings are set by recoat intervals of two to four hours and a full cure of one to two weeks, so adding painters does not compress them. Schedule exterior work between October and April, since most paints cap substrate temperature near 40 degrees.