Painter quote calculator
Prepare a painting quote from prep time, coatings, and access costs you enter yourself. An optional helper can turn area, coats, and your coverage figure into a paint quantity. It does not know a spread rate and it does not choose a price. You type the unit price before it affects the quote.
Give feedback on this calculator. Leave out prices and customer details.
What to include
- Labor. Prep, patching, masking, coating, and cleanup. If ceilings, walls, and trim take different time, add the hours into one total for this quote.
- Paint, primer, and sundries. The coatings, caulk, sandpaper, tape, and fillers you expect to pay for. Enter your cost, or a marked-up figure if you already price materials that way.
- Additional expenses. Fuel, parking, and access equipment such as a lift or scaffold rental.
- Scope in the description. Coats, sheen, and which rooms are included belong in the job description. The selling price still comes from the line prices you enter.
On the job
- Color changes and repairs usually sit in the hours, not in a separate automatic charge. Add hours for the prep you intend to do.
- If paint is supplied by the customer, do not enter the retail price of that paint. Enter only what you will buy.
- Access equipment is an additional expense when you hire it, or labor hours when the only cost is your time. Count the real cost once.
How the quote is calculated
Prep, coating, and sundries stay as separate lines when you want them itemized. Each line cost is quantity times your unit price, rounded to the nearest cent. Direct cost is the sum of those lines. The target final price is direct cost divided by (1 − margin ÷ 100). A margin is not the same as adding a percentage on top of the paint receipt.
The optional area helper only estimates a quantity: area × coats ÷ coverage × (1 + waste ÷ 100). You supply the coverage. Adding that quantity to a material line does nothing to the price until you enter a unit price. Discount amount is the pre-discount price times the discount, rounded to the nearest cent, and the final price subtracts it. The printed quote can list paint as a customer price. It does not show what you pay per unit or the margin you chose.
Arithmetic example, not a suggested price. Line costs of 800, a 20% margin, and a 10% discount produce a customer total of 1,000, a price before discount of 1,111.11, and a discount of 111.11. The same 800 with a 20% markup would be 960. Use the 1,000 figure only to check the arithmetic, not as a price for a room.
Questions
Does this calculate how much paint I need?
Only if you use the optional helper and type the area, coats, coverage, and waste yourself. Quantity = area × coats ÷ coverage × (1 + waste ÷ 100). Square feet and square meters are not converted. The result is a quantity in whatever unit your coverage used. It becomes a cost only after you add a material line and enter your unit price.
Where do prep and repairs belong?
Most prep is labor hours. Fillers, caulk, and sandpaper belong in materials if you pay for them. Decide what you will include before you rely on the total.
How should ceilings and trim be quoted?
Add the time for each area into labor hours, and describe the areas in the job name so the printed quote is specific. You do not need a separate calculator for each surface.
Why does margin change the price more than a simple markup?
A margin is a share of the selling price. Adding 30% on top of cost is not the same as a 30% margin. The notes under the result show the division this page uses.
Optional area helper
The helper sits under materials and can be ignored. If you use it, enter the area in square feet or square meters, the number of coats, how much area one unit of paint covers, and a waste percentage. Use 0 waste if you do not want an allowance. Ten percent waste multiplies the quantity by 1.10. “Add paint line” copies the quantity onto a new material line and leaves the unit price empty. Measure openings and condition yourself. The helper does not see the room.
Common estimating mistakes
- Trusting a coverage number from the back of a different can. Type the coverage you are willing to stand behind for this surface.
- Adding the helper quantity and also typing the full paint cost again on another line.
- Leaving prep time out of labor because the paint quantity looked complete.
- Putting the cost per gallon on the customer quote by printing Your estimate. Use Print customer quote, which prices the lines at selling amounts and omits your unit cost.
Other calculators
If the job is mostly another trade, use that calculator. The math is the same. The prompts match the work.
Read how the site treats your entries in the privacy policy, and what a result is not in the terms of use. The calculation runs in your browser and does not upload the form. A saved draft stays in this browser until you delete it or clear site data.