Pre-loaded with painting trade overhead defaults. Enter your job costs — get your exact bid price and profit margin.
For exterior commercial painting, factor in lift and scaffold rental in your equipment line. For large multi-unit residential, competitive pressure often limits markup — know your overhead rate precisely before bidding volume work.
Painting contractors often run thinner absolute overhead than mechanical trades — no specialized vehicles full of inventory, no licensing boards, lower workers' comp premiums — but that doesn't mean pricing should be thin. Industry benchmarks put painting markup at 25–50% on direct costs, with specialty work (faux finishes, industrial coatings, epoxy flooring) commanding the higher end. The wide range reflects the difference between high-volume residential painters competing on price and specialty commercial painters with limited competition.
Labor is the dominant cost in painting — often 60–70% of total direct costs. Pricing accurately requires knowing your true hourly production rates by surface type (walls, trim, ceilings, exterior siding, decks) and accurately estimating prep time, which many painters systematically underestimate. A job that requires 30% of total time in prep — washing, masking, patching, caulking — must have that prep time fully baked into the bid.
The most accurate way to price painting work is the production rate method. For each surface type, establish how many square feet one painter covers per hour (including prep, application, and cleanup). Multiply by your burdened hourly rate to get cost per square foot. Then apply your markup to get your price per square foot. Example: 200 sq ft/hr production rate × $45/hr burdened cost = $0.225/sq ft labor cost. At 35% markup, price is $0.304/sq ft for labor alone — add materials markup on top.
| Project Type | Typical Markup | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Interior residential repaint | 30–45% | Competitive, volume work |
| Exterior residential | 30–45% | Seasonal, weather risk, prep intensive |
| New construction | 20–30% | Volume, competitive GC bidding |
| Commercial interior | 25–35% | Off-hours work, coordination overhead |
| Faux / decorative finishes | 50–80% | Specialty skill, limited competition |
| Industrial / epoxy coatings | 40–60% | Specialty materials, surface prep intensive |
Paint and material markup is a meaningful revenue center for painting contractors. Standard practice is 20–35% above your supplier cost on paint, primers, caulk, masking materials, and sundries. Premium paint (Benjamin Moore Aura, Sherwin-Williams Emerald) gives you more room — clients who specify premium products understand they're paying more and are less likely to push back on material pricing. Always mark up materials — the time spent sourcing, hauling, and managing materials is real overhead cost.