Cost of painting a house
The cost to paint a house will vary depending on several factors, ranging from the size of the house to number of windows, difficulty to reach the painted areas, prep work (scraping, etc.), and obviously the quality of the paint being used. If this is an interior painting project, you may find a better deal in the winter months because there is more supply than demand. During the warm summer months, painting contractors can often charge a premium as there are ample exterior painting projects available to them as well as interior painting projects.
A 3,000 square foot house, requiring paint on the entire exterior, typically would need 15-20 gallons of paint. At prices from $20-$35 per gallon, this would mean there are $300-$700 tied up in paint alone. These prices are for your typical paints found at Home Depot or Lowe’s, but there are premium paints that can easily double and possible triple those costs as well, so it really depends on your specific needs for painting your house. You can expect when hiring a painting contractor for painting your house that about 20%-30% of the total cost will be for materials, with the remaining cost being for the labor. This can change depending on the effort required for your specific painting project, and things like whether or not the house is a ranch style versus two story home, and what condition the previous paint is in. You can expect painting contractor prices to be in the range of $1,500 for a simple ranch style home to $5,000 or more for a larger, two story home. As with anything, you should expect to get what you pay for. While we expect everyone to do an outstanding job of painting, some of the intangibles include cleanup, prep work, and attention to detail. These are all areas which I would not want to skimp on costs, and therefore you should make sure that you are not entirely basing your purchasing decision on cost alone.
When choosing exterior paint, you should purchase the absolute best quality of paint that you can afford. Since higher quality paint lasts longer, in a way you are investing in this process so that you won’t have to do it as frequently in years to come. A high quality paint should last 5 to 8 years, depending on weather conditions in the area the home is located. Rolled paint will go on thicker than paint from a sprayer, but at the same time, this takes longer and will result in a higher cost in terms of labor. Sometimes it is better to find a painter that has been in business for many years, but it may be less expensive to find a new company trying to grow and earn a strong reputation. We would never recommend finding a painter from a free online directory such as Craigslist, as the horror stories from people that have been ripped off on that site are very easy to find. Reputable painting contractors use reputable methods of advertising, such as in our online painting contractor directory.
The best thing that you can do when researching the cost of painting a house is to submit a request for multiple estimates from a site like HousePaintingEstimates.com. We do not paint houses, but we link homeowners with qualified professionals that do. One simple request filled out on our estimate submission form will result in you being contacted by multiple contractors, each competing to win the right to do your project for you.
We hope that our service helps you find the perfect contractor to help with your painting project, and that our information helps when determing the cost of painting a house. We’d love to hear from you in the comments below if we’ve helped in that regard.