Painting Estimate Calculator
Bid an interior repaint from the numbers that drive it: surface area, coats, your production rate and your hourly rate. Built for painters pricing a job, not homeowners guessing at one.
Have the number? Send it as a proposal the customer signs. Line items, optional add-ons they tick themselves, typed-name e-signature, and the invoice is created when they accept. Free for 3 proposals a month.
Start a painting proposalThe short answer
A standard interior room bills $300–$600 for walls in 2026, ceilings add $150–$300 a room, and trim runs $1–$3 per linear foot, so a whole-house interior is the sum of its rooms plus prep. Behind every one of those prices sit labor hours. A painter billing $40–$75 an hour who rolls 150 square feet an hour spends close to 11 hours on two coats over 800 square feet of wall, before a single door or baseboard is touched. Paint is usually the smaller cost: a gallon covers roughly 350 square feet per coat on smooth walls and less on texture or deep colors. Prep is where two bids for the same room drift apart. Patching, sanding, masking and moving furniture typically add $150–$300, and naming them on the quote protects you against the lowball bid that quietly left them out. Exterior repaints are a separate scale at $1,500–$4,000 for a single-family home.
How the estimate is built
Labor is surface area times coats, divided by your production rate, plus trim, doors and prep. Trim is figured at 40 linear feet per hour per coat and a door at 45 minutes for both sides, which is where most painters land with a brush and a mini roller. Paint is area times coats divided by 350 square feet per gallon, rounded up to whole gallons, with a separate allowance for trim enamel. Materials carry your markup; labor is billed at your rate.
How to bid painting the interior of a house
Measure every room instead of pricing by the house. Two homes with the same square footage can differ by 40 percent in wall area once you count ceiling height, stairwells and open plans. Walk the job for the things that blow up production rates: heavy patching, dark-to-light colour changes that need a third coat, oil-based trim that needs bonding primer, and furniture you will be moving yourself. Put each of those on the proposal as its own line so the customer sees what they are paying for and you are covered when the scope changes.
Check the number against the market
Interior repaints in the US commonly land between $1.50 and $3.50 per square foot of wall for walls only, more with ceilings, trim and doors. If your result is far below that band, your production rate is probably optimistic or your hourly rate has no overhead in it. The painting pricing guide has the 2026 ranges by job type.
The formula, step by step
- Paintable area = wall area + ceiling area.
- Labor hours = (area x coats) / production rate + (trim x coats) / 40 + doors x 0.75 + prep hours. Trim goes at 40 linear feet per hour per coat; a door, both sides, takes 45 minutes.
- Wall and ceiling paint = area x coats / 350, rounded up to whole gallons (350 sq ft per gallon). Trim and doors: (trim x 0.5 + doors x 40) sq ft of enamel x coats / 350, rounded up.
- Materials = (gallons x paint cost + sundries) x (1 + markup %).
- Quote price = labor hours x billing rate + materials. Price per sq ft = quote price / paintable area.
Coats is at least 1 and the production rate at least 25 sq ft per hour. Coverage of 350 sq ft per gallon is a typical figure for interior latex on previously painted walls; rough or porous surfaces cover less.
Worked example with the starting numbers
Wall area (sq ft): 1,400; Ceiling area (sq ft): 0; Trim and baseboard (linear ft): 180; Doors (both sides): 4; Coats: 2; Production rate (sq ft per hour): 150; Prep and setup (hours): 4; Your billing rate ($ per hour): 65; Paint cost ($ per gallon): 45; Sundries ($): 60; Materials markup (%): 20. Result: labor hours 34.7, paint 10 gal, materials $612, quote price $2,865, price per sq ft $2.05.
Typical 2026 US painting prices
| Painting work | Typical 2026 US price | How it is usually quoted |
|---|---|---|
| Interior room, walls only | $300–$600 | Per room, two coats |
| Ceiling | $150–$300 | Per room |
| Trim and baseboard | $1–$3 | Per linear foot |
| Interior door, both sides | $50–$100 | Per door, frame included |
| Surface prep (patch, sand, mask) | $150–$300 | Per job, as its own line |
| Exterior repaint, single family | $1,500–$4,000 | Per house |
| Painter labor | $40–$75 | Per painter-hour, used to build the quote |
| Paint coverage | 250–350 sq ft | Per gallon, per coat |
Typical ranges as of September 2026 · US national. Editorial reference figures for typical US painting work, checked against Numulo's published pricing guide. Sources: Numulo pricing guide, Numulo 2026 trade pricing report.
Use it on a painting job
- Painting proposal template
- Painting estimate template
- Painting invoice template
- What to charge for painting work in 2026
Frequently asked questions
Should I price painting by the hour or by the square foot?
Estimate by the hour, quote by the job. Hours are how you know the job is profitable; a fixed price is what customers want to sign. This calculator does the first half so you can present the second.
How much paint do I need for 1,400 square feet of wall?
Two coats at 350 square feet per gallon is 8 gallons. Textured walls and deep colours can push coverage down to 250–300 square feet per gallon, so add a gallon when in doubt.
Do painters mark up paint?
Most do, typically 20 to 40 percent over their contractor price. The markup pays for the trip to the store, the warranty risk on the product, and the cash you float until the job is paid.
How much should I charge to paint a 12 by 12 bedroom?
A 12 by 12 room with 8 foot ceilings has about 384 square feet of wall, which usually puts walls alone in the lower half of the $300–$600 band. Add $150–$300 if the ceiling is in scope and price the baseboard by the foot. Heavy patching, a dark-to-light color change or a room full of furniture moves it toward the top.
What production rate should I enter for an estimate?
Use a rate you have timed on your own jobs, not your best day. Occupied homes with furniture, lots of corners and cutting in against a contrasting ceiling hold most brush-and-roller painters near 125 square feet an hour per coat. Empty new construction sprayed out runs far faster. If your bids keep landing below market, an optimistic production rate is the usual cause.
When should I charge for a third coat?
Whenever the color change or the surface calls for it, and say so on the proposal before you start. Going from deep red to off-white, or covering fresh drywall patches, often needs primer or a third coat. Quote two coats as the standard and add the extra coat as an optional line with its own price, so the customer approves it up front.