As a leading real estate data company, Kukun has detailed data on virtually every home in America. We use this data about your home’s size, bedrooms, bathrooms, location, value, and more, to create a highly accurate cost estimate of the renovations you want to do.
Plus, we show you the ROI on your renovation and options for saving money or making more luxurious selections.
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House painting (whether interior or exterior) is one of the quickest and easiest ways to give your home a facelift. A fresh coat of paint can give your abode the perfect makeover. Once you commit to painting the interiors of your home, you need to know how much of an investment you’ll require for this home improvement project.
A painting estimate helps you organize your home renovation and effectively manage milestones and costs. And, you can get a reasonably accurate estimate through a reliable interior painting estimate calculator.
Acquiring a free estimate for your interior painting will help you create a realistic budget – getting you quality work at a fair price. It’s also the best way to ensure that you don’t stumble across any unwelcome surprises during the execution of your project.
Also, a carefully planned remodeling project can greatly increase the value of your property in a home buyer’s market.
On average, painting a home interior costs about $4,458. The total cost depends on the house type, house size, local labor costs, the painting material cost, the amount of prep work, wall repair, and ease of access.
For example, the average painting cost for a 2,000 sq. ft. one-story house is between $3,950 and $4,700 while the average cost for a two-story home of the same dimensions will be approximately $5,465 to $6,250.
The average cost of painting a single room of 140 sq. ft. is around $350 to $550, while painting two rooms (of 150 sq. ft. each) is $1,200 to $1,250.
Homeowners can expect to spend approximately $1.95 to $2.85 per square foot – depending on the finish of the painting job, total square footage, job complexity, and the quality of primer and paint used. The cost can go as high as $3.75 to $5 per square foot. And, painting a textured wall or ceiling will cost you even more – around $6 to $7.5 per square foot. Keep in mind that labor takes up 75% to 80% of the total painting cost.
Interestingly, as the square footage increases, the cost per square foot decreases. For example, painting a 2400 sq. ft. house may cost you $2.20 per square foot, while painting a 3,000 sq. ft. house will cost you about $2 per square foot.
Painting contractors give you cost estimates based on standard assumptions that the task will require two coats of light-color paint on all interior walls and one coat of paint on standard ceilings (8' ceiling height). Homeowners can expect to pay an extra of about 9% per additional foot for higher ceilings and cathedral or vaulted ceilings.
Furthermore, painting rooms in darker colors will require more than two coats for proper coverage and color saturation. This will increase the cost.
You’ll also pay extra ($300 to $1,200+) for moving or covering furniture, painting moldings, repairing drywall, and painting doors and windows.
At the time of estimating the painting cost, the painter should start by calculating the total coverage area. This will give them a good idea of how many gallons of paint to buy.
You can find out the total area coverage with a few simple steps:
You’ll get the total surface area to be painted. Most painting contractors add a small percentage to this number to account for extra work such as detailing, patching, and overage.
Keep in mind that the painter may charge the fees according to the square foot of coverage, per square foot of floor space, or hourly. Hiring a painter costs $30 to $75 per hour or $2 to $4 per square foot – depending on the scope of work. One painting professional can cover about 100 to 120 square feet of wall space in an hour. For a small painting project such as painting a room or an accent wall, hiring a handyman is a more cost-effective option. They will charge approximately $20 to $25 per hour.
An hourly rate or coverage area quote makes more sense for homeowners who have unique architectural features such as floor-to-ceiling windows.
Keep in mind that a well-established interior painting contractor may give you a higher painting estimate than a small painting company. That’s why it’s important to talk to multiple contractors regarding the paint job.
Labor and materials will cost you approximately $2 to $6 per square foot of coverage area.
Here’s a list of some commonly used painting materials and their average costs:
Painting a single wall runs as little as $100. However, keep in mind that most painters charge a minimum project fee of around $250 to $500.
Painting accent walls, such as the wall where the fireplace or the TV is situated in the living room or the bedroom wall that your bed sits against, often cost more than other types of walls – about 20% to 30% more. The reason is that it involves a drastic color change or finish from the rest of the walls.
Also, a textured wall painting will increase the costs by up to 50%. Keep in mind that texture would add more surface area, without increasing square footage. Let’s understand it by an example, a can of paint will cover 400 square feet of a smooth wall, while it will cover only about 250 square feet on a textured wall.
Moreover, any kind of specialty work such as painting murals or trompe l’oeils is more expensive at $800 to $1,850. Painting moldings on ceilings and walls cost about $0.65 per linear foot.
If you want wall art to highlight an antique collection or a signature piece of art, it’s going to cost you a lot more than painting a plain wall.
An enthusiastic DIYer can buy paint and painting equipment for about $200 to $300. Painting an average ten-by-twelve-foot single room yourself would cost you between $100 to $300. The same would cost between $200 and $1,000 for a professional paint job. However, do factor in the time and effort it will take you to complete a DIY project. An interior painting job could take a few hours to a few days depending on the size of the room and the type of help you have.
Keep in mind that there can be serious drawbacks to taking the DIY route:
If you’re putting your home up for sale, you must always hire a painting pro. Shoddy work can diminish your home’s aesthetic appeal.
Painting your home interiors costs also vary depending on other cost factors such as:
Kukun's interior painting cost calculator is a useful tool to help you estimate your renovation costs instantly. The calculations are based on your area zip code as well as other relevant parameters.
Using the interior painting cost estimator is easy. Simply enter your specifications and the result will give you a realistic estimate of your painting cost in minutes.
Just follow the steps below to get your custom, personalized cost estimate:
(We do not share this information, but it helps us give you a better estimate because labor and material costs vary widely by geography.)
And there you go! An estimate for your interior painting cost is ready!
With this estimate, you can analyze the best finance options or hire a professional to get started on the work right away.
What’s more, you can weigh options for professional remodeling contractors who have worked in your neighborhood and have been vetted by your neighbors. You can explore each contractor's profile, check out their online reviews, view all their previous permits, and ask around your vicinity before hiring them.
It’s a good idea to get three or four price estimates from different painting pros and choose the one that gets you the best value and job quality.
Don’t forget to check the local references or homeowners who’ve recently had painting jobs done to find out how the job was completed and whether they were satisfied with the contractor or not.
You could always find a reliable contractor through Kukun. Once you do, make sure you have a detailed written contract including the scope of work, material prices, type of paints (most good contractors use quality brands such as BEHR or Sherwin Williams), cleanup details, and the timeline.
It’s very important that you plan your interior painting well in advance. Here are some tips to make the process easy and quick:
To figure out how much paint you'll need, multiply the length of the wall by its height, then deduct any windows, doors, or other non-paintable surfaces. A single can of paint is generally enough to cover 400 square feet of smooth walls. And, a typical-sized home uses roughly six gallons of paint per coat.
Painters typically charge $30 to $75 per hour. However, painters generally charge by the project or square footage instead of hourly rates.
Painting a single room by a professional might take 6 to 10 hours. However, a DIY painting project may take two to three times as long.
The cost and quality of interior paints greatly vary. High-end brands such as Farrow and Ball cost up to $100 to $120 per gallon while mid-range, dependable brands such as Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore cost $40 to $55 a gallon, depending on the type of paint.
If your house is older than 30 years, there’s a chance that the wall paints may contain lead and be a serious health hazard. You must test for it at the earliest and remove it before repainting your house. Professional lead testing will cost you about $350 to $500 for a three-bedroom house and lead removal will cost you $8 to $15 per square foot.
The cost depends on whether it’s a minor repair or a major one and how many hours it will take to rectify the issue. On average, homeowners can expect to pay about $40 to $45 per hour as labor costs to fix wall damages.
Painting is one home improvement project that doesn’t cost much and yet brings in a high ROI of up to 80%. Plus, it helps to sell your home quickly and for the asking price.
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