How to quote a painting job

Painting is quoted from wall area, and wall area is the part everyone gets right. What separates a quote that holds from one that does not is prep — the filling, sanding, caulking and masking that happens before a brush touches the wall, and that nobody sees in the finished job.

Measure surfaces, then multiply by coats

  1. Take wall and ceiling areas room by room

    Perimeter times height gives the walls; the floor area gives the ceiling. Deduct only large openings — subtracting every door and window costs more time than the paint it saves.

  2. Measure trim in linear feet

    Baseboard, casing, crown, rails and railings are priced by the foot, not by area. They are slow, detailed work and the single most common thing missing from a quote that came in low.

  3. Decide the number of coats before pricing anything

    A colour change, a dark shade going light, or bare filler over a repair can each turn two coats into three. The coat count multiplies both the paint and the labour, so it is decided first.

  4. Count the doors, and count both faces

    A door is a unit of work with edges, a frame and hardware to mask, and it has two sides. Quoting doors as part of wall area undercounts them every time.

Prep is the price

On a repaint, preparation is routinely more of the labour than the painting is. Filling nail holes, sanding runs from the last job, caulking gaps that have opened, masking floors and fittings, and priming patches so they do not flash through the topcoat — all of it is invisible when finished and all of it is why one quote is half another. Write the prep as its own described line so the client can see what they are comparing.

What has to be excluded

What moves a painting number up

  • Ceiling height beyond a step ladder, which brings scaffolding or a tower and slows every wall under it
  • Occupied rooms, where furniture is moved and re-covered daily and the site is reset each evening
  • Intricate trim, panelling and spindles, which are measured in feet and painted by the inch
  • Exterior work, where weather, surface moisture and daylight all ration the working day
  • Specialist coatings — enamels, epoxies, anything with a recoat window that dictates the schedule

Hold the price for forty-five days

Valid for 45 days, which is longer than most trades hold a figure, and it is a scheduling allowance rather than generosity — painting is booked ahead and clients take time choosing. Pair it with a deadline for colour selections, because the whole schedule depends on paint being ordered and tinted before the crew arrives.

Start from the painting quote template

Common questions

Why do painting quotes vary so much for the same house?
Almost always because of prep and coat count. One quote assumes two coats over a light sand, another assumes three over full filling and caulking, and the finished rooms look nothing alike a year later.
Should trim be included in the wall rate?
No. Trim is priced in linear feet because it is slow, detailed work with edges and hardware to mask. Folded into an area rate it is invisible, and it is the usual reason a quote comes in under and finishes over.
How many coats should a quote assume?
Whatever the colour change requires, stated explicitly. Going from a dark shade to a light one, or covering fresh filler, commonly needs three, and a quote that does not say how many is not comparable with one that does.

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