How to Estimate Exterior Painting Jobs

Painting may be an art, but estimation is a science.

No matter how much experience or know-how you have, a “best guess” is never enough to generate accurate painting job estimates and scale a painting business. That’s why we’ve been digging deeply into the “how” and “why” behind precise paint estimation, helping you guarantee consistency and profitability.

Let’s discuss:

Estimating exteriors doesn’t have to be complicated—here’s a simple three-step process.

• Step 1: Measure the Exterior Surfaces & Factor in Additional Time Needed
• Step 2: Calculate the Number of Exterior Painting Hours for Each Surface
• Step 3: Calculate the Price of the Exterior Painting Project

What is Time-Based Estimation?

Also known as “production rate estimation,” it’s a method many painting contractors use to estimate a project based on the time it takes to complete the job.

In other words, you’re using straightforward math to determine how long something will take to paint and charging accordingly. But here’s where the drop-off can happen: many painting contractors don’t really have a firm handle on how long something will take, or what to charge per hour in order to cover all expenses and guarantee profitability.

Before we get deeper, here’s the formula to remember:

# Hours to Complete Project × Your Hourly Rate (+ Materials, if not included) = Project Price

What Are The Benefits of Time-Based Estimation?

Math may not be your favorite subject (we hear you!), but here’s why this is worth your time:

• Creates a Predictable Profit Model: With time-based estimation, you establish a system to generate consistent profits, job after job. No more crossing fingers and hoping your numbers are good.

• On-Time, On-Budget Projects: By knowing how long each job will take, you’re more likely to complete work on time and within budget. Again, there’s no guesswork: you know, based on an accurate painting job cost calculation, when the job will be complete and what will be involved.

• Scalable Process for Growth: With a repeatable system in place, it’s easier to onboard and train new team members. Scale it up! Hire painters, adjust your hourly rate as needed to compensate for increased overhead costs, and share a formula that really works with your estimation team.

Step 1: Measure the Exterior Surfaces & Factor in Additional Time Needed

Okay, with our formula in hand, let’s put it into practice with a hypothetical exterior painting project. We’ll start by asking several universal questions that apply to just about any exterior repaint:

1. What surfaces are you painting?
2. How many coats are you applying?
3. Are there any barriers or access issues to consider?
4. How much prep work and additional time is required?

 In this case, we’ll be painting a stucco home with two coats of flat latex paint. Using a laser measure, we start by determining the length and height, giving us what we need to arrive at the basic square footage. You can get more granular and measure out areas that won’t be painted, like windows or architectural features, but the time it takes to work around those sections is often equivalent to the time it would take to paint their surface area, so a broader formula works just fine in most cases.

For our hypothetical home, we have:

• Height: 8 feet of stucco (Note: There’s a stone facade on the lower portion of the wall, just to make things interesting!)
• Width: 20 feet
• Length: 40 linear feet

Multiplying length by height, that means we have 320 square feet of stucco to paint on the front side. And remember, this is why having paint estimation software like PaintScout is a game-changer, allowing you to just plug in the job data to arrive at a consistent, profitable figure.

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Step 2: Calculate the Number of Exterior Painting Hours for Each Surface

For this step, you need to know your “time-based rate”: the average amount of time it takes to complete a task.

If you aren’t sure of this rate, time your team. Just keep in mind that some painters are faster than others, so factor in a realistic average for a more accurate number. For our example here, we’re going to go with 75 sqft/hr for painting—a little slower than our average since some of the stucco is hard to reach.

Plugging this into our equation, we arrive at an estimated time to complete one side of the home:

320 sqft ÷ 75 sqft/hr = 4.3 hrs

Don’t forget to account for additional time needed to do the job…

It can be all too easy to only consider actual painting time. Keep in mind that you need to drive to the job site, prep, mask, repair, caulk, etc. Or, in this case, we’ll also add 2 hours of power washing to our hypothetical exterior repaint, requiring additional time factored in at 300-400 sq ft per hour:

4.3 hrs (painting) + 2 hrs (power washing) = 6.3 hrs

With these final figures in hand, we can repeat the process for each side of the house. Altogether, we have:

6.3 hrs (side A) + 16 hrs (side B) + 6.3 hrs (side C) + 16 hrs (side D) = 44.6 hours total

If this is causing math class flashbacks, don’t worry: PaintScout is like bringing a calculator and cheat sheet to the big test. We’ll automatically run the numbers for you as you build your estimate: hours to complete the project, your time-based rate, and help you create a clear and detailed estimate.

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Step 3: Calculate the Price of the Exterior Painting Project

First, you need a standard hourly rate. Take a look here for more detailed information about how to find the right figure for you, but here are a few key takeaways:

• The goal of a standard hourly rate is to eliminate guesswork, ensure consistency, and guarantee profitability.
• Your rate should cover not only labor costs, but also overheard, materials (more on this below), and profit percentage.
• Also, don’t forget to factor your “labor burden” into labor costs, including taxes, FICA, worker’s comp, benefits, etc.

Once again, this is where PaintScout shines as digital estimation software. You only need to determine these core numbers once—we can do the heavy lifting for you. No guesses, surprises, or extra math.

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Should You Include Materials in Your Hourly Painting Rate?

This is ultimately up to you, your process, and how you want to itemize and organize your estimates. The major selling point of lumping materials into your hourly rate is keeping the process simpler: one fewer thing to calculate, and you don’t need to worry about planning for sundries and miscellaneous items.

What are the downsides to factoring in materials? Well, you lose some control over more granular pricing. For example, you might want to up-charge a premium product, or make a quote more competitive by offering to use a less expensive product. If you paint your estimates with a broader brush, you can’t control those finer points. Or, you might have a unique project that requires a lot of a specific material or paint—more than you factor in as the average for your hourly rate. All things to consider.

If you paint your estimates with a broader brush, you can’t control those finer points.

What’s Your Takeaway?

1. You can only go with your gut for so long. You might know your own painting speed and have a rough idea of what to charge, but you can’t scale a business on rough ideas.
2. You have to know your numbers. It’s critical to have a consistent method for measuring and pricing jobs.
3. You need an hourly rate that guarantees profitability. A lot more goes into an hourly rate than just labor costs. By figuring this all out up front, you can ensure profitability.
4. You need the right tools to eliminate surprises. Guesswork can be dangerous. Having the right exterior house painting software, like PaintScout, makes the math easy and your estimates completely consistent.

By crunching the numbers in a smart way, you can save yourself time, avoid headaches, and put your painting business on the road to real growth and profitability.