How Is a Home Painting Estimate Calculated?
If you’re like most homeowners, your first thought when considering renovations or improvements is, “What will it cost?” Fair enough. While most home painting projects yield a solid return on investment by adding value to your home, you may be more concerned with the short-term implications. Knowing ahead of time what a paint job might cost you can help you prepare well in advance and avoid sticky situations. Let’s break down how a home painting estimate is calculated.
How Home Painting Is Estimated
Start with the Scope of Work
Before drafting an estimate, a painting service will need to have an idea of the project’s scope. To do so, they will ask you a number of questions ranging from general to more specific. These questions include whether you require exterior or interior painting services (or both), how many rooms require painting, how many surfaces within those rooms require painting, and the current condition of these surfaces, to name a few.
After you’ve outlined your needs to the best of your ability, the painting contractor will inspect your home in person to make measurements and walk through the details with you. Communication is key at this stage, as the contractor may point out things you missed or make suggestions that broaden the scope of the project.
Material Costs
Once the project has come into focus, your contractor can start to calculate the hard costs. The amount of paint and other materials needed will depend on the total area that needs to be covered, including the number of coats. Generally speaking, the only major material cost built into the estimate will be the paint itself, since most painting companies already have tools like painter’s tape, drop cloths, brushes, rollers, trays, scrapers, and sanders on hand. Depending on the type and quality, paint can cost anywhere from $10-$50 per gallon, and a gallon covers about 400 square feet, or a small room.
If you’re trying to crunch the numbers yourself, keep in mind that most surfaces will require more than one coat of paint, increasing material costs. Also, consider that painting a room two colors or more will bump your material costs by increasing the potential for waste. These may seem like minor details, but they can add up.
Labor Costs
Until paint brushes can operate themselves, painting requires manual labor. The larger and more involved your project is, the more people are required to get the job done efficiently, and each of them needs to be compensated. The cost of this labor can vary widely depending on a number of factors, such as regional wage standards and cost of living, company practices and values, experience and demand of painters, determination of pay (hourly vs. per square foot), type of painting performed (murals and detail work vs. standard painting), and more.
Taking all of these factors into account, the national average pay for a painter is about $20/hr., and it usually takes about 8 hours to paint a standard-sized room. You should also note that labor costs will make up the majority of your estimate (about 80% of it). These figures can help you do the math when establishing a budget in advance.
Quality Comes at a Price
Material and labor costs are the two major factors in calculating a painting estimate. That said, you may receive very different estimates from two different painting companies. But if material and labor costs remain relatively consistent, why are their disparities from one company to the next? The short answer: quality.
Raleigh house painters with little experience or poor reputations will have to charge less than their counterparts to get more business. On the other hand, painters who are known for their excellent communication, superior products, and long-lasting results can mark up their prices to match their quality of service. You won’t see these costs explicitly on your estimate, but they will be built in. In the end, you will have to decide if you would rather run the risk of a poor paint job to save some money or invest in a Raleigh painting company that guarantees great results at a higher price.
In short, a home painting estimate is determined by the materials and labor needed to complete the job, as well as the value provided by a given company. The best painting companies are upfront and transparent with these costs to avoid confusion or misunderstandings. Anderson Painting contractors, for instance, will maintain an open line of communication with you before and during the project so if anything should come up, such as a last-minute repair, you’re always in the loop. For more details on how we create our estimates, or to receive a free quote, call Anderson Painting today at 919-610-1855 or email us at info@andersonpaintingnc.com!
