How much does it cost to paint your house?

The majority of a painter’s expense is in the labour so obviously the more labour-intensive a job the more it will cost the customer.

Below is a list of main factors that affect the labour cost of a job. These are the things that a painter takes into consideration when preparing his or her quote for interior house painting.

Number and sizes of rooms to be painted:

The more rooms and the larger they are, the longer the job will take due to the increased surface area.

Number of coats of paint required:

Another pretty obvious one! For the majority of residential repaints two coats are sufficient but if you’re repainting dark coloured walls with a light colour you may need three which of course will take more time.

The same goes for fresh gyprock which requires one application of undercoat (primer) and two of topcoat. Commercial make goods at the end of a lease period can probably get away with one coat if they are repainting with the same colour.

Style of cornices:

Cornices are the mouldings round the wall of a room just below the ceiling. Cornices are used to properly finish a room and vary in size and style from simple to decorative where they serve as a feature as well as a finish. For the most part cornices must be painted with a brush and if large and / or decorative become more labour intensive.

Height of ceilings and ceiling roses:

If the ceilings are higher you have to work with ladders (not step stools) and long handled rollers both of which compromise your manoeuvrability and slow down the whole process. Ceiling roses ‘interrupt’ the rolling process because they have to be cut in with a brush.

Working with colored paints:

Working with multiple paint colours on one job increases the overall project time.

Number of doors:

Doors are fiddly because each side must be ‘cut in’ with a brush around the top, bottom, sides, handle and hinges before the remaining surface is rolled with a roller. Most internal doors are panelled meaning more ‘cutting in’ so the process takes even longer.

Repeat this for every coat (2 at a minimum) and you can see why doors are time consuming particularly when you include ensuite, wardrobe, linen cupboard and pantry doors in the line up! Usually on a job one painter is assigned all the doors to increase efficiency.

Woodwork such as window & door architraves, skirtings, and picture rails:

The more woodwork on a job the more costly the job will be because woodwork takes more time to prepare and paint than other surfaces. All woodwork must be properly sanded and there are often gaps between the skirting boards and wall that need to be filled as well as at the corners of window architraves.

In most cases woodwork must be painted with a brush which takes longer than rolling and if the woodwork is ornate / intricate it will take even longer.

Existing condition of surfaces:

If the surfaces to be painted are in poor condition more time has to be spent preparing them for painting. For the majority of residential repaints surface preparation is minimal such as filling small holes left by drawing pins or picture hooks and sanding the patches smooth. If the house has seen a lot of wear and tear it will take longer due to the myriad imperfections.

For holes, areas of water damage and other scenarios where significant sized patching is required adequate time must be allowed for the patching itself as well as drying time before painting. On most jobs this drying time isn’t a factor in costing because there’s plenty of other work to do in the meantime but on a small job the painter’s ‘waiting’ time still needs to be covered.

Presence of furniture:

As you can probably imagine having to cover, navigate and shift furniture around slows the painting process down significantly when compared to working in an empty house. Working in a furnished house also reduces a painter’s freedom of movement because there is less space in general in which to move themselves and their equipment and materials around.

Painters have to move about much more carefully in furnished residences and be constantly aware of their paint / materials placement to minimise risk to person and property – a careless stumble or trip on a tool can have serious consequences for a painter!

Ease of access to all areas in the job scope:

If too many areas within the scope of work are difficult to reach this may impact on how long the job will take.

For all your painting projects call ASL Painting on 0434 036 912, we are one of the best Sydney painters.