Painting Estimate Calculator
Measure the walls, pick your rates, get a price you can send. Gallons, labor hours, cost and margin, all in one place.
Rooms feet, inside measurements
Why this number
Each door takes 20 sq ft off the walls and adds 16 lnft of cut-in. Assumption: a 3 ft by 6 ft 8 in door.
Why this number
Each window takes 12 sq ft off the walls and adds 14 lnft of cut-in. Assumption: a 3 ft by 4 ft window.
The job
Your numbers rates, prices, margin
Materials
Why this number
Sherwin-Williams Emerald Interior lists 350 to 400 sq ft; Benjamin Moore Regal Select 400 to 450. Fetched Sep 21, 2026. Check your can.
Why this number
An illustrative $38 allowance. Use your actual supplier price for the selected product.
Why this number
Our starting point for a general interior primer.
Why this number
Tape, plastic, roller covers, spackle.
Production
Why this number
Prosperity Painting uses 40 for a careful hand line. 60 is a practiced hand.
Why this number
Faster over fresh paint.
Why this number
Home Depot Pro's figure for rolling walls. Fetched Sep 21, 2026.
Why this number
Prosperity Painting Consultants' calculator, second rolled coat. Fetched Sep 21, 2026.
Prep hours per room
Labor, overhead, margin
Why this number
What the hour costs you, not what you charge. BLS median painter wage was $23.75 in May 2025; $30 self-pay plus 25% tax and insurance is about $38.
Why this number
Share of the price you keep. Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). 30% is a common target; it is not 30% markup.
Why this number
Benjamin Moore and Jobber suggest about 10% of job costs as a starting point. Fetched Sep 21, 2026.
Price to send
$750at 30.0% actual margin
Based on your inputs. Default prices and work speeds are examples, not local market averages. Sales tax is not included.
| Prep and protection1.5 hr, good, a few nail holes | $92 |
| Walls, 2 coats352 sq ft, cut in and rolled | $445 |
| Cleanup and walkthrough0.5 hr | $31 |
| Paint and supplies2 gal paint, sundries | $182 |
| Total | $750 |
Your side (not on the estimate)
- Labor
- 9.5 hr × $38 = $361
- Materials
- $116
- Overhead
- $48
- Cost
- $525
- Profit
- $225
- Same price as markup
- 43%
Hours: prep 1.5 hr, cut-in 3.7 hr, rolling 3.6 hr, cleanup 0.5 hr. Rounded up to the half hour.
How to estimate a paint job with this calculator
A painting estimate is wall area, gallons, labor hours by task, materials, overhead and margin, in that order. The calculator runs that chain and shows every step, so you can send a number you can defend instead of one that sounds about right.
- Measure each room. Length, width and ceiling height in feet, plus a count of doors and windows. The tool takes 20 sq ft off per door and 12 per window, and adds their frames to the cut-in footage.
- Pick the job. One coat or two, wall condition (which sets prep hours), and whether the ceiling, trim or a primer coat is in scope.
- Check your numbers. Open "Your numbers" and replace the coverage, paint price, production rates, loaded labor cost, overhead and margin with your own. Every default is sourced or labeled an assumption.
- Read the price. The headline is what to send. Below it: gallons to buy, hours, a customer-facing line item list, and a "your side" panel with cost, overhead and profit.
- Copy the lines. Paste them into your estimate, or turn them into a WinPal estimate with your logo and terms.
Price = (labor + materials + overhead) ÷ (1 − target margin).
Divide, don't multiply. At 30% margin on $525 of cost, dividing by 0.70 gives $750. Multiplying by 1.30 gives $682.50, which is a 23% margin wearing a 30% name tag.
How much does it cost to paint a 12x12 room?
With the calculator's defaults, a 12x12 bedroom with 8 ft ceilings, one door, one window, two coats and no ceiling or trim prices at $750 at a 30% margin. That is the same room priced step by step in the painting pricing guide. Hypothetical job, real math.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Net wall area | 48 ft perimeter × 8 ft, minus 20 and 12 | 352 sq ft |
| Cut-in | 48 + 48 + 16 + 14 | 126 lnft per coat |
| Gallons | 352 × 2 coats ÷ 375, rounded up | 2 gal |
| Materials | 2 × $38 + $40 sundries | $116 |
| Hours | prep 1.5 + cut-in 3.7 + rolling 3.6 + cleanup 0.5, rounded up | 9.5 hr |
| Labor | 9.5 × $38 loaded | $361 |
| Overhead | 10% of $477 | $48 |
| Cost | $361 + $116 + $48 | $525 |
| Price at 30% margin | $525 ÷ 0.70 | $750 |
Add the ceiling and the same room goes to $960 (3 gallons, 12 hours). Add trim labor as well and it's $1,110 (14.5 hours), before any separate trim paint purchase. Each is its own line, which is why the customer list above shows them separately.
Painting cost per square foot: wall or floor?
The $750 example works out to $2.13 per square foot of wall, or $5.21 per square foot of floor. Same room, different measurements. Say which one you mean when comparing quotes.
Your price depends on the scope, surface condition and your own costs. Check the hours, materials and access before adjusting your margin to match another quote.
How the calculator works out painting labor hours
Labor accounts for $361 of the $525 modeled cost in our bedroom example. The calculator splits them by task instead of guessing "about a day."
| Task | Priced by | Default rate |
|---|---|---|
| Prep and protection | per room, by wall condition | 1.5 / 3 / 5 hr |
| Cut-in, coat 1 | linear feet of ceiling line, baseboard, frames | 60 lnft per hour |
| Cut-in, coat 2 | same footage, faster over fresh paint | 80 lnft per hour |
| Rolling, coat 1 | square feet of net wall | 150 sq ft per hour |
| Rolling, coat 2 | square feet of net wall | 280 sq ft per hour |
| Ceiling | square feet × coats | 120 sq ft per hour |
| Trim and baseboard | linear feet × coats | 40 lnft per hour |
| Cleanup and walkthrough | per room | 0.5 hr |
The rolling rates are starting points adapted from published painting guides, not guaranteed work speeds. Track your own hours for each task and adjust for access, finish quality and surface condition.
Interior painting cost calculator for a whole house
Add each room with its own dimensions, doors and windows. Include ceilings and trim only when they are part of the scope. The calculator adds the areas and task hours together.
Paint quantities assume shared paint across the selected walls and ceilings. Separate colors or finishes need separate gallon rounding. Trim adds labor, but you need to add its paint cost separately. Drying time and return visits also affect the schedule: person-hours are working time, not elapsed days.
Common questions about painting estimates
How much would a painter charge to paint a 12x12 room?
The calculator's default room, 12x12 with 8 ft ceilings, two coats, one door and one window, comes out at $750 at a 30% margin. Your rate, speed and prep move that number.
How do you calculate a painting estimate?
Measure perimeter times ceiling height, subtract doors and windows, multiply by coats and divide by the can's coverage for gallons. Split labor into prep, cut-in, rolling and cleanup at your own production rates. Add materials and your overhead allocation for cost. Then divide cost by one minus your margin. The calculator above does each step and shows it.
How much should it cost to paint 1,000 sq ft?
Say which 1,000 sq ft first. At HomeGuide's $1 to $3 per square foot of wall, 1,000 sq ft of wall runs $1,000 to $3,000. With this calculator's defaults, 1,000 sq ft of wall across three rooms with 360 lnft of cut-in prices at $2,160 (27 hours, 6 gallons). If 1,000 sq ft is the floor area of a home, the wall area is larger, so measure it.
How much paint do I need for a 2,000 sq ft house?
The calculator needs wall area, not floor area. As a pure coverage check, 2,000 sq ft of wall with two coats at 375 sq ft per gallon needs 11 gallons (2,000 × 2 ÷ 375 = 10.7, rounded up). A 2,000 sq ft house has more wall than that, so walk each room with a tape and add them as rooms above.
What is the difference between a painting cost calculator and a paint calculator?
A paint calculator, like the ones from Sherwin-Williams, Behr or Lowe's, only tells you how many gallons to buy. A painting cost calculator adds the labor hours, your loaded rate, overhead and margin so you get a price. This page does both, and it shows the hours by task so you can argue with them.
How do painters estimate labor for a paint job?
By production rate, not by feel. Cut-in is priced in linear feet per hour, rolling in square feet per hour, with a faster second coat. Prep and cleanup are added per room. Published starting points are 150 sq ft per hour for a first rolled coat (Home Depot Pro) and 40 to 60 lnft per hour for a hand-cut line. Time yourself and replace them.
Is this a painting cost calculator for homeowners too?
It's built for the painter writing the quote, so it shows loaded labor, overhead and margin. A homeowner can still use it to see where the money goes in a fair bid. If you already have a quote in hand, the estimate checker compares it with the market instead of rebuilding it.
Turn this into an estimate your customer can sign.
Paste the line items into WinPal, add your logo and terms, and send it from your phone before you leave the driveway. Estimates, invoices and payments live in the same app.