Average Cost Exterior House Painting

Factors That Affect The Cost Of Full House Painting

Several individual factors impact the overall cost of your painting project, including how many coats of paint you need and the type of paint you are using. As you may have guessed, higher quality paints cost more, but that is not the only thing that affects how much it costs. If youre planning on going from a light color to a dark color or especially a dark color to a light color, its going to take a bit more work and money. Older homes require more prep work, often including or siding repairs.

When it comes to exterior painting, any obstacles around your house, such as shrubbery, trees, or decorations, make painting more difficult. You can expect to pay more if you have uneven ground around your home. Uneven surfaces make it more difficult to climb up on a ladder safely. So, a home with more than one story will be more expensive to paint. For the exterior, it means covering more surface area and climbing higher to paint the entire house. For the interior, it means more rooms and hallways to cover. Other factors that impact the cost of an interior paint job include the size and shape of the room and the placement of the items inside it. Plus, you have to deal with doorways, baseboards, closets, and trim. Most painting contractors charge by square footage or by the hour. Check with the painters in your area for their specific rates.

Average Cost To Paint A House Graph

The average cost to paint a house exterior of most suburban homes in the Denver Metro area will average between $3000 and $6000.

To get a basic understanding of what your home will cost, you should consider 3 main factors:

• The size of your home.
• The condition of your home.
• The complexity of the architecture/job.

Size is the easiest part. This is where you start. What size is your home? Dont know? An internet search of your address is usually the easiest way to find out.

Small homes ranging between 1000 and 2000 square feet are typically going have a starting price anywhere between $2500 and $3000 relative to its size. These are usually single-story homes with no walkout basements.

Medium homes can range from 1500-2500 square feet and are typically going to have a starting price between $3500 and $4500. These are your two-story homes or larger ranch style homes.

Large homes range from 2500-3500 square feet and will have a starting price between $4000 and $5000.

Condition of your home depends on how old and well taken care of your home is. The condition reflects the amount of additional labor and material that will be required to complete the job at industry standards.

Labor Cost To Paint A House

Even though most contractors will give quotes for the overall project price , being familiar with average hourly rates can help with budgeting. The hourly cost will usually be per-painter, per-hour, so a home that requires multiple workers will have a severely increased rate.

For example, if the rate is $30 per hour but there are two people working on your project, you would pay $60 per hour. The flip side is that the more painters there are, the faster they will get the job done. Your overall labor cost will usually be about the same no matter how many people the painting company puts on your job.

A typical one- or two-story home will usually take a pro several days to paint. National average labor rates range from $26 to $79 per hour per painter.

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Gallon Of Exterior Paint Price

Not to mention, you will have to pay retail prices at the paint store. The cost of a gallon of paint for homeowners can range from$40 to $90 per gallon depending on the quality of the exterior product used. Certainly, the type of paint used will affect how easy it is to coat the surface and how long the paint job will last.

Recently, gallon costs have been soaring all over the United States due to the pandemic-induced paint shortage. In turn, knowing exactly how much outdoor paint to purchase is more important now than ever.

Moving to the Dallas area and thinking about painting your home? Find out how much it costs to paint a house in Dallas, TX.

As a rule of thumb, the average gallon of exterior paint covers 300-400 square feet of surface area. That means you will need 8-10 gallons to paint the exterior siding of a 2,500 sqft house .

We always recommend applying at least two coats for any exterior color changes. This requires an extra 50% to 75% of paint depending on how porous the surface being painted is. To be sure, budget for at least 12-15 gallons for any major DIY exterior home painting project.

Which paint is best for exteriors? Find the answer in our Sherwin-Williams Vs. Benjamin Moore comparison breakdown.

How many gallons of paint do I need for exterior trim?

If you only needed to paint first floor trim to maintain and protect the wood from the weather, this would actually be a great project you can do yourself.

Saving Money On Your Painting Project Diy

Can you paint your house yourself? DIY painting can save you thirty-percent over the cost of a contractor, but its a painstaking and time-consuming process. For every hour of labor saved, youll spend more money to buy paint without a discount, and youll have to rent equipment and purchase supplies that you may never use again. Hiring an expert is the best way to ensure the job is done right and with the least amount of disruption to your daily routine.

If your budget is tight, here are a few tips to help you trim the cost of a professional project.

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Cost To Paint Wood Siding

Among siding materials, wood requires the most preparation. Its prone to water damage, so the likelihood of needing minor repairs is high. Scraping and sanding can take a full day if the existing paint is in poor condition, and if you live in a moist climate, treating bare wood with water sealer before painting is highly recommended.

Brush painting vs roll painting wood siding runs about $4 per square foot. Spray painting costs less, but rough or irregular wood shingles need extra attention.

How Painting Jobs Are Quoted

Contractors use different methods to estimate costs. Some itemize materials, labor and other expenses separately. Others offer a price per square foot since the amount the paint needed to cover your home is calculated by foot, this type of estimate is efficient.

How is the exterior square footage of your home calculated? The formula is simple, and it provides a nearly foolproof estimate:

Example:

• A 24 x 36 home has a perimeter of 120 feet
• A single story home with a pitched roof measures 9 feet high, plus 4.5 feet for the gable.
• 120 square feet x sq 13.5 square feet = 1620 square feet
• Subtract 40 square feet for two doors and 120 square feet for eight average windows
• Your home has 1480 square feet of paintable surface.

Measurements can be further refined to include:

The more detailed the estimate is, the more accurate it will be.

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Cost To Paint Plaster And Stucco

Fresh stucco has a waiting period of up to two months before it can be painted. Contractors use a special moisture meter to tell if its cured enough for paint to stick. Hardened stucco takes just a quick power wash to clean, and it dries quickly.

Brush painting stucco is time-intensive and costly at up to $5 per square foot, but spray painting runs less than $3 per foot, and the results are similar. For rough stucco, expect to use twice as much paint as you would on a solid surface. Gentler textures require less, and spray painting makes the most of every drop.

Diy Cost To Paint House Siding

On average, painting a house DIY costs between $500 and $1,000, which is much cheaper than hiring a professional.

If you decide to paint your home exterior DIY, there are many items you need to factor into the cost. First and foremost is the paint itself. The cost of paint ranges between $20 and $70 per gallon, on average.

Be sure to also factor in the cost of primer, which ranges in cost between $20 and $50 per gallon.

You will also need to pay for other items such as brushes, pans, a ladder, and more, which will cost between $300 and $900 at a home improvement store such as Home Depot or Lowes.

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Painting Additional Exterior Features

Curb appeal isnt all about the walls. Other outdoor features such as trim, doors, and gutters need new paint every once in a while, too. Painting these parts of your house along with the siding can give the whole exterior a clean, put-together look.

Because painting more detailed features is different from painting a simple wall, the rates are varied. We have listed below the costs you can expect to pay for painting the most common exterior home features. Add any relevant costs to the cost of painting the walls to estimate the price of painting everything at once.

How Much Does House Painting Cost

• National average cost: $3,348
• Typical price range: $2,191 $4,505
• Extreme low end: $829
• Extreme high end: $8,460

For an average-sized home in the U.S., a homeowner would usually pay a pro around $2,191 to $4,505 in total for a whole-house painting project.

If your house is smaller than average and you use particularly cheap paint and primer, your project could cost as little as $829 even with professional labor. On the flip side, painting a large multi-story home with high-quality paint might raise the price to $8,460 or even more.

The base and finish of the paint you use, how many coats it takes to cover your homes siding, and how much prep work your house needs can all influence how much you pay a painting contractor. The more hours of work and materials a project takes, the higher your cost will be.

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Tips To Save On The Cost To Paint A House

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A fresh coat of paint makes everything it touches seem brand new. But such new beginnings cost real money. Professional painters charge around $4,000 for labor and materials to paint the exterior of a 2,500-square-foot, two-story home and roughly $5,500 for the interior. Painters rates may range from $20 to $60 an hour, but around $40 is typical in urban areas.

With thought and planning, you can keep the cost of painting the exterior or interior of your home to a minimum, whether you are using a professional painter or doing the work yourself.

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Diy Or Hire A Pro To Paint Your Home

Painting is a project that many homeowners may be able to do on their own. Aside from basic skills, the hardest thing about painting your own house is the prepwork, standing on ladders, and getting the tools to do the job right. If youre a handy homeowner who owns a single story home, this is not a hard project. That stated, there are some downsides to DIY exterior painting.

• Its not a quick job expect to take several full days to complete.
• Prep work and painting is a messy job from beginning to end.
• Requires a lot of time on a ladder. If you are weary about heights, this is not for you.

I have painted my own home once. Our current home has wooden shake siding and I will never do it again. Ill hire a painting contractor every time due to the speed they get it done, the advice on colors and durability, as well as the quality of the finished product.

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Cost To Repaint A House Exterior

Painting siding that has never been painted before, whether it is newly installed wood siding or vinyl siding being painted for the first time, will require a primer. Paint should not be applied directly to bare wood, while some materials like vinyl need a primer to bond the paint to the surface. A few materials, such as fiber cement and some engineered woods, may arrive pre-primed and ready for painting, which can save time and money on the project.

When repainting a home that has been painted before, the material should first be pressure washed and any loose paint needs to be removed. If necessary, repairs may also need to be made to the existing siding or surface material, and any older may need to be replaced around windows and doors. Depending on the condition of the siding and whether you are making a significant color change, you may also need to prime this siding first before painting. All of this can potentially mean that repainting can result in higher overall costs, although this does come down in part to the quality of the siding.

Painting new siding that has been pre-primed will have lower costs, closer to $2,800 to $3,000, with costs slightly higher if priming is required, starting closer to $3,200 to $3,500. This is in contrast to the $2,500 average for repainting existing siding. Keep in mind that costs can vary depending on your location, climate, and the condition and type of siding you are painting, whether new or existing.

Painting Costs By House Size

Because house painting is charged per square foot, the larger your house, the more you’ll pay to have the exterior painted. However, when working out square footage, remember that you need to find the total paintable area, not the actual square footage of your home.

To do that, work out the square footage of the exterior walls, then subtract the square footage occupied by windows and doors. As a rule of thumb, a standard door measures 21 square feet, and an average window measures 12 square feet.

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Cost To Paint Exterior Trim

The cost to paint trim is between $1 and $6 per linear foot. Many homes also have trim around doors, at the end of siding runs, and sometimes between different styles or colors of siding. You may have decorative trim on some parts of your home as well.

Cost to Paint Exterior Window Trim

The average home has 9 windows, with around 40 linear feet of trim. This makes the estimated cost to paint just the window trim around $80 to $120. The more windows your home has, the higher the costs. Its common to have the trim on your home painted at the same time as your siding. Window trim, which frames out the windows on your home, can be painted with the rest of the trim, or separately as needed.

How Much Does Exterior Painting Cost

When calculating the cost of a project, most painters will use a formula based on the square footage of the body of the home and the linear footage of the trim. This will give them an idea of how much paint will be needed on the home. Once your painter has this base number then they will start to look at things that will add materials, labor, or time to the job and adjust pricing from there.

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Exterior Paint Cost Per Gallon

There are a number of factors that can influence the cost of paint, including the color, the brand, and the location. In addition, the amount of paint or the number of gallons that your home will need for coverage can be influenced by several things such as the condition of the siding, the size of the project, and the type of material. As a rule of thumb, non-porous materials require less paint than porous materials, and materials in good condition require less paint than damaged materials.

Faq About House Painting

1. What is the best time of year to paint a house?

You should paint the outside of your house when temperatures are above 50 degrees. Youll want to avoid rainy weather and high humidity, so the best times of year in most places are spring or fall.

2. What is the best finish for painting a home exterior?

Satin and eggshell are popular choices for exterior painting because they hide surface imperfections better than higher gloss paints and are more durable and easier to clean than matte.

3. How often should you repaint your house?

How often your house needs repainting depends on the type of siding on your home, the climate where you live, how well you prepared for the last paint job, and the paint quality. Youll know its time to repaint when you see signs like peeling or faded paint. Most homes could use a new paint job every 5 to 10 years.

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