Building a painting bid: labour, materials, markup and margin

The structure of a bid

Every painting bid, however it is presented to the customer, is built from the same parts:

The order matters. Overhead is a share of direct costs because it is what it costs to run the business behind each job. Profit is applied last, as a margin on the price, because that is how it is reported in the accounts. The painting bid builder follows this order.

Step 1: hours from production rates

The hours are the foundation, and they come from measuring the job and dividing by production rates: square feet of wall and ceiling per hour, linear feet of trim per hour, and hours per door and window, each per coat.

The rates themselves, and how to replace them with your own crew’s, are in the production rates table and the guide to painting production rates. Add condition factors for furnished rooms, high ceilings, heavy prep or dark colours; the production rate calculator applies them.

Step 2: the burdened cost of an hour

The labour cost per hour is not the wage. It is the wage plus payroll taxes, workers’ compensation insurance, liability insurance, and paid time that is not on a job, such as travel between jobs and cleanup. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median wage for painters at about $23 an hour in May 2023; the burdened cost is higher, and the exact figure depends on the state, the insurer and the company. Our default is $32 an hour; replace it with your own figure from payroll.

Step 3: materials and markup

Price the paint from the areas and coverage, add primer, caulk, tape, plastic, roller covers and other sundries, and add a markup. A materials markup is standard and fair: the contractor selects, buys, collects and warrants the materials, and carries the cost until paid. Our default is 15%.

Step 4: equipment, travel and disposal

Sprayer and lift rentals, mileage, parking, dumpster or disposal fees. Small per job, but they add up across a year if they are not charged.

Step 5: overhead

Overhead is everything the business spends that is not tied to one job: the office, vehicles, insurance premiums, marketing, software, the owner’s time estimating. Divide last year’s overhead by last year’s direct costs to get your percentage. Our default is 15% of direct costs; many small firms find theirs is higher once everything is counted.

Step 6: profit as a margin

Margin is not markup

Margin is profit as a share of the price; markup is profit as a share of cost. They are different numbers for the same profit:

A contractor who wants a 20% margin and prices at “cost plus 20%” gets a margin of only about 16.7%. On the job above, that is $107.67 less profit. The markup versus margin calculator converts between the two.

Step 7: the schedule

A bid also commits to dates. The crew schedule calculator turns the hours into working days with recoat waits: the 75-hour job with two painters at 7 hours a day is 6 working days, so a job starting Monday, October 12, 2026, finishes Monday, October 19. Recoat waits under the overnight gap add nothing, because the second coat goes on the next morning.

Exterior bids

Exterior jobs follow the same structure with heavier weights in a few places. Prep, scraping, sanding, spot-priming and caulking, is often as many hours as the painting, and it should be measured and priced as its own line rather than hidden in a condition factor. Access adds equipment: ladders, planks, lifts, and the time to move them. Weather adds risk: a crew sent home for rain is still paid, so many contractors add a weather allowance to exterior hours. Materials are larger in volume, usually bought in 5-gallon pails, and the siding factor in the exterior house paint calculator keeps rough surfaces from being underestimated.

Cost-plus or per square foot

Some contractors price from costs, as above; others quote a rate per square foot that they know from experience. The two should agree. A per-square-foot rate is quick and easy for customers to compare, but it hides the hours, and a job with many doors, windows and colours costs far more per square foot than a plain one. The safest practice is to build the bid from costs, then express it per square foot as a check, and to quote per square foot only for jobs that resemble the ones the rate came from.

Checking the bid against the market

A bid built from costs is the price you need. The market sets the price you can get. Compare your price per square foot with the published ranges in what painters charge. If you are well below, you may be leaving money on the table or underestimating hours. If you are well above, check your production rates and overhead before your margin. Customers compare quotes line by line, as how to read a painting quote describes, so an itemised bid that shows the scope clearly often wins over a cheaper vague one.

Put the calculator on your site

Painting contractors can embed any of our calculators on their own website free, so customers can estimate paint and costs before they call. See the embed page for the code.

Common mistakes

• Using the wage as the labour cost. Burden is a real cost.
• Confusing margin and markup. A 20% markup is only a 16.7% margin.
• Underestimating doors and trim. They are slow; count them separately.
• Forgetting overhead. Without it, profitable-looking jobs pay the overhead out of profit.
• No allowance for changes. Write how hidden damage and extra work are priced.
• Never updating rates. Time your crew on real jobs and revise the rates every season.