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Free painting cost calculator: price a paint job room by room

Type each room's size and count the doors and windows. The calculator works out the wall and ceiling square feet, the gallons of paint, the labor (by the square foot or by the hour), trim, doors, prep, extras, and your minimum charge, and shows how many painter-hours the price pays for. Then print a one-page quote. It works for exterior siding too. No signup, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

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Set your prices once, then measure each room for the job. Jump to the price, how to price a painting job, or what to write down at the walkthrough. Want the quote with your own line items instead? Start from the painting estimate template.

Sample prices Every number below is a made-up starting number so you can see how it works, including the paint coverage. Change them to yours.

1. Your business and the customer

2. Your prices

Labor prices for each surface, the coats each price includes, and how fast you paint it. A price for 2 coats becomes 1.5 times that price for 3 coats. The speeds are used for the by-the-hour method and the painter-hours check.

Paint

Coverage is an assumption. Many cans list about 350 to 400 sq ft per gallon per coat on smooth walls. Change it to what your paint and your walls do. Gallons are rounded up to whole gallons for each paint.

Extras

Hourly rate, minimum, and rounding

3. This job

One box per room. Type the length, width, and ceiling height, and count the doors and windows. Leave the width blank for a single wall (length × height), or type the wall or ceiling square feet if you measured them another way. Leave the coats blank to use the coats in your prices, or type 0 to skip the walls or the ceiling.

Other surfaces (exterior siding, or any area you measured)

Prep and repairs

Extras for this job

Leave Qty blank for 1.

4. The price

5. Notes for the quote

Put the example notes back

Quote text to copy

Send this with the PDF. It fills in from the calculator, so check it before you send.

How to price a painting job

1. Know your hourly number. Add up what a painter-hour costs you (wages, insurance, the truck, ladders and sprayers, and the time spent on quotes and driving) plus your margin. The free pricing calculator works it out.
2. Time your work. Note how many square feet of wall and ceiling you paint in an hour for one coat, how many feet of trim, and how long a door takes. Your own job notes are the best source.
3. Turn it into prices. Price per square foot = your hourly number × coats ÷ square feet per hour. With the made-up numbers here: $55 an hour, 2 coats, and 110 sq ft an hour per coat comes to about $1.00 per square foot of wall.
4. Measure every room. Walls, ceilings, trim, doors, and what needs prep. Count the gallons for each paint so the paint is on the quote, not a surprise.
5. Check the painter-hours. Step 4 shows how many painter-hours the price pays for after paint and supplies, next to the hours the work takes at your speeds. If the work takes longer, the price is too low for that job.

Prices for painting vary a lot by city, season, and job. Set your prices from your own costs and speeds, and change them in step 2.

How the math works

• Wall area = 2 × (length + width) × height, minus 20 sq ft per door and 15 per window (you can change both), to the whole square foot. Ceiling area = length × width.
• Labor by the square foot = area × your price × coats ÷ the coats that price includes. By the hour = area × coats ÷ your square feet per hour × your hourly rate.
• Trim = linear feet × price per foot. Doors = count × price per door.
• Gallons = area × coats (plus trim and doors for the trim paint) × (1 + waste) ÷ coverage, rounded up to whole gallons for each paint. Paint = gallons × price per gallon × (1 + markup).
• Prep = prep hours × your hourly rate, plus any repairs allowance.
• Job price = labor + prep + paint + supplies + extras, raised to your minimum charge if it's lower, then rounded to the nearest dollar amount you picked. Total = job price + sales tax.
• Painter-hours the price pays for = (job price − paint and supplies) ÷ your hourly rate, to the nearest quarter hour.

The made-up sample: four rooms with 1,450 sq ft of wall and 620 sq ft of ceiling. Walls 1,450 × $1.10 = $1,595.00, ceilings 620 × $0.75 = $465.00, trim 310 ln ft × $1.50 = $465.00, 6 doors × $55 = $330.00, and prep 6 hours × $55 = $330.00. Paint: 1,450 × 2 coats ÷ 350 = 8.29, so 9 gallons of wall paint ($432.00), 2 of ceiling paint ($76.00), and 2 of trim paint ($116.00), plus $85.00 in supplies. Total $3,894.00, the same as the sample on the painting estimate template. That price pays for 58 painter-hours at $55, and the work takes about 57 at the sample speeds.

Ready to send it? Put the numbers on the painting estimate template or the blank free estimate maker. When the job is done, bill it with the painting invoice template and give a receipt with the painting receipt template. Customer added a room? Use the change order maker.

What to write down at the walkthrough

Most pricing mistakes on paint jobs come from something missed at the walkthrough. Write these down for every room before you leave:

• Each room's size. Length, width, and ceiling height, or the wall square feet if you measured them another way. Round to the nearest half foot.
• Doors and windows. Count them in each room so they come off the wall area. The calculator takes off 20 sq ft per door and 15 per window by default.
• What gets painted. Walls, ceiling, trim, and which doors, plus any accent wall, closet, or stairwell. Note it per room so nothing is left out of the price.
• Coats and color changes. Two coats on walls is common. A big color change, a dark color, or new drywall may need primer or a third coat.
• Condition and prep. Nail holes, cracks, peeling, stains, wallpaper, and gaps to caulk. Prep time is easy to miss and is often a big part of the job.
• Ceiling height and access. High ceilings, stairwells, and two-story walls take longer and may need a taller ladder or a plank.
• Furniture and what moves. What the customer will move and what you will move and cover.
• Trim and doors. Linear feet of baseboard and casing, and how many doors, one side or both.
• Outside. For exterior work: siding square feet, trim and fascia, garage doors, washing, scraping, and spot priming.

Painting pricing questions

How do I figure the square footage of a room for painting?

Add the length of all four walls and multiply by the ceiling height, then take off about 20 sq ft for each door and 15 sq ft for each window. A 16 by 14 ft living room with 9 ft ceilings has (16 + 14 + 16 + 14) x 9 = 540 sq ft of wall, minus 2 doors and 3 windows (85 sq ft), so 455 sq ft. The ceiling is length times width: 224 sq ft. The calculator does this for each room in step 3, and you can change the door and window sizes in step 2.

How many gallons of paint do I need?

Multiply the square feet by the number of coats and divide by the coverage on the can. Many wall paints list about 350 to 400 sq ft per gallon per coat on smooth walls, so the calculator starts at 350 for wall and ceiling paint and 400 for trim paint. Treat that as a starting number and change it to what your paint and your walls actually do. Rough, porous, or patched walls take more. The calculator rounds each paint up to whole gallons, and you can add a waste percent for touch-ups.

Should I price painting by the square foot or by the hour?

Both work. A price per square foot is quick to quote and easy for customers to compare. Pricing by the hour starts from how fast you actually paint: square feet per painter-hour for each coat, times your hourly rate. Step 3 lets you switch between the two, and step 4 shows the painter-hours the price pays for either way, so you can check a square-foot price against your real speed.

How do I charge for prep and repairs?

Put prep on its own line so the customer sees it. This calculator takes prep hours at your hourly rate (moving and covering furniture, masking, patching nail holes, caulking) and a flat repairs allowance for anything bigger. For walls that need heavy prep or tall walls that take longer, add a percent on top of the labor. Extras like wallpaper removal and drywall patches have their own prices in step 2.

Should I mark up paint and supplies?

Many painters bill paint at a price above what they pay, to cover the trips to the store, the time spent picking colors, and the leftover cans. Others bill it at cost and keep the margin in the labor. Either way, type your price per gallon in step 2. If you type your cost, add your markup in the markup box. The sample uses 0% because its paint prices are already the prices billed.

Do I charge sales tax on painting?

It depends on your state, and sometimes your city or county. Some places tax painting labor, some tax only the paint and materials, and some don't tax the job at all. Rules can also differ between new construction and work on an existing home. Check with your state's revenue department or an accountant, then type your rate in step 3, or leave it blank if you don't charge tax. The calculator applies the rate to the whole job price, so if only part of the job is taxed where you work, figure that part separately. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

What minimum charge should a painter set?

Enough to cover driving out, setting up, cleaning brushes and rollers, and packing up, plus your time on the job. Time a small job from leaving the last stop to leaving this one and multiply by your hourly rate. Any quote below the minimum is raised to it, and the calculator shows that raise as its own line. The $350 in the sample is made up.