How to Price Painting Jobs for Profit

Underpricing is the single most common reason painting businesses stall out in year one or two. Here's how to price jobs so you're actually profitable, not just busy.

Start with square footage, not gut feel

Most painters price interior work at $1.50-$4 per square foot of wall area, depending on region, ceiling height, and surface condition. Exterior work typically runs $1-$3.50 per square foot of siding. These ranges exist because labor rates, cost of living, and paint prices vary a lot by market — a job in a major metro will price higher than the same job in a rural area.

For quick reference by room (walls + ceiling, standard 8-9ft ceilings, one coat over existing paint in decent condition):

Bedroom (10x12): $300-$600
Living room: $500-$1,000
Full interior of a 3-bedroom home: $3,000-$7,000

These are starting points — adjust up for two coats, dark-to-light color changes, high ceilings, or heavy trim/detail work.

Know your real labor cost

Figure your fully-loaded hourly cost per painter — wage plus payroll tax, insurance, and overhead — then set a billing rate that leaves margin. Most solo and small-crew painters bill $40-$75 per hour per painter. If your cost per painter is $30/hour loaded, and you're billing $50/hour, that's your margin before materials markup.

Materials: don't eat the markup

A gallon of quality paint (Sherwin-Williams Duration, Benjamin Moore Regal, etc.) covers roughly 350-400 sq ft per coat and runs $50-$80 retail. Mark up materials 10-20% to cover the time spent picking up, returning, and managing product — you're not a delivery service.

Prep work is where estimates go wrong

New painters routinely underestimate prep time — patching nail holes, sanding glossy trim, caulking gaps, scraping peeling exterior paint. On an average repaint, prep can eat 30-40% of total labor hours. Walk the job specifically looking for prep needs and price it as its own line item, not a rounding error.

Charge for what adds risk or time

High ceilings or stairwells requiring extra ladder setup: add 15-25%
Cabinet refinishing: price per door/drawer front ($75-$150 each) rather than square footage
Color changes from dark to light: budget for an extra coat
Occupied homes requiring furniture moving and extra masking: add a flat fee

Build in your minimum job charge

Set a minimum charge (often $250-$500) so a small touch-up job doesn't cost you money once you factor drive time, setup, and cleanup.

Once you've got your pricing model down, the real time-saver is not re-doing this math on every bid. ServiQ lets you save your rates and material costs once and pull them into every new estimate, so pricing stays consistent even when you're quoting from a driveway.