How Do Painters Price a Job?

Please note that the price information in this article was based on data from 2018 and may now be outdated. 

So, you’ve finally chanced upon a tool like Service Seeking where you’re confident you’ll find a suitable painter and you’re ready to go get some quotes. But how does a painting professional work out how much to quote for a particular job?

Having some up front knowledge can help you budget for your painting project, protect yourself from unfair pricing and spare yourself house painting blunders if you hire an unreliable painter. And when you see a price estimate, you’ll more likely know how to spot a dodgy one.

Essentially, it’s about counting in labour, material and overhead costs. Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of all the factors painters consider when calculating their rates.

How many square feet or metres need painting?

Most contractors calculate the price of a paint job on a per square metre or square feet basis. The reason for this is self-evident: the square footage of the paintable surface will dictate how much time, paint and material is required to complete the job.

You can search for your home sale contract to track down the square footage info. But if you can’t dig it out, you’ll need to figure it out yourself or let the painter do it during the on-site estimate.

To get the square feet measurement of your room, you need to measure the length of the walls and the height of the room and then multiply the two together. However, to arrive at the exact calculation of the actual paintable area, you need to subtract the areas that don’t require painting, let’s say windows or doors if you weren’t planning on painting them.

You’ll do it by measuring the areas you want to exclude and subtract the amount from the total square footage result. A no-brainer, right?

However, you should think of additional work that goes into your paint job, cause it will affect the price. If you want to redecorate the timber elements – such as doors or window sills – don’t forget to figure them into your surface area.

How much paint is needed?

Generally, it will take 5 litres of paint to cover 40-70 square feet, depending on the type of paint and its spreading rate. If the walls are in good condition, two coats of paint will be needed, so that means you’ll need 10 litres per given square footage.

And conveniently, you can use an online paint calculator to work out how much paint you need by entering your surface area, the spreading rate of the paint (should be labelled on the can) and the number of coats.

Do you want interior trim?

Furthermore, decide if you want some interior trim done. Trim can transform your space and add a touch of style to your rooms. Naturally, painters will charge the extra work done on these additional surfaces, so you should count them into your square footage calculation.

Consider adding these trim elements to make your home makeover more stylish:

• ceiling trims
• baseboards
• crown moulding
• architraves

Moulding is a great way to add instant style to any room! #MegaDens @DIYNetwork #followme pic.twitter.com/fqJNTXLNob

— anitra mecadon (@anitramecadon) February 11, 2014

How much prep work before you paint?

Prep work is something you don’t want to overlook when trying to figure out the cost of your house painting project. However, people are prone to do it since the results of this phase don’t seem that visible.

But every experienced painter can tell you that if you mess things up here, what you get is more than visible. The bad results of poor surface preparation can show even a year after.

Some painters compromise on preparation quality to go for a cheaper quote, but if you suspect this is going on, take your money and run!

So, you should know your painter will charge you more if your home needs some of this prep work done:

• If the former paint jobs show drips, lousy brushwork or layers of caked-on paint around the mouldings – all these surfaces have to be sanded
• Spots of peeling paint or cracks need to be stripped and nail holes filled
• You’ll need a primer or an undercoat layer to prep the surface for the finish layers. Especially if you want to cover up dark wall colours with lighter tones
• Porous walls will require caulking, wall repairs and sanding

Want textured walls?

When coming up with their quotes, painters will also ask you if you want them to add any decorative paint finishes to your walls. You can choose from a wide range of textured patterns such as crackling or sponging. Or opt for faux finishing which can replicate the appearance of stone, marble or wood.

Likewise, you may want to decide on the special finishes and effects such as:

• Distressing – which creates an antique look
• Crackling – which makes for a cracked finish, where the original colour is showing through
• Dragging – which creates an effect of fine lines

So, this is also something you’ll want to factor in your square footage calculations since textured walls require more layers and therefore more paint.

Painters will generally figure in roughly 300 to 350 additional square feet of paint to account for texture. Also, accent colours will require up to 3 coats, so in this case, you need to account for the additional paint, too.

What painting materials are needed?

Painters will typically work the cost of materials into their professional cost estimates since it is very unlikely they will require you to provide supplies yourself and charge you only the labour costs.

Whenever you can stay on top of things, you should do it, so here’s the list of materials painters will generally need for the paint job:

• Brushes – Large wall brushes with beaver tail handle for larger surfaces. Straight edge and angled edge trim and sash brushes for touch-ups
• Paint rollers – For large wall covering
• Tarp – For drip protection of floors and furniture
• Paint tape – To protect trim and ceilings from droplets
• Paint tray – To sample smaller portions of paint needed for smaller surfaces
• Ladder – For reaching high areas

What are painting labour costs?

Your final paint job quote will also include the cost of labour, which can dip as low as $35/hr and reach up as high as $45/hr in the Australian marketplace. As always, when it comes to time, it’s difficult to tell.

The number of hours on the job will depend on the complexity of the job as well as the size of the crew and their level of experience.

You should know that when charging per hour, painters typically exclude the cost of paint and materials.

As for the complexity, a standard painting job will be quoted $40/hr on average. Expect the rate for a less complex job to be around $35/hr. Meanwhile, if you’re planning for a more complicated concept for your home expect to pay roughly $45/hr.

What are painting overheads?

A painting business has other expenses that go beyond just material and labour costs. It’ll depend on the scale of the company, but basically, overhead costs can include:

• Office wages for project managers, sales reps, marketing teams, accountants, etc
• Marketing costs
• Insurance and warranty fund costs, etc

Lastly, if things still don’t make sense after you’ve worked out your own estimate based on the steps above, make sure to add the painter’s markup, which can range from 20 to 50%.

How do I get painting quotes?

Using the advice above, you can cobble together a guesstimate of how much your painting job might cost you so you can budget for it. And most important of all, getting into the workings of how painters price their job will enable you to make cool-headed decisions when making a deal.

Now you know all you need to know, the only thing left to do is find some good painters and get some quotes.

Use Service Seeking to quickly get some ballpark numbers for your paint job. Then shortlist the painters that give the best offer and ask for more accurate estimates to save time and get yourself the best deal ever.