Planning Leads for Painters & Decorators: Find New Build and Renovation Work Early
New builds need a full internal and external paint job. Extensions need matching and finishing. HMO conversions need every room decorated to a rentable standard. All of this work exists as a planning application on a council website, weeks or months before a decorator ever gets a call.
Most painters and decorators never see these applications, because checking council portals across a patch every week isn’t realistic alongside actually being on the tools. So the work goes to whoever the builder already uses, by default, not because they’re better.
Planr checks the portals for you, every week.
How Planr finds planning leads for painters & decorators
Planr scrapes council planning portals across Herts, Essex, and London (expanding) weekly, pulling in every new application and extracting the applicant’s name and address from the documents — including redacted PDFs that would take ages to check manually.
An AI model scores each application for relevance to painting and decorating work, so new builds, extensions and change-of-use conversions rise to the top of your list.
What gets scored highly for painters & decorators
- New build houses — full internal and external decoration from scratch
- Extensions — new rooms need finishing, and often the whole house gets redecorated to match
- Change of use to residential — commercial-to-flat conversions, each unit needing full decoration
- HMO conversions — multiple rooms, all needing a consistent, rentable finish
- Loft conversions — new rooms, often with tricky ceiling and eaves painting work
What you get
A scored weekly list of relevant applications, and a ready-to-send letter for each one. Planr reads your website first, so the letter reflects what you actually offer — interior, exterior, specialist finishes — matched to the specific project the homeowner or developer has applied for.
Download it, print it, post it.
How much time this saves
Checking multiple council portals and reading through applications to find decorating-relevant work takes about 2 hours a week done consistently. Most decorators are fully booked on the tools and simply don’t have that time spare, which is why these leads sit unclaimed.
Planr cuts that down to about 10 minutes a week: scroll your scored list, download what’s worth sending. Roughly 7 hours back a month.
Pricing and free trial
- Starter — £29/month. 1 council.
- Growth — £59/month. 3 councils.
- Pro — £79/month. 15 councils.
7-day free trial, no card required, 3 letters included so you can see it work on real applications near you.
FAQ
Is decorating work usually contracted separately from the main build? Often, yes — especially for homeowner-led extensions and renovations, where decorating is one of the last trades brought in and frequently sourced independently.
Does this cover HMO and rental conversions? Yes — change of use and HMO conversion applications are scored highly, since they typically involve full decoration across multiple rooms or units.
How early should I contact the homeowner or developer? Planning approval usually comes months before decorating actually starts, so early contact — even just to introduce yourself and be remembered later — tends to work well.
Will the letter mention specific finishes or specialist work I do? Only what’s listed on your website. Planr writes based on your actual services, so the more detail on your site, the more specific the letter.
What areas does Planr currently cover? Herts, Essex, and London councils, with more being added regularly.
Be the name they remember when the plastering’s finally dry. Start your 7-day free trial — no card required.