Cost to paint the outside of a house, itemized

A one-story 40 × 30 ft house with 9 ft walls and two gable ends has about 1,293 sq ft to paint once the doors and windows are left out. Two coats take 9 gallons: $810 at today’s store price. Each day one painter works adds about $506 to the price, overhead and profit included (U.S. median wage). Enter your house, your city and the painter’s time, or type a quote to see how many hours of work it pays for.

Your house painted at today’s prices

Each figure says where it comes from: the walls measured as the exterior paint calculator measures them, the paint at a store’s posted price and its maker’s coverage, the painter’s time at what a painter costs an employer where you live, and the share of the price painting contractors spend on overhead and keep as profit. The time and the overhead share are yours to change.

Filled in as an example: a one-story 40 × 30 ft house with 9 ft walls, a 6 ft gable at each end, 2 doors and 10 windows, two coats of Benjamin Moore Regal Select Exterior, MoorGard Low Lustre from New York Paint & Hardware, painter’s time not yet typed. Type over any of it with your own house and figures.

House length (ft) House width (ft)Measured outside, corner to corner. For an L-shape or a second story, the exterior paint calculator adds up each wall. Wall height (ft)From the bottom of the siding to the eaves. Gable ends Gable rise (ft)How high the triangle rises above the eaves. Doors WindowsCounted at 36 × 80 in a door and 32 × 48 in a window, as on the calculator. CoatsBenjamin Moore asks for two coats on bare siding; a sound painted wall may take one or two. Where you liveSets the painter’s wage. Painter’s time (worker-hours)Ask how many people for how many days, washing and scraping included: two people for two and a half 8-hour days is 40 worker-hours. Leave it empty and the estimate shows what each day adds. A quote’s total ($), if you have one

Your paint, and the painter’s overhead share

Who buys the paint Paint price ($ a gallon)The example: Benjamin Moore Regal Select Exterior, MoorGard Low Lustre, New York Paint & Hardware. Coverage (sq ft a gallon, each coat)On the can or its data sheet: 300 to 400 for this paint. Rough siding takes the low end. Overhead and profit (% of the price)Painting contractors’ average in 2022, from the Census Bureau.

The materials priced here, at today’s prices: $810. Each day one painter works adds about $506.

Your house: 1,293 sq ft of wall, 2 coats
Part	Cost	Where the figure comes from
Exterior paint: 9 gallons	$810	Benjamin Moore Regal Select Exterior, MoorGard Low Lustre, 1 gallon at $89.99, New York Paint & Hardware in New York, NY, Nov 4, 2026. 1,293 sq ft of wall and gables after the doors and windows, 2 coats at 300 sq ft a gallon (Benjamin Moore’s data sheet gives 300 to 400), in whole gallons.
Labor	Not added	Type the painter’s time above. Each worker-day adds about $506 to the price, overhead and profit included.
Materials at today’s prices	$810	$0.63 a sq ft of wall. Not yet the job’s price: the labor and the painter’s overhead and profit come in when you type the painter’s time. Not counted: washing, scraping and sanding, caulk, primer for bare wood and repairs, the trim, doors, shutters and gutters, ladders, scaffolding or a lift, lead-safe work on a house built before 1978, sales tax and delivery.

What an hour costs: no paint maker or public body publishes how long a house takes to paint, so the estimate counts the time you type and no other. Painters in the U.S. earn a median $23.75 an hour (BLS, May 2025). Benefits make up 30.5% of what construction employers spend an hour on pay and benefits (all trades, BLS, June 2026), so an hour of a painter at that wage costs an employer about $34, and an 8-hour day about $273.

Got a quote? Type its total above: the estimate shows how many hours of work it pays for.

What moves the price

The state of the old paint. Washing, scraping loose and peeling paint, sanding, caulking gaps and priming bare wood come before the first coat, and on a weathered house they can take longer than the painting. Benjamin Moore asks for that preparation and a primer on bare wood; this estimate counts none of it.
Height and access. A second story, a steep lot or a tall gable needs longer ladders, scaffolding or a lift, which the painter prices on top.
The trim and the details. Trim, doors, shutters, railings and gutters are often priced on their own, in a different finish: name each in the quote.
The siding. Rough or porous siding drinks more paint than smooth boards: Benjamin Moore’s data sheet gives 300 to 400 sq ft a gallon, and the estimate takes the low end.
Repairs. Rotten boards and trim are replaced before painting, a line of their own.

Houses built before 1978

About three in four homes built before 1978 still have some lead paint, the EPA says, and scraping or sanding it makes dangerous dust. Under the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces in a home built before 1978 must be certified and trained in lead-safe work practices; the rule does not cover owners working on their own home. Lead-safe work adds time and cleanup this estimate does not count: the EPA’s page explains the rule and finds certified contractors.

Painting inside

For the rooms, the interior painting estimate lists them one by one with their own paint and trim.

Before you compare quotes

Ask every painter to price the same house, in writing: the walls and the trim, the coats, the paint by maker, line and finish, the preparation and priming, the repairs, the ladders or scaffolding and the cleanup. Then put the quotes side by side in the painting quote worksheet, or keep every price for the project in a budget worksheet.