Painting Estimate Template

What goes on a painting estimate

A painting estimate has to show the customer exactly what gets painted and what it costs. A homeowner comparing three painters lines up the job specs first: paintable area, which surfaces, how many coats, the paint and sheen, and the colors. Two estimates at very different prices are often two different jobs, one coat against two or trim left out, and the specs strip under the header makes that visible. The line items are grouped the way a painter works the job.

• Prep and protection: moving and covering furniture, masking, patching and sanding, caulking trim, spot-priming, and an allowance for drywall repair beyond normal patching.
• Walls and ceilings: coats and sheen by surface, plus access for anything taller than a standard ladder reaches, such as a two-story foyer or stairwell.
• Trim, doors and other: baseboard, doors, window casings, and the final walkthrough and touch-up.

Anything the customer might add, such as a stair rail or crown molding, goes in the optional-items table, priced but outside the total.

How to measure rooms for a paint estimate

Measure each room’s length, width and wall height. Wall area is the perimeter times the height, 2 × (L + W) × H, less the openings. The template deducts 21 sq ft for each door and 15 sq ft for each window, and both sizes are editable. Ceiling area is length times width. Baseboard runs the perimeter, less the width of each door. Three rooms from the completed example:

Gallons are area × coats ÷ spread rate. Take the spread rate from the can and use the low end on rough or porous walls. The Paint Takeoff sheet totals gallons by product and by wall color, because paint is bought by color: in the example, three colors rounded up separately come to 16 gallons of wall paint where the job total alone says 15. Labor hours are quantity × coats ÷ your crew’s production rate, for prep and for paint, so the estimate carries the hours the job will actually take.

Pricing a repaint line by line

Price walls and ceilings by the square foot, baseboard by the linear foot, and doors and windows by the each. A per-room price hides the difference between a powder room and a two-story foyer, and a per-square-foot price shows it. Put high-wall access on its own line, because planks and extension ladders are hours a flat rate does not cover. Build every unit price from cost on the Unit Price Builder: paint per unit, plus labor hours at your fully loaded rate, plus tape, plastic and caulk, then overhead, then profit as a margin on price rather than a markup. A 15% markup on cost is only a 13% margin.

The completed example is a main-floor repaint of an occupied two-story in Henrico, Virginia: six rooms, 2,547 sq ft of walls at two coats, 877 sq ft of ceilings at one coat, 251 LF of baseboard, 7 doors and 10 windows. Prep and protection come to $1,825.40, walls and ceilings to $4,842.45, and trim and doors to $2,457.50. That is $9,125.35 in total, about $2.67 per square foot of paintable area. Sales tax shows as included because the painter pays tax on the paint and builds it into the prices. The 25% deposit is $2,281.34. The takeoff puts the job at 91.7 labor hours, about six working days for a two-person crew.

Drywall repair, color changes and change orders

Prep is where interior repaints run over. You can count nail holes on a walkthrough, but you cannot see how far a crack opens once it is scraped, or what is behind a mirror that comes down. Write that uncertainty into the estimate. Include a fixed number of drywall repair hours, state the hourly rate beyond them, and promise photos. Colors are the other argument. Put the rule in the terms: colors are final before work starts, and a change after paint goes on, or a deep color that needs a third coat, is priced separately. Anything added mid-job goes on a change order, signed before the work is done. When the job is finished, bill the balance on an invoice that references the estimate number and lists the approved changes.

Estimate, quote or proposal?

For most residential repaints, this customer-facing estimate is the whole sale: a price, the terms and a signature. If the customer wants a fixed price with less line detail, a construction quote is the shorter form. On a commercial repaint bid to a GC or property manager against drawings and a finish schedule, build your cost on the construction estimate worksheet and send a bid proposal with inclusions, exclusions and alternates instead.

Common mistakes on painting estimates

• Pricing floor area instead of wall area. The example’s foyer has 96 sq ft of floor and 642 sq ft of wall.
• Leaving the coats unstated. One coat against two is often the whole gap between two bids.
• No drywall repair allowance. Without one, every crack becomes a negotiation.
• Ordering paint by the job total instead of by color, then running short on one of them.
• Not asking when the house was built. In homes built before 1978, the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule can require a certified firm and lead-safe work practices, which change the prep and the price.
• No valid-until date. Paint prices move, and an open-ended estimate can be held to old ones.