Most new painters price interior jobs by asking a friend what he charges. That works until a "simple" three bedroom job with dark walls and a popcorn ceiling eats a whole extra day. Here is how to set interior prices that cover your time on every job.
Step 1: Know what an hour costs you
Add up a normal month of costs: your pay, any helper's wages and payroll taxes, insurance, the van, gas, tools, phone, software and marketing. Divide by the hours you actually paint, not the hours you are out of the house. A solo painter often lands at $35 to $45 an hour of true cost. To make a profit, most residential painters bill $55 to $75 per painter hour in 2026, higher in big metros.
Step 2: Learn your production rates
Time yourself on a few jobs. Typical rates for a pro with a roller and a brush:
- Walls, two coats: about 150 to 200 square feet of wall per hour, cutting in included
- Ceilings, one coat: about 200 to 250 square feet per hour
- Baseboards: about 40 to 60 linear feet per hour
- Doors, both sides with casing: 45 minutes to an hour each
A 12 by 12 bedroom with 8 foot ceilings has about 340 square feet of paintable wall after the door and window. Two coats at 170 square feet an hour is about 4 hours, plus an hour for setup, masking and cleanup.
Step 3: Add materials
Good interior paint runs $40 to $75 a gallon at contractor pricing. A gallon covers 350 to 400 square feet per coat, so that bedroom needs about 2 gallons for two coats. Add tape, plastic, caulk, patch and sandpaper, usually $15 to $30 a room. Mark materials up 15 to 25 percent; you are buying, carrying and returning them.
Step 4: Turn it into a price
For that bedroom: 5 hours at $65 is $325, plus about $110 of paint and supplies with markup, comes to about $435 for walls only. That is why most US painters land between $400 and $900 per average room, walls only. Once you know your numbers, you can publish them three ways:
- Per room: easiest for the homeowner. A base charge for the job plus a rate per room
- Per square foot of floor: $2 to $6 per square foot of living area for whole house interiors
- Per square foot of wall: $1.50 to $4, more precise, harder for the customer to check
Per room with a base charge is what homeowners understand on the phone, and it is how the calculator on a PaintPilot site works. The base covers moving furniture, masking and cleanup once; each room after that is cheaper. Try it in the interior painting cost calculator.
Step 5: Charge for the extras
These are the items that turn a good job into a losing one when they are left out:
- Ceilings: $150 to $300 a room
- Trim and doors: $150 to $350 a room, more with lots of casing or crown
- Drywall repair: $100 to $300 for normal nail pops and anchors
- Color change: a primer coat when going dark to light, or 10 to 20 percent more
- Tall walls: stairwells and two story foyers at 1.5 to 2 times the rate
- Furniture: an empty house paints faster than a full one
Step 6: Put a minimum on the calendar
A single accent wall still costs you a trip, setup and cleanup. Most painters set a minimum of $300 to $500 per visit. Say it on your website so tiny jobs filter themselves out.
A sample price sheet
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Average bedroom, walls only | $400 to $900 |
| Ceiling, per room | $150 to $300 |
| Trim and doors, per room | $150 to $350 |
| Living room with tall walls | $800 to $1,600 |
| Whole house interior, 2,000 sq ft | $5,000 to $10,000 |
Check these against your own production rates. The goal is a price you can say on the phone without hesitating, and that pays you the same per hour on every job. Room by room numbers are in cost to paint a room.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge per hour for painting?
Most residential painters bill $55 to $75 per painter hour in 2026, more in large metros. Few show an hourly rate to customers; they use it to build per room or per job prices.
Should I charge by the room or by the square foot?
Per room with a base charge is easiest for homeowners and works well for repaints. Per square foot of wall is more precise for big or unusual jobs. Many painters use square feet to build their room prices.
How much paint does a room need?
About 2 gallons for two coats on the walls of a 12 by 12 room with 8 foot ceilings, plus about 1 gallon for the ceiling.