Painters price interior work by the square foot or per room and exterior work by surface area, then add prep, the number of coats, paint and materials, and overhead and margin. Interior painting commonly runs $2 to $6 per square foot of floor area, or $300 to $800 per average room. The thing that moves the number most isn't the painting — it's the prep.
We build websites and lead systems for painters, not estimating software — so this is a practical pricing guide, not a quote. Below is how to build the number, why prep is where margin is won or lost, the markup math on paint, and the honest note on when pricing isn't your real problem.
Wall and ceiling area for interiors, siding and trim area for exteriors. Square footage is how you calculate accurately, even if you present it per room. Tall ceilings and two-story spaces are more area than they look from the floor.
Patching, sanding, caulking, priming stains, scraping old exterior paint, and masking — this is where the hours hide. A damaged surface can take longer to prep than to paint. Walk the surfaces before you quote, not after.
Two coats is standard; dark-to-light or deep colors may need three plus primer. Premium paint costs more but covers in fewer coats and lasts longer — often the better value to present. Itemize paint so the customer sees the quality.
Insurance, the van, sprayers and ladders, and your estimating time spread across jobs, then your profit margin. A price that's only labor and paint isn't a price — it's a way to work for free.
National ballparks only — always price from your own measured area and prep. Use these to catch a bid that's way off:
The painter who underbids almost always did it by pricing the rolling and ignoring the prep. Two rooms with identical square footage can be an hour apart in prep — one needs a quick wipe and tape, the other needs patching, sanding, and stain-blocking primer. Mark materials up 15 to 30 percent and never eat a customer's mid-job color change. Price the prep you actually see and your margin holds; price the optimistic version and it evaporates on the first wall with real damage.
Honest take: sometimes the fix is the prep math, not more leads. You don't need us if:
Pricing protects each job — our part is getting you enough quality interior and exterior leads to bid at your real number. Painting sells on before-and-after, so a clean gallery of your work does the convincing. We build painting sites that show that work, your reviews, and clear service info, with an AI assistant that captures the rooms or exterior scope and books estimates around the clock. We run this stack on our own home-service companies first.
Plans: $249/mo (site, AI lead capture, hosting), $597/mo (adds the SEO content engine and lead attribution), and from $1,750/mo (adds a custom CRM and reputation automation). Month-to-month, you own everything, free working demo in 48 hours.
Related: painting SEO, painting business names, contractor website design, SEO for contractors, and lead generation.
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By surface area — per square foot or per room for interiors, by siding and trim area for exteriors — then prep, coats, paint, and overhead plus margin. Interior commonly runs $2 to $6 per square foot or $300 to $800 per room.
Prep is where the labor hours hide — patching, sanding, caulking, scraping, masking. A damaged surface can take longer to prep than to paint. Pricing only the rolling time underbids almost every real job.
Commonly 15 to 30 percent, covering pickup, fronting cost, and color matching. Premium paint costs more but covers in fewer coats and lasts longer. Itemize it so the customer sees the quality, and never eat mid-job color changes.
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