He's very reasonable! Our competitive rate is $1.25 per s.f (includes paint and supplies)which would amount to $4,000.00.

Because I'm a perfectionist and work alone, it would take me two weeks to complete the job.

Michael

I guess I should clarify that estimate. That's with one coat and no repairs.

Michael

Sounds like a good price to me. We did our own painting in a new construction, but got a bid by a company who also gave a bid on drywall finishing. The quote we got was 1700 dollars for 1440 square feet.
Mrs H

One coat? I assume you aren't changing any colors?

Get 2 other quotes from similar companies.

My bill is 4 years old, but it was $17K for two coats of Benjamin Moore, inside and outside on a new 2900 sq ft house with 9-foot ceilings (plus screened porch). We have painted cedar trim outside.

Well by the replys this quote is quite reasonable, I will get 2 other quotes and go from there.

Thanks,

Gary

From what I've seen, paint on walls is relatively inexpensive. Your quote seems more than reasonable to me. You want to make sure they clean the walls well and do a careful job on the repairs. What really adds up is the work on the trim, crown mouldings, and doors - including patching, smoothing, and sanding. Good luck!

I would not pay anyone anything to paint one coat and do no repairs or wall washing. If you are going to clean your walls and trim yourself, and if you are going to patch and sand your nail holes, and if you are not changing colors, you might get away with it. One coat of the same tone on clean trim should be enough. But you can't really get the proper richness of color on your walls in one coat, even if it's the same color.
And if you decide to do that, your painter's price sounds very reasonable, if he is using a premium paint, if he is going to clean up any mess, and if he is insured against any damage to your stuff. I confess that this is a pet thing of mine...of all the things you can do to make your home beautiful, a first-class paint job is the cheapest and most rewarding. I apologized for being a nag!!
And good luck with your project.

Michael H & Huntertx,

Is that wall sq footage or floor sq footage?

Mike

A bid on our last home..........3200 sq. ft. (floor), 8' ceiling in half the house (other half 10-14') closets emptied and painted, baseboards painted with higher gloss enamel..................$8000. But, this guy did 'perfect' work! We ended up painting the inside and let him paint the outside for the same amount of $$.

Well the PC was right on the money paint & materials was 1K (40 gal). The sq ft is floor footage. The contractor told me washed,cleaned,prepped,and 2 to 3 coats, so he got the job, will update later.

Thanks,

Gary

Good work, Gary! I am so pleased that you found a better contract. Loving your house is a good thing!

Mike, that was floor square footage in our case. If I remember correctly, the wall square footage was somewhere around 4000 sq ft.
Mrs H

Bronwynsmom,

I rarely paint anything without the full prep, prime and two coats. However, let's not forget about those who do not have the budget for a complete paint job. I have several senior citizens who want the minimum just to keep their house presentable. There are the divorced moms with 2 children who also want to keep the house looking nice. So, it's not important what you'll pay for, but what their budget will pay for.

Then I have customers who come by referral who don't want a quote. Just do the job!

Michael

Michael,

Of course you make a good point. I didn't get the impression that the budget was the only issue here, but certainly people can do only what is possible! I've done many "use what you have" kinds of design jobs, so I really do understand about budgets. You sound like the kind of painter everyone should know...caring about the circumstances of every client.
(Sometimes I wish we used the English system here, where every trade goes through a measurable learning curve, to keep the slapdash unskilled guys out of the business, and to protect the image of serious guys like you.)

Whatever you do DO NOT buy a bad paint job. Not to be mean, but ask your painter flat out if he is using illegals. Maybe a nicer way to put it is, how many guys on the crew speak English. Seriously. It is going to take me years to unwind the damage from a total internal repaint which just wasn't done right, two coats means nothing if they don't sand the spackle. To me your price seems kind of LOW for the size of the house and the quality of the paint. Ask him if he is going to remove the doors and hardware, drop the light fixtures, etc. The devil is in the details. Also, you might casually ask them something like "could you paint this closet early in the job please" and then get in there and look at the trim paint from inside, where they assume that NO ONE ever looks. If the inner trim paint has good coverage and good cut-in, then the guy probably cares and is running a trained and well-supervised crew.

hi i'm painting this condo that has 1bedroom, 1 kitchen, dinning room, and living space. i would say its about 1700sqft. im not really sure what i'm gonna charge these folks so if any of you can, please leave me a good estimation price, i would gladly appreciate it.

Bronwynsmom makes a good point and one that I keep forgetting for myself. If you want a good job on anything these days, you have to know more than your contractor. It is so unfortunate! I'm laughing at the comment above about illegals. I've got an immigrant guy doing my renovation--slowly and painstakingly. He is close to perfect. To speed the job, I hired an American crew to work in another part of the house to prime and paint newly built shelving and cabinets and plastered walls. At $50 an hour, they completed their work. I get to go back in to sand rough edges, to spackle, to sand down spackle and re-paint. They used a roller instead of a brush on the wood, leaving all of those little bits of fur. Honest to Pete, if you don't tell them--in English!--to do every tiny thing an ordinary housewife would know to do, you get a crappy job. For top dollar. AArgh!

Here is a Link http://minnesota-painter.com/interior-painting-prices.html to get an instant online interior painting price for comparison. We charge 50 percent less in the winter months.

Here is a link that might be useful: Interior OnLine painting prices

Looks like somebody didn't read the Terms Of Use.

hi im fairly new here and i dont know anything about how to charge prices for painting houses. As far painting, prepping, and repairing goes, im the man. this is my first time doing an in home job and getting paid for it (well directly paying me). i just was informed about it today and he said that it was 4000sf in and outside. my question to the community is how do i charge the individual without charging so much or too little? will appreciate ever piece of information.

Good luck with that answer without giving any more info than that. If you don't know what info to have in a question I would have serious doubts about your ability to be "im the man".

Flat and semi-gloss? Is that all? That alone tells me to look elsewhere. There are so many other sheen choices available today. What would he put in the hallway? kitchen?
Do yourself a favor and get some other bids, and look at something besides price.

Interesting painting costs! I think I will do it again myself. I was going to get quotes and be lazy but now.... I am motivated to paint again. Thanks everyone!

hi im fairly new here and i dont know anything about how to charge prices for painting houses. As far painting, prepping, and repairing goes, im the man. this is my first time doing an in home job and getting paid for it (well directly paying me). i just was informed about it today and he said that it was 4000sf in and outside. my question to the community is how do i charge the individual without charging so much or too little? will appreciate ever piece of information.

$1,972,465.87

Hi everyone! Nice to meet you all! :)

Moreover, try to browse the Internet to look for a painter around your local area. This is likely to be the right place to discover a firm and their service fees. Use "painter" in the search engine and your zip code to find the ones who happen to be just classified nearby.

This post was edited by ValerieCasady on Wed, Mar 13, 13 at 9:10

In today's competitive business world, it's important to factor into proposals your actual fixed and variable costs, such as overhead, labor, equipment, and supplies, to fully realize your profit potential.

This easy-to-use, step-by-step cost-estimating tool helps identify and capture all of the associated costs of running a painting business. Both variable and fixed costs are taken into account. Our painting estimates calculator also allows you to add job-specific information, such as production time; square footage; amount, type, and color of the paint to be used; and other special considerations for both house painting estimates and interior painting estimates.

Here is a link that might be useful: Free Painting Estimate

Walls? I assume. In CA. I guarantee that is one coat walls. No ceilings. No trim. You move all furniture into center. Most metro areas the same.

back in the eighties in early nineties I painted new custom homes in the Memphis Tennessee area. they averaged anywhere from 2500 square feet to 7500 square feet. we would get an average of $2.25 to $2.70 a square foot. that included painting the inside and outside of the house and we had to buy the paint as well. back then we normally used two coats of flat paint on the walls and two to three coats of oil based on the woodwork. this also included staircases where we would stain the handrails and Treads and paint the risers and skirts

How does that relate to today's prices?

Plus this is an old thread, inexplicably revived several times since 2005. :-)