Painting and Decorating Association – What you need to know

What is the Painting and Decorating Association?

The Painting and Decorating Association is the largest trade and employers’ association in the UK painting and decorating industry, with Members across the country.

The Association was formed from a need for painters and decorators to support each other and a desire to raise the profile of the craftsmanship within the construction industry. The PDA was formed in 2002 through a merging of the British Decorators Association and the Painting & Decorating Federation.

Today, the PDA offers tailored support to painters and decorators across the country. Tradespeople that are supported by the PDA include sole traders, growing SMEs and trusted national contractors.

What does the Painting and Decorating Association do?

The Painting and Decorating Association aims to promote the painting and decorating sector within the construction industry.  The PDA also carries out a variety of lobbying activity on behalf of the painting and decorating trade.

The PDA maintaining key relationships across the construction sector, academia, Government and the media.

What does it mean to be a member?

Members of the PDA must fulfil comprehensive checks to become a member. They need to demonstrate their experience, workmanship and commitment to customer service.

Once approved, members are allowed to display the PDA’s quality marque, an emblem of professionalism, including on their Checkatrade profile. The PDA membership provides a badge of trust that homeowners can rely on.

PDA Members are skilled, talented and experienced professionals, fitting in line with Checkatrade’s commitment to putting homeowners in touch with trusted and verified tradespeople.

The PDA membership commit to the Association’s Code of Practice, are fully insured and are backed by the organisation’s arbitration reconciliation service.

What are the benefits of being a PDA member?

PDA Members benefit from a wealth of business support, including network and training events. There is a range of guidance on issues such as health and safety, marketing, legal support and employment advice.

The Association also hosts a series of Events and Awards throughout the year. One of the PDA’s aims is to celebrate excellence within the painting and decorating industry.

As a non-profit organisation, the Painting and Decorating Association reinvests money generated from commitment from its members and associate support. The PDA helps to represent the industry on both the national and international stage.

Some of the benefits of PDA membership include:

• Free Legal support
• Free Legal insurance
• Training/technical advice
• Listed in member directory
• Discounts and offers
• Access to associate partners and manufacturers

What is the Painting and Decorating Association membership cost?

Membership starts from only £19.50 per month. Subject to category. The Small to Medium Contractor Membership is the offering favoured by most trade businesses.

However, larger businesses can benefit from a different pricing structure thanks to the National Contractor Membership. Members on the NC level also enjoy representation from the PDA at both UNIEP and Build UK.

As well as standard membership rates, the PDA provides access to a wide variety of training courses. Covering a broad range of topics, the training courses are designed to ensure high standards across the industry.

How do you join the Painting and Decorating Association?

If you are part of the painting and decorating industry and can see the benefits of becoming a PDA member, you can start your application today.

As a painter and decorator, you can join Checkatrade to help customers find your services easily. Checkatrade is the best known sign of quality in the trade industry. That’s why 1 in 4 people who visit us are checking a tradesperson’s quality credentials before booking a job direct.*

Being part of both the Painting and Decorating Association and Checkatrade helps grow your business, so it pays to be listed. If you would like to join as a professional trade member, start your application today.

* Claims are sourced from a survey conducted by Deep Blue Thinking on a nationally representative UK sample in November 2021.