Painting your own walls saves money. Less of it than most people assume, and for a reason nobody mentions in the aisle of the DIY store: in France a professional invoices renovation work at a reduced rate of VAT, while you pay the full rate on every tin you carry to the till.
In brief
- Budget roughly 0.2 litre per square metre for two coats.
- In France, renovation work by a professional is taxed at 10 %.
- Preparation takes longer than painting, every single time.
- Read the NF EN 13300 classes on the tin before comparing prices.
Where the money actually goes
Start with the quantity, because it is the one figure you can settle before deciding anything else. Wall paints generally cover 8 to 12 square metres per litre per coat, so around 10 as a working average, and virtually every colour change needs two coats. That puts you near 0.2 litre per square metre of wall for the finished job.
Now the part that surprises people who have moved to France recently. Improvement and renovation work in a dwelling completed more than two years ago is invoiced at a reduced VAT rate of 10 %, and that rate applies to the materials the professional supplies as part of the job. Buy the same paint yourself and you pay the standard rate. The DIY saving is real, but it is the labour you are saving, minus a tax handicap on the materials, minus the tools you may not own yet.
My own rule of thumb, and it is an opinion rather than a costing: for one bedroom in decent condition, doing it myself is clearly cheaper. For a whole flat with high ceilings, the gap narrows a lot faster than people expect.
The job is five stages, and only one of them is fun
Breaking the work down is the fairest way to decide, because the pros and cons are not evenly spread across the task.
| Stage | Doing it yourself | Hiring it out |
|---|---|---|
| Clearing and masking | Slow but genuinely easy | Billed time for unskilled work |
| Filling and sanding | Where amateurs lose the finish | The strongest argument for a pro |
| Cutting in edges | A learnable skill, needs patience | Fast and clean |
| Rolling the walls | The satisfying part, hard to ruin | Little added value |
| Ceilings and heights | Tiring, and the fall risk is real | Proper platforms, proper insurance |
Read that table honestly and a hybrid emerges, which is what I do at home: I clear, mask and roll, and I hand over anything that involves a damaged surface or a ladder longer than I am comfortable with.
What the tin tells you, if you look past the colour
This is the section I wish someone had given me ten years ago, because it is where a DIY result gets close to a professional one.
NF EN 13300 classifies wall paints on two things that matter more than brand. Hiding power runs from class 1, the best, to class 4, and wet scrub resistance from class 1, the best, to class 5. A cheap tin with poor hiding power needs three coats, which means it was never cheap. Comparing two prices without comparing those two classes tells you nothing at all.
Emissions in indoor air carry a separate label, graded A+ to C, compulsory in France since 1 September 2013 on paints, varnishes and floor coverings. A+ is the lowest emission band and it costs very little extra. On top of that, the European Decopaint directive 2004/42/EC caps volatile organic compounds in matt interior wall and ceiling paint at 30 g/L since 2010, so the horror stories about solvent fumes belong to a market that no longer exists in Europe. Ventilate anyway, especially with a small child or an asthmatic in the flat.
The Riviera variable nobody warns you about
Drying conditions are not a detail here, they are half the planning. Paint recoat times assume normal temperature and humidity, and both drying and recoating slow down markedly in cold or damp air, with solvent-based finishes wanting 12 to 24 hours between coats in the first place.
Locally that cuts both ways. A dry August afternoon can flash off a water-based emulsion faster than you can keep a wet edge going, which leaves roller marks; a humid autumn morning near the sea can stretch the recoat time well past what the tin promises. Painting with the shutters half closed, out of direct sun, and starting early rather than at two in the afternoon, does more for the finish than any upgrade of roller.
Three questions people ask me before they buy the roller
Is a primer really necessary? On new plaster, on a strong colour change and on any glossy old surface, yes. On sound emulsion in a similar shade, usually not. Primer is about adhesion and absorption, not about adding a layer for its own sake.
Can I paint over wallpaper? You can, and I would not. It works only if the paper is perfectly stuck down everywhere, and water-based paint is very good at lifting the seams you did not check.
How long should a room actually take? Longer than the weekend you have allocated, mainly because preparation and drying times are not compressible. Plan the schedule around the recoat interval on the tin, not around your Saturday.
My verdict, case by case
- Do it yourself if the walls are sound, the ceiling is standard height, and the room is empty or easy to empty.
- Do it yourself with help if the surface is fine but the volume is large. Two people cutting in and rolling is far more than twice one person.
- Hire it out if there is damaged plaster, old glossy paintwork, a stairwell, or a deadline attached to a tenancy or a sale.
- Hire it out if the job is part of a wider renovation that will be invoiced anyway, since the reduced VAT rate then applies to the whole lot.
Whichever route you take, the choice of paint stays yours, and it deserves more attention than the choice of brand: I compared two of the big names on exactly those criteria in my interior paint comparison.
Painting as part of a bigger refresh?
The same do-it-yourself or hand-it-over question comes up room by room, and the answer changes.
Updated 15 August 2026. Sources consulted: NF EN 13300 for hiding power and wet scrub resistance classes; the French indoor air emissions label A+ to C, compulsory since 1 September 2013; directive 2004/42/EC, known as Decopaint, for the 30 g/L VOC ceiling on matt interior wall and ceiling paints since 2010; the French reduced VAT rate of 10 % on improvement and renovation work in dwellings completed more than two years ago; published coverage and recoat figures from paint manufacturers. Cost comparisons here are general information, not a quotation.
