Here is the cost breakdown to paint the interior of a house

The reaction is often the same when someone makes a paint quote for the first time: “It’s expensive! “. So, we wanted to give you some explanations, to see more clearly.

First, the price of paint jobs is over 80% -90% of labor , and less than 20% of paint, supplies, and equipment. To establish an estimate, a painter will mainly evaluate the number of working days required, and apply a daily rate. Therefore, what is expensive is what takes time to the painter.

Here are the main points to understand the true price of painting work.

WHAT IS THE EXPENSE TO PAINT A HOUSE INTERIOR

• The preparation of the walls

All the necessary preparation on a wall before painting, to make it completely clean and smooth. Depending on the condition of the wall, this includes: scraping, opening and filling holes or cracks, one or more passes of plaster and sanding. It is also necessary to count the protection of the building site and the moving of the furniture, in the case of a furnished apartment.

• Complicated woodwork (doors, windows, cupboards)

The woodwork takes time with regard to the surface to be painted. Firstly when they are damaged and require repair work, and then when they are complex (door with relief, window with small squares, small cupboards, etc.).

• Radiators

Radiators, especially those in cast iron, take time because their shape does not allow a quick application of paint. Moreover, it is sometimes necessary to pick them up to treat them separately, before reassembling them.

• Ceiling height

The ceiling height is expensive, since a scaffolding or overhead crane is necessary. Elegant Painting recommends using at least two people for security reasons and because it maybe necessary to mount and dismount scaffolding.

• Moldings or cornices on the ceiling

Moldings or cornices are expensive because you can not paint them with a roller. It’s a painstaking job with a little brush. We buy our brushes from house painters Melbourne suppliers

• Paint color transitioning (when we have several types of painting in the same room)

When you use different paintings in the same room, you must clearly delimit the different parts, protecting them alternately, and it takes time.

• Waiting during drying times, when the yard is small

Between different layers, there are incompressible drying times, of the order of several hours. On a building site of several rooms, it does not matter, because the painter then works in another room, but on a small building site, this time is lost.

• Strong colors

When painted with strong colors, for example a fancy red, a blue or a dark green, it sometimes takes more than two layers to cover the mature perfectly. Therefore, it increases the price of painting work. We do not have this problem with a light color, for example a gray or an off-white.

• Travel

A painter usually moves with a utility vehicle to transport the material and paint. It takes time when the yard is located far from home, or there are problems with traffic jams or parking. In one way or another, this time lost in displacement will have an impact on the price of painting work. Companies of a certain size fare better, because they can optimize this time, with a driver going around the sites.

WHAT DOES NOT COST (RELATIVELY)

• Applying paint on walls ready to paint

Once the room is protected and the wall well prepared, painting with a roller on a wall, even on a large surface, is relatively fast. We like retainingwallsupplies.com.au for .retaining wall paint and stain. 

• The purchase of paint

Whether you take a standard professional paint or a premium BEHR PREMIUM PLUS® Interior Paint brand, the price per gallon is relatively negligible compared to the overall price of the site. Painters have trade agreements with paint distributors, so they do not pay the consumer price. Eventually, the painter may overcharge in the case of a premium brand paint, because it may take longer to apply (often these paints are less easy to apply and require more layers), but the difference comes from the working time needed rather than the price of paint per liter. 

• Purchase of equipment and other supplies

Beyond painting, the price of equipment and other supplies is negligible compared to the price of the site.