How do I bid a painting job step by step?

1) Walk the job and note surfaces, condition, and access. 2) Measure walls, ceilings, and trim. 3) Estimate prep hours honestly. 4) Calculate gallons by actual coverage and coats. 5) Price labor including setup, cut, roll, and cleanup. 6) Add overhead. 7) Apply target true margin: bid = cost ÷ (1 − margin).

How do I price interior painting per room?

Measure wall square footage, add ceiling and trim as separate line items, then price prep hours honestly. Bid Buddy lets you build a room template you can reuse.

How much should I mark up paint?

Most painters mark up paint 25–40% to cover procurement, delivery, storage, and the occasional wrong-color reorder. Bid Buddy applies markup and then shows the true margin so you know exactly what you keep.

What margin should a painter target?

20–30% net profit margin is healthy for painting after paying yourself a real wage. Bid Buddy prices to margin, not markup, so the profit you plan is the profit you keep.

Should I charge separately for prep?

Yes. Prep is usually the biggest labor component. Line-item it as surface prep per hour or per square foot so customers see what they are paying for and you get paid for every hour.

How do I bid exterior painting?

Exterior adds power washing, scraping old paint, wood repair, caulking, priming, and height access. Measure each plane, add gables and soffits, and add a height/access factor for two-story work.

How to bid a painting job so prep finally pays for itself

The fastest way to lose money on a paint job is to throw prep in for free. Scraping, sanding, patching, caulking, priming, and masking are usually more hours than the finish coats — and they are the reason the job looks professional. This guide shows how to bid a painting job from the first walkthrough to the final price, and the calculator below does the true-margin math so the number you hand the homeowner actually protects your profit.

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Your bid

Target profit margin

Your bid is calculated as total cost ÷ (1 − margin) for a true margin.

Total job cost

$23,000.00

Recommended bid

$28,750.00

Profit

$5,750.00

Margin

20%

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Surface prep is the real job

Scrape, sand, patch, caulk, prime, mask. On most repaints this is 40–60% of total labor. Never bury it in a per-room average.

Measure by surface, not by room

Walls: length × height. Ceilings: floor area. Trim: linear feet. Doors and windows get subtracted from paint area but added back as separate line items.

Coats & coverage drive material cost

Dark-to-light, bare drywall, and rough stucco eat paint. Use actual coverage (250–350 sq ft per gallon on smooth walls), not the can label.

Height, access, and protection

Ladders, scaffolding, cut lines above 10 ft, floor protection, and furniture moving all slow the job and raise insurance risk.

Paint grade changes everything

Contractor-grade vs premium can be 2–3× the material cost. Let the customer pick the grade, then price it exactly.

Markup & margin for painting

Solo painters usually need 25–35% markup on materials to net a 20–25% true profit margin after paying themselves a real wage. Small crews with a helper, truck, insurance, and equipment typically need 40–50% markup to reach the same net margin. Bid Buddy calculates the true bid so the margin you type is the margin you keep.

Line items to include in every painting bid

Initial walkthrough & photos
Furniture moving / protection
Surface prep (per hour or per sq ft)
Masking & drop cloths
Caulking & patching
Primer (spot or full)
Ceiling paint
Wall paint (by coat)
Trim, doors & windows (per unit or linear ft)
Labor — cut & roll
Cleanup, touch-up & final walkthrough
Warranty / callback reserve

Frequently asked questions

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