Painting Job Pricing: Interior vs. Exterior, Prep, and Real Per-Square-Foot Rates
Production rates, substrate multipliers, paint allowances, cabinet jobs, and a worked three-bedroom interior at $2,890. Prep is 60% of labor — price it separately.
The single biggest reason painters lose money is underestimating prep. 60% of labor is prep.
Interior and exterior are different businesses
Paint contractors who try to price interior and exterior with a single formula bleed money on one end or the other. The jobs have different production rates, different prep demands, different material costs, and different weather risk. Price them as two distinct estimating frameworks.
Interior is predictable. The room exists. You can see every wall and ceiling. Prep is about drywall repair, caulking, taping trim, and floor protection. Weather is irrelevant.
Exterior is a weather gamble wrapped in a scope question. The substrate (wood, stucco, siding, brick, fiber cement) drives prep time more than the paintable surface area does. A failed prime on sun-baked cedar shakes can cost you a repaint six months later.
Interior pricing: by wall square foot or by room
For residential interior, experienced crews price by wall square foot for whole-house repaints and by room for one-off rooms. Some markets still price by the painter-day.
Typical production rates (experienced 2-person crew)
| Scope | Wall sq ft per crew-hour |
|---|---|
| Roll out, minimal prep, one coat | ~300 |
| Roll out, standard prep, two coats | ~150 |
| Heavy prep (patches, spackle, sand) | ~75 |
| Ceilings (roll, two coats) | ~175 |
| Trim + doors (brush, two coats) | ~25 LF |
| Cabinets (spray, doors removed) | ~6 doors/day/painter |
Example: three-bedroom repaint
Walls only, no ceilings, no trim. Three bedrooms averaging 12' × 14' with 9' ceilings. Each room has roughly 2 × (12 + 14) × 9 = 468 sq ft of wall, minus ~40 sq ft for door and window openings → call it 425 wall sq ft per room. Three rooms × 425 = 1,275 wall sq ft.
- Production: 1,275 ÷ 150 = ~8.5 crew-hours
- Crew labor at $62/hr fully burdened × 2 × 8.5 = $1,054
- Paint: 1,275 sq ft × 2 coats ÷ 350 sq ft/gal = 7.3 gal → 8 gallons at $52/gal = $416
- Materials (tape, plastic, caulk, spackle): $80
- Floor protection: $40
- Hard cost: $1,590
- Markup to 45% margin: ~$2,890 customer price
Prep is 60% of the job
The single biggest reason painters lose money is underestimating prep. A bid walk-through takes ten minutes; prep work takes the majority of the labor budget. When you walk a job, prep-audit separately:
- Drywall repair: count holes, dents, popped nails, cracks, corner bead damage. Each item is roughly 10–20 minutes of labor plus compound and paint touchup.
- Patching size: anything over 4" across is a 2-coat patch, sand, re-texture, prime — plan 30 minutes.
- Caulk lines: interior crown, baseboards, window trim. Linear feet × 0.5 min/ft for identification and gun work.
- Nicotine, grease, mildew: requires cleaning + stain-blocking primer before paint. Doubles prep time.
- Wallpaper removal: a surprise line item. Budget $1.50–$3.50/sq ft removed, plus skim coat if the substrate gets torn up.
- Dark-to-light color change: often needs a third coat or a tinted primer. Plan for it.
Exterior pricing: substrate drives everything
For exterior, measure siding sq ft (height × perimeter minus openings) and price per square foot with substrate and condition multipliers.
Base exterior rates by substrate (2026)
| Substrate | Base $/sq ft (labor + materials) |
|---|---|
| Smooth vinyl siding | $1.50–$2.00 |
| Hardie / fiber cement in good shape | $2.00–$2.75 |
| Stucco in good shape | $2.25–$3.00 |
| Painted wood siding, minor prep | $2.75–$4.00 |
| Cedar shakes or T1-11 with weathered prep | $4.00–$6.50 |
| Brick (seal + paint) | $3.50–$5.50 |
Condition multipliers
- Previously painted and sound: × 1.0
- Needs pressure wash only: × 1.05
- Peeling paint, requires scraping 20% of surface: × 1.25
- Peeling paint, requires scraping > 50% of surface + spot prime: × 1.5–1.7
- Bare wood exposure > 30%: × 1.8+ (the job is really a restoration)
Always add trim, fascia, soffit, gutters, and shutters as separate line items — they produce at very different rates than wall siding.
Don't absorb the customer's paint choice
Painters routinely quote a job at Sherwin-Williams ProClassic and then the customer requests Emerald. The price difference is often $15–$30 per gallon. On an interior job that's $250–$500 of margin you just gave away.
Include a paint allowance in your quote at a specific product tier (e.g., “Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint or equivalent mid-tier”). Upgrades to Emerald, Duration, Aura, or Regal Select are priced as explicit upcharges by gallon.
Cabinet painting is its own beast
Cabinets are the highest-margin painting work in the home if you do them right — and the highest-liability work if you don't. The price floor for a standard kitchen is around $3,200 for spray-in-shop grade work; the ceiling is $8,000+ for high-end conversion-varnish finishes.
Typical line items: remove doors and drawer fronts, label, degrease, sand, fill, prime (bonding primer), 2 coats of finish. Bring the doors to a spray booth or build one on-site with plastic.
Single biggest margin killer: bounce-backs for chipping because of poor prep or wrong primer. Use a proper bonding primer designed for kitchen cabinets (Stix, BIN, ProBond) and allow full cure time before reinstalling hardware.
Painting bid mistakes
- Underpricing prep. 60% of labor is prep; if you allocated 20% you're already underwater.
- Absorbing paint upgrades. Allowance + upcharge, always.
- Flat-rating exterior by sq ft without substrate multiplier. Cedar shakes and vinyl are not the same job.
- Forgetting ladder/scaffold/lift. Two-story exterior often needs a 40' ladder or a man lift rental.
- Not accounting for weather on exteriors. Build a 15% schedule buffer in fall and spring climates.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I price an interior painting job per square foot?
- Measure wall square feet (perimeter × ceiling height, minus openings) and apply a per-sq-ft labor rate based on production speed. An experienced 2-person crew does roughly 150 wall sq ft per crew-hour at standard prep + two coats. Multiply by your fully-burdened hourly labor cost, add paint (~350 sq ft per gallon per coat), materials, and overhead + profit markup to land 40–50% gross margin.
- Why is exterior painting more expensive per square foot than interior?
- Substrate condition, prep requirements, equipment (ladders, lifts, scaffolding), weather risk, and additional insurance exposure all push the cost. Exterior labor is also lower production because of ladder moves, caulking exterior gaps, and priming bare spots.
- Should I include paint in my painting quote?
- Yes, but as an allowance at a specific tier (e.g., 'Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint or equivalent'). Price upgrades to premium tiers (Emerald, Duration, Aura, Regal Select) as explicit per-gallon upcharges. Never quietly absorb a $15–$30/gallon upgrade on a 12-gallon job.
- How should I price kitchen cabinet painting?
- Standard kitchen cabinet repaints start around $3,200 for spray-grade work and can reach $8,000+ for conversion-varnish finishes. Always factor in full door removal, degreasing, sanding, proper bonding primer (Stix or BIN), and two finish coats. Poor prep produces chips and warranty callbacks that wipe out the margin.
- What's the most common painting estimate mistake?
- Underpricing prep. Prep is typically 60% of labor on a real repaint; if you budgeted 20% you will lose money on the job. Walk each room and audit prep separately: drywall repair count, patch sizes, caulking LF, cleaning requirements, wallpaper removal, and color-change coverage.
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