Calculators
Painting cost and time calculators
What the paint costs, what painters charge, how long the job takes and whether to do it yourself.
The cost of a painting job is mostly labour, and labour is mostly prep. That is why two quotes for the same room can differ by a factor of two, and why a cost per square foot means little until you know what it includes. These calculators separate the pieces: the paint and supplies at your prices, the hours at published production rates, and professional rates as ranges from cost surveys rather than a single number that pretends to know your town.
Where a default is a survey figure, the page names the survey and the year. Regional variation is real: the same job costs noticeably more in a large coastal city than in a small town, and the calculators carry a regional adjustment you can set.
7 calculators
Paint Cost Calculator
What the paint, primer and supplies cost for a job, with tax, per gallon and per square foot.
Professional Painter Cost Estimator
A low-to-high estimate of what painters charge for rooms, an interior or an exterior, by prep and region.
DIY vs Hire a Painter Calculator
The cash saving from painting it yourself, the hourly value where it breaks even, and a verdict.
Painting Time Calculator
Hours and working days for a job from the areas, the method, the coats, the prep and the crew.
Painting Cost per Square Foot Calculator
Turn a quote into a price per square foot of wall or floor and compare it with published ranges.
Painting Supplies Calculator
An itemised list of rollers, brushes, tape, drop cloths and sundries for the job, with a cost.
Leftover Paint & Touch-Up Planner
What to keep for touch-ups, what to return or give away, and how to store or dispose of the rest.
Guides for this topic
DIY or hire a painter: an honest break-even
The real question is not "how much will I save" but "how much will I save per hour of my weekend". Divide the saving by your hours, and the decision usually makes itself.
Dry, recoat and cure: how long paint really takes
Latex is dry to the touch in an hour and not fully hard for about three weeks. Knowing which clock you are on decides when to recoat, when to rehang doors, and when to wash the walls.
Paint can sizes, 5-gallon savings and the leftover problem
The cheapest way to buy 3.6 gallons is four gallons, not three and three quarts. A little arithmetic on can prices saves money, and a plan for the leftover saves the next repair.
Painting a room: quantities, order of work and timing
Ceiling, walls, trim, in that order, and about two days of work for a bedroom. Here is the shopping list, the sequence and the hours, worked through for one real-sized room.
Painting production rates: how long a room, a wall, a door takes
A painter with a roller covers about 200 sq ft of wall an hour, one coat, cutting in included. A door takes about 45 minutes a side. Those two numbers explain most painting schedules.
How to read a painting quote (and compare two)
Two quotes for the same rooms can differ by double, and the cheaper one is not always the better deal. Here is what to look for line by line, and how to put them on the same basis.
Spraying vs rolling: paint usage, overspray and finish
A sprayer is several times faster at putting paint on a wall and always uses more paint doing it. Whether it saves time on your job depends on the masking, not the spraying.
What painters charge: per square foot, per room, per hour
Interior painters charge roughly $1.50 to $4 per square foot of wall, according to published cost surveys. Here is what that means for a room or a house, and why quotes for the same job can differ by double.
Questions people ask
- How much does it cost to paint a room?
- For the walls of a 12 × 12 room with 8 ft ceilings, about 350 sq ft of wall, published cost surveys put a professional job somewhere between a few hundred dollars and well over a thousand depending on prep, region and whether ceilings and trim are included. Paint itself is only 30 to 60 dollars of that. The painter cost estimator gives a low-to-high range for your job and region.
- What do painters charge per square foot?
- Interior walls are commonly quoted at $1.50 to $4 per square foot of wall area for two coats, more with heavy prep or high ceilings. Exterior siding runs about $1.50 to $4.50 per square foot. Quotes are often given per square foot of floor area instead, which doubles the number for the same job; the cost per square foot calculator converts between the two.
- Is it cheaper to paint it myself?
- Almost always in cash: labour is three-quarters or more of a professional quote. Whether it is cheaper in total depends on what your hours are worth and on tools you would have to buy or rent. The DIY versus hire calculator works out the hourly value at which the two options break even.
- How long does it take to paint a room?
- One person rolling two coats on the walls of a 12 × 12 room takes about 4 to 6 hours of work, including cutting in, plus the drying time between coats. Add 1 to 2 hours for the ceiling and 2 to 3 for trim and doors. The painting time calculator uses production rates by task and method.
- What should a painting quote include?
- The surfaces (walls, ceilings, trim, doors), the number of coats, the prep work (washing, sanding, filling, caulking, priming), the product line and sheen, who moves the furniture, cleanup, the warranty and the payment schedule. A quote that gives only a total and a start date cannot be compared with another.
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