For painting and wall covering contractors
Painting and wall covering estimating services
Walls, ceilings, doors, frames, trim and exteriors measured by paint tag, with the coating system and coats on every line, priced with labor and material.
- Area by paint tag
- Coats and system per line
- 24 to 48 hours
In short
What painting estimating covers
Painting estimating is the takeoff and pricing of every painted and covered surface in a building: interior walls and ceilings, doors, frames and trim, exterior siding and metals, and wall coverings. Surfaces are measured by paint tag from the plans, elevations and finish schedule, with the coating system, number of coats and substrate on each line, then priced with labor and material. MassBid Estimation prepares painting and wall covering takeoffs and estimates for painting contractors and general contractors, typically in 24 to 48 hours.
- Scope
- Interior and exterior painting, doors, frames and trim, wall coverings, epoxy and specialty coatings
- CSI section
- 09 91 00 painting, 09 72 00 wall coverings, 09 96 00 high-performance coatings
- You send
- Plans, ceiling plans, elevations, finish and door schedules, painting specification and addenda
- You get
- Marked-up plans and elevations shaded by paint tag, and a priced workbook with labor per line
- Turnaround
- 24 to 48 hours on most projects
- Checked by
- A separate QA team, twice on every job
- Coverage
- All 50 states, priced to the project's ZIP code
- Quote
- Free, usually back in about 20 minutes
Sunday · 7:30 PM
Seven paint colors on the finish schedule, an open ceiling, and the bid is priced by the floor area.
Painting is measured on the wall, not the floor. A room's paintable area depends on its height, its openings and which walls carry which color, and none of that is in the square footage of the building.
The surfaces a floor-area price misses are the expensive ones: an exposed ceiling with ducts and conduit to spray, doors and frames in a different system, and existing walls that need different preparation from new board.
Four ways a painting bid loses money
01 · The area
Wall area guessed from floor area
A multiplier on floor area is wrong whenever ceilings are high, rooms are small or walls are glazed.
What changes
Walls are measured in linear feet at their actual height, by paint tag, from plans and elevations.
02 · The ceilings
Open ceilings priced as flat ceilings
An exposed structure with ductwork and conduit can take twice the paint and labor of a gypsum ceiling the same size.
What changes
Open and gypsum ceilings are separate lines, with ductwork and conduit carried as stated allowances.
03 · The small work
Doors, frames and trim left out
Doors, hollow-metal frames, base and trim use different products and take longer per square foot than walls.
What changes
Doors are counted by type and frames, base and trim are measured in linear feet.
04 · The system
One coat system for every surface
New board needs primer; existing walls may not. Metal, wood and siding each have their own primer and finish.
What changes
Each line carries its primer, number of coats, product and substrate from the specification.
Then and now
What has changed in painting estimating
Painting used to be estimated from floor area and a price per square foot. Four things have changed the takeoff.
Exposed ceilings
Open ceilings in retail and offices have turned the ceiling from the cheapest surface to one of the dearest.
More colors and accent walls
Finish schedules now routinely carry six or more paint tags on one floor, each with its own product and sheen.
Coating specifications
Low-VOC products, dry-film thicknesses and named systems are specified surface by surface and have to be followed.
Labor is the price
Labor is the larger share of a painting bid, so quantities have to be exact enough to carry production rates.
Real painting work
Sample painting takeoffs and estimates
Pages from finished jobs: a retail store in Massachusetts and a ten-building apartment community in Georgia. Client names, brand signage and title blocks are removed; the quantities are as delivered. Click any page to enlarge.
By paint tag
Interior painting takeoff on wall elevations, by paint tag
Protects you fromFour colors priced as one.
Ceilings
Ceiling painting takeoff: open ceiling and gypsum ceiling
Protects you fromAn open ceiling priced as a flat one.
Apartment unit
Apartment unit painting takeoff: walls by height and ceiling
Protects you fromA unit count times a guess.
Exterior
Exterior painting takeoff on building elevations
Protects you fromExterior area taken from the floor plan.
Priced estimate
Priced painting estimate with the coating system on each line
Protects you fromA price per square foot with no system behind it.
Every estimate is built to the client's own specification, so yours may be laid out differently. To see a past project in your own trade, ask for an example. Examples are finished work for other projects, not an estimate of yours; for pricing on your own job, send the drawings for a free quote.
A real painting estimate
Painting cost breakdown for a three-story apartment building
Line totals from one finished estimate: one three-story building of about 26,300 square feet in a ten-building apartment community in Georgia, with 123,858 square feet of painted surface.
Painting trade cost for the building came to $162,201, about $1.31 per square foot of painted surface, or $6.17 per square foot of floor. Interior walls were $1.20 per square foot. Across all ten buildings the suggested bid was about $1.42 million. On a retail store in Massachusetts, where nearly half the cost was an open ceiling with its ducts and conduit, painting was $2.64 per square foot of painted surface.
Figures are from the delivered estimates, labor plus material, rounded to the dollar, with related lines combined. They are specific to those projects and are not a price guide.
Real jobs, not a price list. Each figure comes from one project, priced for its own ZIP code and that client's wages, overhead and profit. Prices change by region and over time. Yours will be priced for your location.
| Item | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Interior walls, primer and finish | 69,655 SF | $83,516 |
| Interior ceilings | 22,470 SF | $28,919 |
| Exterior fiber cement siding | 20,398 SF | $26,925 |
| Doors: wood, hollow metal and steel | 11,336 SF | $14,110 |
| Interior door trim | 8,088 LF | $4,893 |
| Door frames | 4,544 LF | $2,550 |
| Exterior handrails and stair stringers | 341 LF | $1,289 |
| Painting trade cost | $162,201 |
Building somewhere else? See figures from jobs in Texas, California, Florida and other service areas.
Full sample
Read a full sample, page by page
Painting, from a finished job: a retail store in Massachusetts. Open it full screen, scroll through all 5 pages and zoom in on any line.
This is one real job, shown as an example. It was built to that client's own specification: their wage rates, labor style, type of pricing, and overhead and profit. Prices also change by region and over time, so yours will be priced for your location.
Want a current sample in your own trade or specialty, or have a question? Use the contact form, email [email protected] or call (832) 356-4237.
Who it is for
Painting estimating for painting contractors and general contractors
Painting contractors
Areas by tag with the system on each line, priced in your production rates and format.
Commercial estimatingDrywall and finishing contractors
Paint taken off with the board it goes on.
Drywall estimatingRemodeling contractors
New and existing surfaces separated for repaint and tenant improvement work.
Remodeling estimatingGeneral contractors
An independent painting number to check a quote, or to carry when none comes in.
GC estimating
Painting scopes we take off
- Interior wall paint
- Gypsum and open ceilings
- Doors and frames
- Base and trim
- Exterior siding and trim
- Railings and exposed steel
- Wall coverings
- Wood paneling finishes
- Epoxy floor and wall coatings
- Sealed concrete
- Primers and block fillers
- Repaint of existing surfaces
Pricing data
Where the prices come from
Quantities are priced from our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. The estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that market.
Material prices change from region to region and from month to month, so a price book or a national average is out of date before the bid goes in.
Priced by ZIP code
Current local material prices for the place the job is built, not a national average.
Updated by vendors
Local vendors update their prices in the database as they change.
Labor as you bid it
Union, open shop, or Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage rates with fringes.
How it works
From drawings to a finished painting estimate
Send the drawings
Plans, reflected ceiling plans, interior and exterior elevations, the finish and door schedules, the painting specification and addenda.
Free quote
We review the set and reply with a quote and a delivery date, usually within about 20 minutes.
Measure, describe, price and two QA reviews
Surfaces are measured by paint tag and height and given their coating system from the specification. A separate QA team checks the areas against the finish schedule, then the priced estimate.
Delivery and revisions
The package typically arrives within 24 to 48 hours. Addenda and finish changes are revised free, with no limit and no time limit.
The work is done in-house by more than 20 estimators, typically with 7 to 10 years of industry experience.
What it costs
Painting estimating prices
- Single project
- From $199. Simple scopes typically run $100 to $250.
- Larger buildings
- Typically $200 to $500. Large or multi-building projects are quoted individually.
- Monthly plan
- From $1,499 for 10 to 15 projects, for painting contractors who bid every week.
Every job is quoted individually from the drawings, and the quote is free. See all pricing
After delivery
An editable Excel workbook and free revisions
- Formulas built in
An Excel workbook you can change yourself
The estimate arrives as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change a quantity, a rate or a markup and every total follows. Move overhead and profit from 25% to 30% and the whole bid recalculates on the spot.
- No waiting
Adjust your bid at the last minute
If something changes just before the deadline, you do not have to send the estimate back and wait. Open the workbook, change the number and submit. The control stays with you.
- Priority turnaround
Free revisions, with no limit
Addenda, scope changes and pricing updates are all free, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and typically come back within an hour to a few hours.
Questions
Painting estimating FAQ
It is the takeoff and pricing of every painted surface in a building. Walls, ceilings, doors, frames, trim and exteriors are measured by paint tag, each line is given its coating system and number of coats, and labor and material prices are applied to produce an estimate a painting contractor can bid from.
Wall area by paint tag and height, ceiling area by type, doors by count and area, frames, base and trim in linear feet, exterior siding and metals, wall coverings by tag, and specialty coatings, with new and existing surfaces separated.
Walls are measured in linear feet from the plans and multiplied by their height from the sections or elevations, by paint tag. Where interior elevations are drawn, areas are taken directly from them.
Yes. New gypsum board is carried with primer and finish coats and existing walls with the coats specified for repaint, on separate lines.
Yes. Wall coverings are measured by tag in square feet with the product and roll width noted. On one senior-living renovation in Massachusetts, the main wall covering was 2,060 square feet at about $3.94 per square foot.
The open ceiling area is its own line, and exposed ductwork and conduit are carried as stated allowances. On one retail store, 4,938 square feet of open ceiling with its ducts and conduit was nearly half of the painting cost.
It depends on the surfaces and system. On one apartment building we estimated, painting was about $1.31 per square foot of painted surface, with interior walls at $1.20, before markups.
Yes. This page shows a full sample from a finished job (painting, for a retail store in Massachusetts), which you can open full screen and read page by page. It was built to that client's own specification, so the wage rates, pricing and overhead and profit are theirs. Ask us for a current sample in your own trade.
From our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. An estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that market, and vendors update their prices as they change. Labor is priced as union or open shop, or at Davis-Bacon rates with fringes on government work.
Yes. The estimate is delivered as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change any quantity, rate or markup and the whole estimate recalculates. If overhead and profit was set at 25% and you want 30%, change that one cell and every total updates, so you can adjust your number minutes before the bid is due without sending it back to us.
As many as you need. Every revision is free, including addenda, scope changes and pricing updates, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and are typically returned within an hour to a few hours, depending on the size of the change.
09 91 00 Painting, with interior painting at 09 91 23 and exterior at 09 91 13. Wall coverings are 09 72 00 and high-performance coatings 09 96 00.
A single project starts at $199 and larger buildings typically run $200 to $500; the quote is free and usually back in about 20 minutes. Every estimate is built to the client's own specification, with your production rates and format if you send them.
Related services and service areas
Have a painting bid due? Send the drawings.
Free quote in about 20 minutes. Painting and wall covering takeoffs and estimates typically in 24 to 48 hours, built to your format, with free revisions with no limit. Based in Houston and estimating painting in all 50 states.