Painting Estimate Template

Download the Painting Estimate Template

Fill the painting estimate in above, then export it in whichever format the customer asked for. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account to create.

• Word (.docx)
• PDF
• Google Docs
• Excel (.xlsx)

What to Include in a Painting Estimate

Business name, insurance and lead-safe certification (required)

Note the year the home was built. Work that disturbs paint in housing built before 1978 falls under federal lead-safe renovation rules, and several states run their own program on top of them, with different certification and recordkeeping. Put your firm certification status on the estimate and confirm what your state requires rather than carrying over another state's rule.

Interior or exterior, listed room by room or elevation by elevation (required)

Name every room or every elevation the price covers, and name the ones it does not. "Paint the downstairs" leaves the laundry room, the closets and the inside of the pantry unresolved, and closets alone can add a day because they are all cut-in and no roller.

Measured wall, ceiling and trim quantities (required)

Walls and ceilings in square feet, trim and crown in linear feet, doors and windows as counts. Floor area is not paintable area — a 12 by 12 room with 9-foot ceilings has roughly 430 square feet of wall. Estimating from floor plans instead of measured surfaces is the most expensive habit in this trade.

Surface preparation scope (required)

Spell out scraping, sanding, patching, caulking, deglossing, washing or pressure washing, and spot priming. On a repaint, prep is most of the labor and none of it is visible in the finished job, which is exactly why customers compare your number to a bid that skipped it. Itemize it or you are bidding against work you are not doing.

Number of coats and primer (required)

One coat over a similar color is a different job from two coats over a color change. Deep-to-light changes, new drywall, bare wood, stains and tannin bleed all need primer first. State coats per surface — walls, ceilings, trim — because "we paint it" gets read as "until it looks perfect," and that third coat comes out of your margin.

Paint product, sheen and number of colors (required)

Name the line and sheen for each surface — flat on ceilings, eggshell or satin on walls, semi-gloss on trim. Then count the colors. Every additional color is another cut-in, another cleanout and another partial gallon left over, so most painters set a number of colors included and a surcharge beyond it.

Who supplies the paint, and estimated gallons (required)

Write the gallon count either way. If you supply, it justifies your material line. If the customer supplies, they need to know what to buy, and you need it on record that you do not warrant coverage or hide rate on a product you did not choose. Running short mid-job on a customer-bought color is a return trip nobody pays for.

Ceiling height, stories and access equipment (required)

Nine-foot ceilings, a two-story foyer, a stairwell, a walkout basement elevation or a steep roof pitch all change the equipment and the pace. Ladders, scaffold, planks and lift rental belong on the estimate as their own consideration, because a second-story exterior with no lift access can double the hours on the same square footage.

Substrate repairs and rot, handled separately (required)

Rotted trim, failed glazing, stucco cracks, popped nails and drywall damage beyond simple patching are carpentry, not painting. Either exclude them or carry a stated repair allowance with an hourly rate. On exteriors this is the number one source of change orders, because you cannot see the sill damage until the paint comes off.

Masking, protection and cleanup

Say what gets covered and who moves it: furniture centered and covered, floors papered or dropped, hardware and switch plates removed rather than cut around, landscaping covered on exteriors. Customers rarely price this, but they always notice it, and it is a real block of hours on an occupied home.

Schedule and weather window

Give a start window and a duration rather than a fixed finish date. On exteriors, note the surface temperature and dew point conditions the product needs and that rain within the manufacturer's stated window forces a stop. A schedule that silently assumes dry weather turns into a complaint the first time it rains.

Warranty, payment schedule and estimate validity (required)

State the workmanship warranty you offer, how long the estimate holds, and your payment schedule. Some states limit deposits on residential home improvement contracts and require specific contract language, so check your state's rules before you standardize a deposit percentage across every job.

Painting Estimate Example

Estimate total: $3,878.00. Valid 30 days. Two colors included (one wall color, one trim color); each additional color adds $145. Prep allowance is billed at actual hours up to 6; anything beyond is approved in writing first. Home is occupied — furniture will be centered and covered by us, but the customer clears breakables, electronics and wall art before the start date. Excludes wallpaper removal, closet interiors, popcorn ceiling repair and any carpentry. Home built 1994, so lead-safe renovation rules do not apply here. Workmanship warranty: two years on peeling or blistering, excluding surface failure caused by moisture intrusion.

How to Write a Painting Estimate

1. Measure surfaces, not floors

   Walk with a laser and a notepad. Take wall length times ceiling height per room, ceilings as floor area, trim and crown in linear feet, and count doors and windows. Deduct large openings only, not every window. These measured quantities are the whole basis of how to write a painting estimate that survives contact with the job.

2. Write the prep scope before you write any price

   Note the condition of each surface: peeling, chalking, nail pops, failed caulk, water stains, wallpaper glue, glossy old enamel. Decide what each one needs and how long it takes. Prep is usually more hours than painting on a repaint, so it goes on the sheet as its own itemized line, not folded into a per-square-foot rate.

3. Decide coats and primer per surface

   Record the existing color, the new color and the substrate for each area, then set coats. Dark to light, new drywall, bare wood and stained areas get primer plus two coats. Write the number next to the surface so nobody assumes coverage means as many coats as it takes.

4. Get the colors and sheens in writing

   Count the colors, and write the product line, color name and code and the sheen for every surface. State how many colors the price includes and what each extra one costs. Color selection is the most common reason a residential paint job slips its start date, and a customer who moves from one accent color to three after you priced it has made a change order, not a preference.

5. Convert quantities to production hours

   Apply your own production rates — square feet of wall rolled per hour, linear feet of trim brushed per hour, minutes per door — rather than a rate per square foot copied from a forum. Add setup, masking, cleanup and daily move-in time. This is where a painting estimate example becomes your own numbers instead of somebody else's.

6. Price paint and sundries as materials

   Calculate gallons at the product's real spread rate on the substrate you have, not the number on the can, and add sundries: caulk, tape, paper, plastic, sandpaper, roller covers, patch. Then say clearly whether you or the customer is buying, and how leftover paint is handled.

7. List exclusions and any repair allowance

   Rot, carpentry, drywall repair beyond patching, wallpaper removal, mold, and any surface you have not been able to inspect. If you expect repairs on an exterior, carry a written allowance with an hourly rate rather than a guess, so the change order is a reconciliation instead of a negotiation.

8. Total it, set the terms, and put a date on it

   Total labor, materials, equipment and allowances. State the payment schedule, the workmanship warranty and how long the estimate is valid — thirty days is normal, shorter in a season where paint pricing is moving. Sign and date it.

9. Send a version the customer can act on

   Most homeowners want a PDF they can print and compare against two other bids. Builders and property managers often ask for the painting estimate template in Word so the scope can go straight into a contract, or Excel when they are leveling several bids on one sheet.

Blank Printable Version

Need something to fill in by hand on site? Leave the fields empty and export — you get a blank printable painting estimate form on US Letter with the line-item grid, totals box and signature line already ruled off.

Print a blank painting estimate form

Turn This Estimate Into an Invoice

Once the job is approved, the estimate should become an invoice without you retyping a single line. That is the next thing we are building. Leave your email and we will tell you when it works.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you write a painting estimate you will not lose money on?

Measure real surfaces, price prep as its own line, state the number of coats, and convert quantities to hours using your own production rates. The estimates that lose money are almost never wrong about the paint — they are wrong about prep hours, about the number of coats a color change needs, and about access. Write those three down at the walkthrough and the number takes care of itself.

Should I charge by the square foot or by the hour?

Measure in square feet and linear feet, price by the hour internally, and present a total. A per-square-foot rate has no way to express that one house has failed caulk everywhere and the next was painted three years ago. Use per-unit rates as a sanity check against your hour build, not as the estimate itself.

Should the customer or the painter supply the paint?

Either works if you write it down. When you supply, you control the product, get the contractor price and stand behind coverage. When the customer supplies, put the gallon count and the exact product and color codes on the estimate, and state that you do not warrant coverage, sheen consistency or a shortfall on a product you did not select.

How many coats should I put in the estimate?

Two on walls in almost every repaint, and always on a color change. One coat is realistic only on a same-color refresh over a sound, clean, similar-sheen surface. Put the number on the sheet per surface. If you write coverage without a number, the customer's definition is however many coats it takes to satisfy them.

Is a painting estimate binding once the customer signs it?

That depends on your state and on how the document reads — a signed estimate with a scope, a price and terms can look a great deal like a contract, and residential home improvement rules in many states add required language and deposit limits. Have a local attorney review your standard estimate and change-order wording once, then use it on every job.

Should I charge for a painting estimate?

Free is standard for straightforward residential repaints. Charge when the visit is real work: a full-house color consultation, a detailed takeoff for a builder across multiple units, or an inspection and specification on a failing exterior. If you charge, say whether the fee is credited toward the job when they hire you.