Interior Painting quote

[nicolewi]

I got a quote (from just one guy so far) on doing some interior painting. 

I have never painted a room before, but I have painted on excessive amounts of sample swatches! This should be an easy job...not doing ceiling or closets. 

Quote is $750 for bedroom and bath, ONE COAT. I thought two would be standard?? 

extra $150 if I do an accent wall (I feel like I painted half of it already just with samples!)

extra $285 if we do a second bathroom that I was on the fence about. 

Does this sound typical/reasonable? MCL. I have no idea what this should cost. 

It's higher than I expected and I'm back to considering whether DD and I should just do this at the start of summer vacation. 

If you've painted rooms, how hard is it? What would I need (paint pan, rollers, drop cloth??)? Is it more than worth it just to pay the guy and get it done?

Bedroom is 9' ceilings and has three doors to work around (closet, hall, jack-and-jill bath) and 2 windows. 

ETA: I already have the paint, so that cost is not included.

[mccallister84]

I have no idea if that is a fair quote but just painting walls isn’t too bad. I have done about half of our house over the past 9 months or so. I haven’t done any bathrooms though - I think those could be a pain in the neck with all the taping - but then the actual painting should go pretty quickly because there’s much less wall space.

I used really expensive paint and 100% needed to do two coats.

[nicolewi]

May 14, 2024 18:55:59 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

I have no idea if that is a fair quote but just painting walls isn’t too bad. I have done about half of our house over the past 9 months or so. I haven’t done any bathrooms though - I think those could be a pain in the neck with all the taping - but then the actual painting should go pretty quickly because there’s much less wall space.

I used really expensive paint and 100% needed to do two coats.

What did you need to have for supplies? 

I don't know if I would tape...is that a mistake? I've just gone close to trim with samples with a small angled brush???

[mccallister84]

May 14, 2024 18:58:00 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

May 14, 2024 18:55:59 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

I have no idea if that is a fair quote but just painting walls isn’t too bad. I have done about half of our house over the past 9 months or so. I haven’t done any bathrooms though - I think those could be a pain in the neck with all the taping - but then the actual painting should go pretty quickly because there’s much less wall space.

I used really expensive paint and 100% needed to do two coats.

What did you need to have for supplies? 

I don't know if I would tape...is that a mistake? I've just gone close to trim with samples with a small angled brush???

Just a drop cloth, paint tray, roller and angled brush for cutting in.

Taping is a pain in the neck, but it does ensure a nice crisp line. I know some people can get away without doing it but I am not one of them, as tempting as it was.

[quesyrah]

I have no idea what a normal quote is. We painted our whole house and it was not hard at all.

Cover furniture and floor with drip cloths. Blue tape for edges . All you need is paint brushes, rollers and a paint tray.

[penguingrrl]

I’ve never paid a painter, so I have no idea if that’s a high price, but painting isn’t hard. I’ve done every room in my house at least once, many twice, since we bought 7 years ago. When we used to price painting out at my old job I remember having major sticker shock at how expensive it was, but that was several rooms at a time and I don’t remember the actual price, just that it was higher than I had ever imagined.

Taping vs not taping is preference. I used to tape, but MIL taught me how to cut in without tape (her father was a house painter, so taught her how to paint really well). It took a long time to get good at that, but now that I am I love not dealing with taping (it’s one less step).

As far as supplies, you’ll want drop cloths for the floor and to cover the furniture (old bed sheets work really well for that), angled brushes for cutting in, rollers and a roller tray.

And I’ve never heard of not doing a second coat and can’t imagine getting good coverage with only one coat unless you’re covering with the exact same color. I did that in my bedroom after we did a small renovation last year and wanted to freshen it up and touch up where the renovation touched (we had a door cut into one wall to create a primary bathroom, so the area surrounding the new door needed to be painted), and we kept it the same color so only needed a second coat in a few spots. Otherwise I can’t fathom a single coat being adequate.

[plutosmoon]

Hiring out painting is expensive, your quote sounds about right, but I think you can do this and save your money.

I have painted almost my entire house since buying at the end of August, it's not terribly hard. The kitchen and bathroom were the worst because there is just so much to paint around. I also did my trim and had to prime everything because the previous owner was a smoker. If you are painting a square room it's pretty easy, just cut in the edges and roll on the paint. My ceilings are only 8 feet downstairs and even shorter upstairs, the only place I needed a ladder was on my stairs. At 9 feet you might need a small ladder.

I found taping a pain and when I did use it it still seemed to seep through, so I mostly skipped it. I cut into the ceiling as best I could (I watched a few you tube videos about cutting in), and touched up with a very small brush where I didn't get quite close enough at the end, I did get paint on the ceiling in a few spots. Spend money on a decent quality angled cutting in brush, it helps both the cutting in and your hands. I also bought a few smaller brushes for touch ups, rollers (I like purdy white dove 3/8 nap), trays, and something to cover your floor. You will also want some spackle and sandpaper to fill in any holes, sand the areas where you spackled and any other uneven spots you might have.

I would absolutely do two coats.

[dochas]

It's hard and it's hot and takes about 10 tomes as long as you think it will. We do our own painting and professionals deserve every penny they get.

Does the estimate include paint? It is shockingly expensive so make sure you price materials before evaluating the quotes.

[livinitup]

In the fall, we (me, H, DD/teenager) painted 2 rooms on the first floor as part of an update for my DD. Basically the living room and dining room (converted from playrooms to teenage space). Painting is one of those jobs that seems fine (and is!) but is incredibly tedious and time consuming as a non-professional. It’s not even expensive to get all of the supplies but it does add up. And then you store it or chuck a lot of it.

It took us AS LONG if not longer/double/triple to paint the details - corners, trim around the windows, etc. as the walls themselves. We worked well together but it took a long time. Then it took more time to fix mistakes and make it look as good as possible. (+ there was a good deal of prep (!) so much prep - remove curtain rods, light switch plates, heating grates, taping, remove nails, fill holes, spackle, sand).

In the final stretch, DH had an unexpected repair needed in his office that required a professional to replace a wall (dry wall) and re-paint the office. We used the same color paint as the project in the other two rooms. So, by coincidence, we had a professional painter working in the house with really cool (extra long) rollers at the same time we were finishing the second room (of our paint project). We were close to finished and prepped the space and were a bit exhausted/tired of painting. It seemed SO EASY to get the painter to run the big rollers instead of doing it ourselves. So, I asked for a quote.

It was a fair price. But over double what we would have expected. Professional painting is just expensive.

Get another quote. Maybe negotiate. It’s a really hard decision.


(We had the professional painter do it. Expensive but worth it. But it was the last bit so not that much money out of pocket.) (fyi - insurance paid for the office repair & painting.)

[sparty04]

As much as I would love to pay someone to paint for us, we are just too cheap. A neighbor had her whole house painted after moving in (about 2400 sq feet/ 4 bed/ 3 bath) and paid close to 10k. I just cannot fathom spending that much money on something we could do ourselves. It's time consuming but you could definitely do those two rooms in a weekend

[al dente]

I have no clue on pricing.

But if you do it yourself just get an angle brush and cut in vs taping. You'd need that, drop cloth, roller, and trays. I honestly love painting lol I'm thinking of repainting our house. I have small kids though so it's more of a pain, but I find it so relaxing. If you live near me I'd come over and paint!

Home RenoVision DIY on YouTube has some good painting tutorials.

[tealblue]

I think the quote sounds reasonable but even with expensive paint, I need 2 coats.

I’ve painted an excessive amount of walls in my life. The investment is not super cheap but most is savable and reusable for multiple rooms (which it looks like you have).

You’ll need: a nice angled short handled brush for cutting (I don’t tape off because I find it peels or causes more issues anyway)
- a roller (and maybe an extender if you are doing 9’ tall walls)
- 3-6 pack of roller heads
- drop cloths but I use old sheets
-paint tray and disposable liners
- a small handheld cup for paint to do the trim/that’s easy to carry on the ladder

Helpful hints- when you paint, I start by taking my angled brush and cutting in, doing corners, trim, around outlets and switches, windows/etc. then put the paint brush in a zip lock bag and put in the fridge.

Then I get my roller work done. Pour into a paint tray with a liner. Roll all the walls. Put a plastic grocery bag over the roller head and pop into the fridge. After the walls are dry, do this again. Check to see if you need to use the brush to do any corners/trim/cutting fixes.

Once I’m done, I pull the roller head off and throw it away, I find it takes a lot of water to wash out and it’s never fully clean/fluffy.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I would get another quote to see how it compares, and ask for how much it would be for 2 coats from both. I can't imagine only doing 1 coat.

I've painted twice in my life...when we moved to our last house we painted the living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and eventually a bathroom after removing wallpaper. The bedrooms were definitely easier than the other rooms, but I learned that I HATE both taping and cutting in and I'm bad at both. And then we learned our furniture was being delivered earlier than expected, and we had to ask for help to finish the living room and kitchen before our furniture got there.

When we moved to our current house, we painted the 2 kids' bedrooms. Even with dh and I and both kids helping, it still took a lot longer than expected. I also can't imagine having to move all the furniture and stuff to paint a room that already has furniture in it, although I know that's what a lot of people do.

So in my opinion, it's do-able, but I would pay a good amount to not HAVE to do it if I found someone reliable. If you do paint yourself, I think tealblue had good advice and supply list. We always used old sheets as drop cloths too.

[CrazyLucky]

I had some interior painting done last year. They painted a guest bedroom, which is just a normal room, no high ceilings or anything. He also painted the trim and ceilings. I had purchased the wall paint for this room, but not trim or ceiling paint. The guest room is small, maybe 10x10? He also painted my bedroom, which is pretty large. It has high ceilings, which is why we didn't want to do it. He also did the ceilings and trim in this room. He bought all the supplies for this room. I don't remember if it was one or too coats. The total charge was $1500. We live in south Jersey, which is fairly expensive, but not as bad as north Jersey.

[noodleoo]

We've had interior painting done twice, but both over 5 years ago.

We had our open kitchen, living room, stairs and hallways painted and that cost about $2K. That was totally worth it, it was a ton of work with lots of cutting around trim and kitchen cabinets plus painting a really tall open stairwell that we could never have done ourselves. It came out beautiful.

Then we hired them again to paint 1 bedroom when we were expecting DD2. They charged $500 for an easy bedroom, but it was worth it to me to not have to do it myself while pregnant.

Everyone says paining is easy but that hasn't been my experience. It is a ton of work and I suck at cutting in. I've tried it with tape, angled brush, special tools and it is always really stressful and comes out awful and I hate it. We painted several times ourselves before we finally paid to have the whole first floor done and honestly, I'll never paint myself again. I'm bad at it and it is worth it to me to outsource it.

[wildrice]

I've painted most of my house myself. It's time consuming - I would plan on around 4-6 hours per room, and bathrooms can take even longer because there is a ton of stuff to paint around that isn't in other rooms. However, it takes more time than that to earn the money we'd spend on hiring it out! I have no regrets doing DIY and it's nice to step back at the end and look at what you just accomplished.

I did hire someone to do the walls above our stairs because one of them gets up 20+ feet from the bottom steps and I had no idea how I would manage to reach. I don't remember what we paid but I think it was $400 or so.

I always use tape and can't imagine NOT doing that unless you have an extremely steady hand and a lot of patience. Taping is the worst part of painting, but once you do it you don't have to be as careful with the rollers/brushes.

I think you can get all of the painting supplies (other than paint) for less than $50 so you will definitely be saving a ton of money by doing it yourself. It's just a matter of whether it's worth it to you!

[felicity]

I'm just going to echo that DIY painting takes forever, and the times I have gotten quotes for it, it was way more expensive than I thought it would be.

However, I don't agree with painting being THAT easy. I've done a ton of painting and it's very tedious, either cutting in or taping, not everyone is that steady with a brush or meticulous to make it look really good, and I'm just going to reiterate, it takes a long time! And now in my 40s all the bending over to do the baseboards, and going up and down and up and down a ladder and looking up while holding my arm up is harder on me now than when I was in my 20s.

ETA: Are you getting any drywall repair in that quote? Like patching holes and stuff like that? I think that can increase the price too. 

[scm1011]

May 15, 2024 8:27:19 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Everyone says paining is easy but that hasn't been my experience. It is a ton of work and I suck at cutting in. I've tried it with tape, angled brush, special tools and it is always really stressful and comes out awful and I hate it. We painted several times ourselves before we finally paid to have the whole first floor done and honestly, I'll never paint myself again. I'm bad at it and it is worth it to me to outsource it.

I 100% agree. Its time-consuming and messy and even when I try very hard it never comes out as nice as when pros do it. We have one room in our house I painted over when I didn't like the color the pros did it and my eyes go to one corner I messed up a bit every time I walk into the room. 

OP, that quote sounds normal to me. 

[brooklyn]

I’m in Northern NJ (HCOL) and we paid roughly $1k per room (dining room, den, 2 bedrooms). Multiple coats. They were way more precise than I could ever be, and at the time we moved and painted, we didn’t even own a car to get ourselves to the paint store, so well worth paying a professional.

(Included paint, patching, etc.)

[hermione]

The quote does not seem unreasonable to me. I hate painting - it's HARD work. And it always looks better when a professional does it. I would happily pay that.

[namasteak]

Sounds on par - I got quotes between $600-$1000 for 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint in a medium sized master bathroom.

[icedcoffee]

May 15, 2024 8:27:19 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Everyone says paining is easy but that hasn't been my experience. It is a ton of work and I suck at cutting in. I've tried it with tape, angled brush, special tools and it is always really stressful and comes out awful and I hate it. We painted several times ourselves before we finally paid to have the whole first floor done and honestly, I'll never paint myself again. I'm bad at it and it is worth it to me to outsource it.

THIS.  It's hard work.  And the pros are so good at it.  Everytime we have a small area and I'm all "oh--I can do that" I fuck it up and it looks terrible and I get angry and regret trying.  Pro painters are worth it.  All the walls they have done make the walls look like new construction walls painted the first time.  The ones I do look like a toddler did it.

That quote seems about right.

Also--if you do it right it takes a LONG ass time.  We had 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom painted and it took a team of 2 guys a full day.  So like 16 work hours.  I do not have 16 hours to paint my house and eventually hate myself and get in a fight with my husband.

Pay the painters.