Painting cost calculator
Answer a few questions and you'll get a real range for your house, with nothing to fill in before you see it. The number moves as you change the answers. It's a ballpark, and the real figure comes after a walkthrough of your house.
122 Google reviews, 5.0 average.
In Houston, a residential interior painting project starts around $1,000, a full exterior repaint starts around $3,500, and cabinet painting costs $3,000 to $5,000 and up. Epoxy floors cost about $7 per square foot. Those are Ray Gomez's own figures. The calculator below turns them into a range for your square footage and your wall condition.
Price your project
Move the answers and the range moves with them. Nothing is asked of you, and nothing is sent anywhere until you decide to send it.
Houston and Baltimore price differently. Tell us which one you are in and the range adjusts. Leave it blank and you get the Houston figure.
Ballpark range
$1,000 and up
Indicative components, before the market adjustment and the rounding. They will not add up to the headline range, and the range is the authoritative figure.
A ballpark, not a quote. Real pricing comes from walking the space, because condition and prep move a painting job more than anything you can tick on a form.
Interior painting starts around $1,000. Cabinets are $3,000 to $5,000 and up. A full exterior repaint starts around $3,500.
What the cost calculator is doing
Prep decides what a painting project costs, more than square footage does.
What is being painted, and what shape it is in
This one starts where every quote here starts. What's being painted, how much of it there is, and what shape it's in. Interior painting prices by room, by surface, and by the condition of the walls underneath. Exterior painting prices on house size, stories, substrate and how much of the last coat is still holding on. Cabinets price on door and drawer front count, because that's what gets sprayed.
Where you are
Then your ZIP code sets the market. Houston and Baltimore carry different local labor rates, so the calculator adjusts behind the scenes and we don't publish two price sheets. Leave the ZIP blank and you'll get the Houston figure.
Why it is a range and not a number
Every result comes back as a range, deliberately. A point figure reads as a promise, and nobody can promise a price on a house they haven't walked. A range is honest about what a form can and can't know.
No email box in front of the number
One more thing, because it is the question people ask second. You will not be asked for an email address to see the number, and there is no step at the end where the figure appears and then goes behind a form. The range is on the screen as you move the answers, and it stays there whether or not you ever call us.
The numbers we publish, and who they come from
Every figure below came from Ray Gomez, who owns the company. If you want to argue with a number, there's somebody here to argue with.
| Painting project | Starts at | What the figure means |
|---|---|---|
| Interior house painting | $1,000 | The residential minimum, and it covers every service, not interiors alone. The calculator works out the real cost estimate first and only applies this if the computed figure lands underneath it. |
| Exterior house painting, full repaint | $3,500 | Ray's own words: "starting around $3,500, but I want the calculator to qualify that heavily." Partial and trim-only scopes fall back to the residential minimum. |
| Cabinet painting and refinishing | $3,000 to $5,000+ | Sprayed on site with the area contained. Door and drawer front count moves this figure more than your kitchen's square footage does. |
| Epoxy floors | $7 per sq ft | Priced by the square foot. Slab condition and coating system move it, and moisture coming up through the slab is something we look at in person. |
We don't publish a rate per square foot for a whole house, because we haven't got one that would be true for yours. An average cost to paint a house by the square foot is the low end of a job nobody has looked at. On Houston jobs Ray measures yours himself and writes the figure down.
Comparing figures? Our Houston residential painting page covers what a full repaint includes, and cabinet painting in Houston goes through the spray process in detail.
What moves the number on a house painting cost calculator estimate
These come in roughly the order they matter. The calculator asks about most of them, and a walkthrough checks the rest.
Prep work
The single biggest driver, and the one nobody photographs. Patching, sanding, caulking, masking and priming are all labor, and labor is most of the total cost. A sound wall takes a fraction of the hours a failing one does, at identical square footage.
Height and access
Anything above nine feet means staging, and a three-story exterior or a vaulted stairwell means a lift. Both are time spent before a brush moves. We're aerial lift certified, which is why we'll quote those jobs at all.
The number of coats the surface needs
This isn't a number we'll promise you in advance. Bare drywall, raw wood, a failing coat and a big color swing all change how many coats of paint it takes to get an even finish, and that gets decided on the surface itself.
Substrate
Stucco, brick, Hardie board, vinyl and bare wood each take a different amount of material and a different product. Masonry is alkaline and porous, so it drinks more and it wants a masonry coating. Your cost per square foot follows the substrate more closely than the floor plan.
Color change
Going a shade either way is nothing. Going from deep red to off-white, or back the other way, changes how much of the surface area you've got to cover twice. It's one of the few things a calculator can account for, which is why the tool asks.
Trim, doors and windows
Trim is slow work over a small surface area, so it moves a painting cost estimate more than its square footage suggests. Doors and windows get counted one at a time for the same reason: each one is cut lines, and cut lines are hand work.
Material costs sit under all of this and move it least. Paint quality matters enormously to how long the job lasts and very little to what it costs today, because labor and materials aren't anywhere near an even split on a professional painting project.
The workmanship and attention to detail really stood out.
Joel Morales, Google review
Turn the ballpark into a real number.
Send us what you've got. The walkthrough turns it into a real number, with the scope and the Sherwin-Williams product named on it, before you sign anything.
- 122 Google reviews, 5.0 average
- EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm
- Fully insured
- 3-Year Workmanship Warranty
The coating systems we trust.
Sherwin-Williams, matched to the surface it is going on. Each of these lines exists for a different reason, and picking the wrong one is why a paint job fails even when it looked right going on.
Emerald
Built for Interiors, trim and cabinets
The premium end of the interior line. It lays down flat, holds a sharp cut line and cleans without burnishing, which is what you want on a wall people touch.
Duration
Built for Interior and exterior, by substrate
Built to sit outside in Houston sun and Baltimore winters. It stays flexible as the substrate moves, and that flexibility is most of what stops a coat cracking.
SuperPaint
Built for Interior and exterior, by substrate
The workhorse. On the right surface it does everything the premium lines do for less, and knowing which surfaces those are is the job.
WoodScapes
Built for Decks, fences and exterior wood
Wood outdoors wants a coating that wears back gently. This one soaks into the grain and wears back as the weather works on it, fading a little more each season.
Loxon
Built for Masonry and stucco
Masonry is alkaline and it breathes. Loxon is built for that.
Which one your house gets is decided by the surface, at the walkthrough. The product name is written on the quote before you sign it, so you can look it up yourself.
What is in the price, and what is not
Included in every estimate
- Covering and masking the room or the elevation before anything opens
- Patching, sanding and caulking as the surface needs it
- Priming where the substrate calls for it
- The Sherwin-Williams product named on your quote, matched to the surface
- Cleanup, reassembly and a final walkthrough with you, punch list included
- The 3-Year Workmanship Warranty, in writing
Priced separately, after Ray looks
- Wood rot, and any structural repair behind it
- Drywall damage past normal patching
- Wallpaper removal, and popcorn ceiling removal, which is priced on square footage and project conditions
- Pressure washing booked on its own, outside an exterior repaint
- Specialty coatings and limewash or whitewash brick finishes
- Anything the previous coating is hiding
When we will not give you a number
This calculator can't price everything, and it says so when it can't.
Answer yes to wood rot and the tool stops estimating and says inspection required. It does the same for moisture coming up through a slab, and it says so out loud. Rot is a carpentry problem wearing paint, and what it costs to put right has nothing to do with your square footage. Guess at it and you get a number that has to be revised on day one, which is the worst possible day to revise it.
Same goes for a coating nobody can identify, a substrate that's failing underneath, and any exterior where the last coat is peeling in sheets. Those get looked at. If your answers land there, the honest next step is a walkthrough.
If your house was built before 1978
It changes the job, and it can change the cost estimate. Homes built before 1978 can contain lead paint, and disturbing it is federally regulated under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule.
The rule wants a certified firm, containment, and specific work practices. We're an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm, which is the credential it names. It's also the easiest thing to check while you're comparing painting quotes: ask every painter for their firm certification number.
On Houston jobs, Ray will tell you on the walkthrough which side of 1978 your house is on, before it changes the price.
These are the jobs the numbers came from.
Real Rise and Prime work in Houston and Baltimore. The figures above are where jobs like these start.
Questions about painting costs.
What does it cost to paint a 2,000 square foot house in Houston?
Painting a 2,000 square foot house in Houston has no single honest number attached to it. Two 2,000 square foot houses can sit thousands of dollars apart on ceiling height alone, before anybody looks at the wall condition or how many colors you want. What we can publish is where projects start: around $1,000 for a residential interior painting project, around $3,500 for a full exterior repaint, and $3,000 to $5,000 and up for cabinets. Put your own square footage into the calculator above and you'll get a range. That's the truthful shape of this answer.
How much paint does a 2,000 square foot house take?
One gallon covers roughly 350 to 400 square feet of surface area on a smooth, previously painted wall. A 2,000 square foot house has a lot more surface area than 2,000 square feet once you count both sides of the interior walls. Bare drywall, raw wood and a big color change all drink more, because they've got to be primed first. That's coverage math and it isn't a price. Material costs are a small share of a professional painting project and labor rates are most of it.
Is the number from this calculator a quote?
No, it's a ballpark. Ray Gomez hasn't seen your house, and there are too many field conditions in painting for a form to produce something you could hold us to. What the cost calculator does is get you close enough to know whether it's worth a conversation. The real number comes after a walkthrough, written on the spot on most residential jobs, and it is fixed for the scope you agree on.
How much do painters usually charge to paint a house?
House painters charge on three different bases, which is exactly why three quotes for the same house rarely line up: some price by the hour, some by the square foot, some by the room. What you get from us is a written price for the job in front of us, after it has been measured on site. The published starting figures are around $1,000 for an interior project and $3,000 for cabinets.
What makes two houses the same size price differently?
Prep, mostly. A house whose walls need patching, whose old coating is failing, or whose trim has to be sanded back eats far more hours than one that just needs a clean coat over a sound surface, and labor is where the total cost lives. After prep comes height, because anything above nine feet means staging. Then the number of coats the surface needs, then how far you're moving the color, then the substrate itself. Stucco, brick and bare wood don't behave like Hardie board, and the cost per square foot follows.
Does a house built before 1978 cost more to paint?
A house built before 1978 can cost more to paint, and it should. Homes that old can contain lead paint, and disturbing it is federally regulated under the EPA RRP rule. That means containment, specific work practices and a certified firm doing the job. We're an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm, which is the credential that rule names. Ask every painter quoting your older house for their firm certification number.
Where we work in Houston.
Greater North Houston. The painting services are identical in every one of those towns.
- Call or text Ray(443) 743-8052 or text the same number
- We come to youNo showroom and no storefront. The walkthrough happens at your house.
- Same standards everywhere3-Year Workmanship Warranty on every job, in every town on this map.
Town by town: painters in Tomball, painters in Spring, painters in The Woodlands, painters in Conroe, painters in Humble.
The ballpark is free. So is the walkthrough.
122 Google reviews at a 5.0 average, an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm, fully insured, and a 3-Year Workmanship Warranty in writing. You'll have the range in a minute.
Get the real numberor call Ray on (443) 743-8052