Free House Painting Cost Calculator (+ Guide)

What is a house painting cost calculator?

A house painting cost calculator adds up every cost of painting a house, inside or out, from the painter's quote to the primer you buy yourself.

It shows the total with a contingency, the cost per square foot and what's left of your budget.

How it works

The cheapest of your quotes goes in the total, next to the costs it doesn't cover.

Lead paint in homes built before 1978

The EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule has applied since April 22, 2010.

• Any firm you pay for work that disturbs lead-based paint in a home built before 1978 must be EPA- or state-certified
• It must use certified renovators who follow lead-safe work practices
• The rule generally doesn't cover homeowners working on their own home, unless they rent it out, run a child care center in it or flip houses

So in an older home, ask each contractor for their lead-safe certification before you compare prices.

How to compare contractors' quotes

The Federal Trade Commission gives this advice before you hire anyone.

• Hire only licensed and insured contractors, and check the license with your state or county
• Get several written estimates, each with the work, the materials, the completion date and the price
• Don't automatically pick the lowest bid, and ask why if the estimates differ a lot
• Get a written contract with the contractor's license number and the start and finish dates
• Never pay the full amount up front, and make the final payment only when the work is done

It also warns that a contractor who asks you to get the permits, or who only takes cash, may be running a scam.

How much contingency to add

A contingency is money set aside for what you find once the walls or the ground are open.

HUD requires one on its 203(k) renovation loans: 10% to 20% of the repair costs on a home 30 years or older, and at least 15% when the utilities don't work.

On a newer home, it's up to the lender, to a maximum of 20%.

A worked example

Here's the example the calculator loads: 2,000 sq ft to paint with three quotes of $6,800, $5,900 and $7,500, plus prep repairs and primer you're buying yourself.

The cheapest of the three quotes is $5,900, $1,600 less than the dearest. Your other costs add $650, so the house painting comes to $6,550 before the contingency.

A 10% contingency adds $655, for a total of $7,205. That's $3.60 per square foot, and $795 left of a $8,000 budget.

Mistakes to avoid

These are the slips that come up most.

• Comparing quotes with different numbers of coats or different prep
• Hiring a painter for a pre-1978 home without asking for lead-safe certification
• Paying the full price before the job is done, which the FTC warns against

Who is the house painting cost calculator for?

It's for anyone painting a house, one room or every outside wall, and these tools help around it.

• Paint calculator – for gallons and coats
• Square footage calculator – for the area
• Siding cost calculator – if the outside needs more than paint

Price the prep as carefully as the paint, and the color stays on longer.