InvoiceCraftPainting Estimate Calculator
Bid an interior repaint from the numbers that drive it: surface area, coats, your production rate and your hourly rate. Built for painters pricing a job, not homeowners guessing at one.
Have the number? Send it as a proposal the customer signs. Line items, optional add-ons they tick themselves, typed-name e-signature, and the invoice is created when they accept. Free for 3 proposals a month.
Start a painting proposalHow the estimate is built
Labor is surface area times coats, divided by your production rate, plus trim, doors and prep. Trim is figured at 40 linear feet per hour per coat and a door at 45 minutes for both sides, which is where most painters land with a brush and a mini roller. Paint is area times coats divided by 350 square feet per gallon, rounded up to whole gallons, with a separate allowance for trim enamel. Materials carry your markup; labor is billed at your rate.
How to bid painting the interior of a house
Measure every room instead of pricing by the house. Two homes with the same square footage can differ by 40 percent in wall area once you count ceiling height, stairwells and open plans. Walk the job for the things that blow up production rates: heavy patching, dark-to-light colour changes that need a third coat, oil-based trim that needs bonding primer, and furniture you will be moving yourself. Put each of those on the proposal as its own line so the customer sees what they are paying for and you are covered when the scope changes.
Check the number against the market
Interior repaints in the US commonly land between $2 and $4 per square foot of wall for walls only, more with ceilings, trim and doors. If your result is far below that band, your production rate is probably optimistic or your hourly rate has no overhead in it. The painting pricing guide has the 2026 ranges by job type.
Frequently asked questions
Should I price painting by the hour or by the square foot?
Estimate by the hour, quote by the job. Hours are how you know the job is profitable; a fixed price is what customers want to sign. This calculator does the first half so you can present the second.
How much paint do I need for 1,400 square feet of wall?
Two coats at 350 square feet per gallon is 8 gallons. Textured walls and deep colours can push coverage down to 250–300 square feet per gallon, so add a gallon when in doubt.
Do painters mark up paint?
Most do, typically 15 to 30 percent over their contractor price. The markup pays for the trip to the store, the warranty risk on the product, and the cash you float until the job is paid.