How to estimate a paint job from your own costs
Measure what you’ll paint, turn it into gallons you can actually buy, and build the price from what you pay — not from somebody else’s price list. One bedroom, every number shown.
Gallons needed paintable area × coats ÷ coverage per gallon × (1 + extra %)
Gallons to buy gallons needed, rounded up
Direct cost gallons to buy × your price + materials + labor
Selling price cost × (1 + markup) or cost ÷ (1 − margin)
The example job: a 12 × 11 ft bedroom
Walls only, 8 ft high, two coats. One door into the room, one closet door, one window. Every price below is an example, not a market price: use what you pay and what an hour of your crew costs.
Step 1: measure the paintable area
Width × height for each wall. Matching walls can share a line.
| What | Size | Sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Long walls | 12 × 8 ft × 2 | 192 |
| Short walls | 11 × 8 ft × 2 | 176 |
| Wall area | 368 | |
| Doors (room + closet) | 3 × 7 ft × 2 | − 42 |
| Window | 3 × 4 ft × 1 | − 12 |
| Paintable area | 314 |
Use decimal feet when a wall isn’t a whole number: 10 ft 6 in is 10.5.
Step 2: coats and coverage give you gallons
Two coats over 314 sq ft means covering 628 sq ft. Now divide by the coverage of the paint you’ll actually use. That number is on the label or the product data sheet, and it changes from one product to the next, so take it from your can — this guide won’t hand you a “typical” one.
For the example, say the label reads 300 sq ft per gallon (a number picked only for this example), and you add 10% extra for touch-ups and what stays in the tray:
If you’ve painted that kind of wall with that paint before, your own records beat any label. Use them, and set the extra from what you’ve seen.
Step 3: round up, and price the paint you buy
You can’t buy 2.30 gallons, so you buy 3. At an example price of $42.50 a gallon, the paint costs 3 × $42.50 = $127.50. That’s what leaves your wallet, so that’s what goes in the estimate, not 2.30 × $42.50 = $97.75. The leftover 0.70 gallon is your touch-up paint.
Two colors? Do the math, and the rounding, for each color separately: leftovers of one color don’t paint the other wall.
Step 4: materials and labor
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Paint: 3 gallons × $42.50 | $127.50 |
| Tape, plastic, caulk, patch, roller covers | $38.00 |
| Labor: 2 people × 6 hours × $32/hour cost | $384.00 |
| Direct job cost | $549.50 |
Count all the labor: moving furniture, masking, patching, cutting in, rolling, cleanup. Use what an hour costs you (wage plus payroll costs), not what you bill for it. If you do the work yourself, your hours count too.
Step 5: overhead and your price
Overhead is the truck, insurance, phone and software that no single job pays for. One way to include it: last year’s overhead ÷ last year’s direct job costs. Say that came to 12% — again, only an example; use your own books.
- Overhead share: 12% of $549.50 = $65.94
- Cost to price on: $549.50 + $65.94 = $615.44
- To keep 25% of the price after overhead: $615.44 ÷ (1 − 0.25) = $820.59 (rounded up to the cent)
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $820.59 |
| Gross profit (price − direct cost) | $271.09 · 33.0% |
| Left after overhead | $205.15 · 25.0% |
| Price per paintable sq ft ($820.59 ÷ 314) | $2.61 |
“Left after overhead” is still not net profit: your own pay and income tax come out of it.
Run your own room in the calculator
Four ways paint estimates come out low
1. Pricing the fraction of a gallon
The example needs 2.30 gallons, and you pay for 3. Price 2.30 and the estimate is $97.75 of paint instead of $127.50; the difference comes out of your profit.
2. Borrowing someone else’s coverage number
Coverage belongs to a product. A figure from another paint, or a rule of thumb, can be far from the can on your truck. Read your label.
3. Leaving out prep time
Masking, patching and moving furniture are hours your crew is paid for. If they’re not in the labor line, they’re free.
4. Using a margin number as a markup
Same bedroom, same $615.44 cost: a 25% markup gives $769.30 and leaves 20% of the price after overhead, not 25%. If you think in “what I keep”, price by margin. The markup vs margin guide has the full explanation.
What this method doesn’t cover
- Ceilings use the same math with length × width as the area; run them as their own estimate if they take a different paint.
- Trim, doors and cabinets are usually easier to price by the piece or by the hour than by the square foot.
- The wall itself. Whether a wall needs repairs, primer or an extra coat is your call on site. The calculator only does the math you give it.
Your prices, every time you estimate
TalkEstimate keeps your own price list and builds the estimate from it while you talk through the job. The AI organizes what you said; it never sets a price.
Not released yet · Android first · built and tested on a real phone