How to price painting jobs

Painting looks like the easiest trade to price, and that is the trap. The equation is the same as any job: price = materials + labor + other job costs + overhead + profit.

But the paint is a small part of it. Most of the cost is labor, and much of that labor is moving, covering, masking, patching and caulking before a roller touches a wall.

This guide shows where your hours per unit come from, then prices a repaint of two bedrooms and a hall. Wages and paint costs vary by metro and by week, so the dollar figures are yours to fill in. For the general method, see how to price a construction job; for software built around the trade, see the painting industry page.

How painting work is measured

Painting is measured in three units, and each scales with something different.

• Walls and ceilings, by the square foot: wall area is the perimeter times the ceiling height, less doors, windows and wide openings. Ceiling area is the floor area.
• Trim, by the linear foot: baseboard, crown, chair rail and caulked joints. Baseboard is about the perimeter, less each doorway.
• Doors, windows and fixtures, by the piece: door slabs, casings, window sashes, cover plates and furniture moves.

Ceiling height matters more than floor area

Example: A 12-by-14 room with 8-foot ceilings has 416 square feet of gross wall. With 10-foot ceilings it has 520, a quarter more paint and rolling on the same floor plan.

That is why per-floor-foot prices come in short on tall rooms. The paint calculator turns room sizes and openings into wall area and gallons.

The formula for a painting price

Every line on a painting estimate follows the same pattern:

1. Quantity × labor hours per unit = labor hours for that line.
2. Labor hours × your full hourly labor cost = labor cost. That is the wage plus labor burden: payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits.
3. Materials: paint, primer, enamel, tape, caulk, roller covers and floor paper, at what you will pay near the job now.
4. Other job costs: sprayer or lift rental, scaffolding, disposal.
5. Overhead for every labor hour: a year of overhead divided by the hours your crew bills.
6. Profit, as a markup on the total cost or a target margin.

Get your labor rate right first

Labor is most of a painting price, so the labor rate matters most. The labor rate guide and the labor rate calculator build it from your pay, burden and billable hours.

Where your labor hours per unit come from

Only you can supply the hours per unit, because they belong to your crew. A published table can't know how fast your painters cut in, how much furniture your customers own or how many stairs stand between the truck and the bedrooms. Your own jobs can.

Divide hours by quantity on every job

Job costing is how you get them. On every painting job, record the hours each stage took and the quantity it covered, then divide.

Keep surfaces per 100 square feet and trim per 100 linear feet, so the numbers stay readable. After a handful of jobs you have hours you can price from; after a season you can see how they move with the house.

Track each line, not one painting rate

Keep a separate number for each line:

Count labor hours, not crew hours

Two painters working an 8-hour day is 16 labor hours. Once you track them, three things stand out:

• Wallpaper removal takes several times as long as two coats of paint on the same wall, so never fold it into a wall price.
• A foot of baseboard takes far longer than a square foot of wall.
• Ceilings are slower than walls, because the work is overhead and around lights and vents.

Outside, the method drives the hours

Outside, the method changes the hours more than the house does. Brushing and rolling lap siding takes much longer than spraying and back-rolling it, and scraping adds real hours before any primer.

Prep is where painting jobs are won or lost

Two painters can quote the same rooms with the same paint and land far apart. The gap is almost always prep. Finish coats are predictable; prep depends on what you find.

Price each kind of prep as a line

• Protection: moving and covering furniture, papering floors and masking windows. In a furnished home it is a real line per room.
• Patching: count nail holes, dents and doorknob holes on the walkthrough. Each larger patch needs mud, sanding and spot primer.
• Caulking: open joints at baseboards and casings show through new paint. Price caulk by the foot.
• Primer: patches, bare drywall, stains, glossy surfaces and big color changes need it. A deep color going to white often needs a primer coat or a third coat. Price the one you will do.

Assume lead paint before 1978

In homes built before 1978, assume painted surfaces contain lead until tested. When prep disturbs more than 6 square feet of paint per room inside, the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule requires a certified firm and renovator, containment and specific cleaning.

Add a line for lead-safe work area setup and cleanup. Expect sanding and scraping to go slower under its work practices.

Write down every wall's condition

Note the condition of every wall on the walkthrough. That list becomes your prep lines, and it explains why your price is not the lowest.

Taking off paint and sundries

Turn each area into gallons and round up to what you buy. Take the coverage per gallon from the label of the product you will use, multiply the area by the number of coats and divide. Do the same for primer and trim enamel.

Tape, caulk, rosin paper and roller covers come from the roll and tube sizes, by the foot or the piece.

Porous surfaces drink more paint, and deep colors may need a third coat. Treat those as your waste factor for paint, and price every gallon at what you will pay near the job this week.

Worked example: two bedrooms and a hall

Example: A homeowner wants two bedrooms and the hall between them repainted in a 1990s house. Ceilings are 8 feet, floors are hardwood, and both bedrooms are furnished.

The scope:

• Walls and ceilings get two coats.
• The baseboard, four doors and their casings get two coats of enamel.
• The smaller bedroom is deep blue going to off-white, so its walls get a primer coat.
• Windows and the bath and linen doors are not in the scope.

Walls 835 square feet, baseboard 106 feet

Count each door at 20 square feet and each window at 15.

• Bedroom 1, 12 × 14: 52 feet of perimeter × 8 = 416 square feet. Less two doors (40) and two windows (30), that is 346. Ceiling: 168.
• Bedroom 2, 11 × 12: 46 × 8 = 368. Less two doors (40) and one window (15), that is 313. Ceiling: 132.
• Hall, 4 × 16, open at both ends: two 16-foot walls, 32 × 8 = 256. Less four doorways (80), that is 176. Ceiling: 64.

Then the totals:

• Walls: 346 + 313 + 176 = 835 square feet.
• Ceilings and floor protection: 168 + 132 + 64 = 364 square feet.
• Baseboard: each perimeter less 3 feet per doorway, 46 + 40 + 20 = 106 feet.
• Walkthrough count: 20 nail holes, two doorknob holes and 14 cover plates.

Labor: 50 hours

Say your crew's own records show the hours per unit below. They are example inputs to show the arithmetic, not a standard: use your own.

The check: 3 + 2.73 + 0.75 + 1.4 + 1 + 1.5 + 0.5 + 3.18 + 2.5 + 11.69 + 5.82 + 5.3 + 5 + 2 + 2.25 + 1.5 = 50.12 labor hours. For two painters, that is about three working days.

Prep and cleanup take 41% of the hours

Finish coats on walls, ceilings, trim and doors are 29.81 hours. Protection, prep, touch-up and cleanup are 20.31 hours, about 41% of the job.

And the baseboard, doors and casings (12.3 hours) take longer than all 835 square feet of wall (11.69 hours).

Materials: round each gallon up

Say the labels on your paint and enamel list 350 square feet per gallon per coat, and the primer 300. Rounded up:

• Wall paint: 835 × 2 coats = 1,670 square feet, ÷ 350 = 4.77 gallons, so 5 gallons.
• Ceiling paint: 364 × 2 = 728 square feet, ÷ 350 = 2.08 gallons, so 3 gallons.
• Primer: 313 ÷ 300 = 1.04 gallons, so 2 gallons, with some left for spot priming.
• Enamel: about 140 square feet of door slab (both sides of four doors), 35 of baseboard and 20 of casing, 195 in all. Two coats is 390 square feet, ÷ 350 = 1.11 gallons, so 1 gallon and a quart.
• Rosin paper: 364 square feet plus overlap at the seams, in whole rolls.
• Caulk: 106 feet, from the bead coverage on the tube, rounded up.
• Tape, masking film, roller covers and patching compound from the other lines.

Price each at your supplier near the job. Call the total M.

Add four cost lines, then markup

With a 25% markup, the price is the total cost × 1.25, a 20% margin. A 20% markup gives only about a 16.7% margin. The markup vs margin guide explains why, and the job cost calculator adds up the lines.

Then divide the price by three rooms and compare it with rooms you have painted.

A pre-1978 house adds lead-safe lines

In a house built before 1978, you would add lead-safe setup and cleanup and slow the patching lines.

Common painting pricing mistakes

• Pricing by floor area. Tall ceilings, stairwells and many doors break any per-floor-foot number.
• Folding prep into the wall price. Patching, caulking and primer change from house to house.
• Ignoring the furniture. A furnished room takes real time to move, cover and put back.
• Underpricing trim and doors. By the foot and the piece, they are far slower than walls.
• Skipping primer on color changes. A third coat you did not price comes out of your profit.
• Missing a pre-1978 house. Ask the year built every time.

How to present a painting estimate

• Group lines by room, and within each room by protection, prep and finish.
• Name the products, sheens and coats. If colors are not chosen, say how many colors the price includes.
• List exclusions: windows, closets, wall repair beyond the patches counted, and heavy items like pianos.
• Use an allowance for unknown repair, with a rate beyond it.
• Set the deposit, start date and expiration date, and state your touch-up and workmanship warranty.

The painting estimate template lays these sections out, and the painting invoice template bills the deposit and balance. For a one-off, the free estimate generator makes a clean PDF.

Pricing painting jobs with BuildWell

BuildWell builds a painting estimate from a description of the job by voice, text or photos, such as "two bedrooms and a hall, 8-foot ceilings, walls and ceilings two coats, baseboard and four doors, one room dark blue to white." The AI decides what work the job needs and how much; it does not set prices.

BuildWell prices materials at stores near the job and labor at the metro's median wage for the trade, plus your overhead and markup. You can change any quantity, hour or price, or add your own line. The homeowner signs on their phone.

A painting pricing checklist

• Wall area from perimeter × height, less openings
• Ceilings, baseboard and doors measured and counted
• Furniture, floor protection and masking priced
• Patches, caulk and primer counted on the walkthrough
• Year built checked for lead-safe work
• Gallons at current prices near the job
• Overhead on every labor hour, then profit
• A per-room check against similar jobs