How Much Does Painting Cost In Your Area?

A whole 1,500 sq ft interior takes 3 to 5 days for a 2 to 3 person crew including prep, primer, and 2 finish coats. A 2,000 sq ft exterior takes 4 to 7 days depending on weather, prep work, and trim detail. Single rooms wrap up in 1 day. Cabinet painting on-site takes 4 to 7 days because of dry time between coats. Add 1 to 2 days for pressure washing or major drywall repair.

Premium paint at $50 to $80 per gallon covers in 1 to 2 coats and lasts 7 to 10 years on interior and 5 to 8 years on exterior. Builder-grade at $20 to $35 per gallon often needs 3 coats and starts failing in 2 to 4 years. The labor difference between 2 coats and 3 coats easily eats the savings, so premium paint pays for itself on most jobs. Sherwin-Williams Duration and Benjamin Moore Aura are the standard premium picks.

Prep is 60% to 70% of a quality paint job. Interior prep includes filling nail holes, sanding, caulking trim gaps, taping edges, and covering floors. Exterior prep includes power washing, scraping loose paint, sanding rough spots, and caulking around windows and trim. Skipping prep is the number one reason paint jobs fail in 1 to 3 years. A good contractor spends roughly twice as much time prepping as actually painting.

2 coats is the standard for most jobs and what reputable contractors quote by default. A single coat works only if you are repainting the same color over a clean, well-prepped surface. Drastic color changes like dark to light or red to white often need a tinted primer plus 2 finish coats, so 3 layers total. Watch out for quotes priced low because they are only quoting one coat. Always confirm coat count in writing.

Stain at $2 to $4 per sq ft soaks into the wood, shows the grain, and lasts 2 to 4 years before reapplication. Solid paint at $3 to $6 per sq ft sits on top, lasts 5 to 8 years, and hides imperfections in older wood. Once a deck has been painted, you cannot easily go back to stain without sanding it all off. New decks under 5 years old should usually be stained. Older or damaged decks usually look better painted.

Late fall through winter is the slowest season for interior painting and prices run 10% to 20% below peak. Exterior painting needs temperatures above 50F and dry weather, so prices in October and November are often 10% to 15% below peak summer rates. Avoid scheduling exterior work during peak humidity months or right before a forecasted rain. Most painters book 2 to 6 weeks out in spring and summer.

Most painters move furniture to the center of the room and cover it with plastic, included in the labor cost. You should remove fragile items, electronics, and wall art yourself. Closets and pantries need to be emptied if you are painting inside them. For whole-home interior repaints, plan to live out of boxes in one or two rooms at a time. Most homeowners stay in the home during the job since premium paints have low VOC and dry quickly.