How Much Do You Charge for Painting Per Square Foot Exterior?

Exterior painting protects your home from adverse weather conditions, mold, bugs infestation, and corrosion. Performing a decent paint job could boost your home appraisal value and last for more than ten to fifteen years. Surepaint is one of Brisbane’s most reliable painting services, offering high-quality solutions to the local community. Even though painting contractors offer competitive prices, it is necessary to know the price range for exterior painting so you can make an informed decision.

What Is a Rough Estimate of Exterior Painting Costs By the Square Foot?

You should expect to pay on average $0.8 to $1.60 per square foot to paint your home’s exterior. The price includes labor, paints, and equipment costs. Labor prices per hour for Australian painters are anywhere between $30 and $40. The prices may also increase if you have a multiple-story home where scaffolding is necessary. All the preparation work and commuting to and from your home are included in the final price.

However, the painting costs for wooden window frames, external doors, and other types of siding are negotiated separately. That’s because they need proper preparation, special equipment and different types of paints. 

Breaking Down the Costs of Exterior Home Painting

Many homeowners underestimate the fact that painting needs lots of preparation. It’s estimated that almost 50% of the labor costs to repaint an old home would be devoted to scrubbing and removing old paint from the walls. Having a sensible breakdown of these costs could help you understand your needs and choose a painting service wisely.

Labor Costs

As mentioned before, the labor costs for painters are between $30 and $40, and it usually takes them 36 hours (or close to four working days) to paint a 1,800 sq. foot home. Therefore, homeowners should expect to pay anywhere between $1,080 to $1,260 for labor costs for an average two-story house.

If you need to have a scaffold, it would require an extra $800 to $1,030 per week rental. Priming and minor repairs on the siding could be included in these prices, but it depends on the agreement between the homeowners and the painting contractor.

Paints and Supplies

It usually takes one gallon of paint per 100 sq. feet of exterior walls. Low-quality paint could cost $21 per gallon, while premium paints cost close to $70 per gallon. The average home would require approximately 18 gallons of paint, which would cost you as low as $360 for the lowest quality and $1,260 for the highest, provided you painted it yourself.

Equipment and common supplies are usually offered for free by experienced painters. However, if you wanted to paint an exterior door, it would cost you between $90 and $200. Some homeowners would like to paint the trim that has a cost estimated by the linear foot. It usually comes up to $1 per linear foot that translates to about $700 for the average two-story home.

Sidings Painting Costs

Your home’s trim and siding condition could determine the working hours needed for preparing such surfaces. The use of the right paints and primers is another important factor that affects the final price. Many modern houses have metal or aluminum sidings that need a different color quality to paint them right. It would cost you approximately $29 per 100 sq. feet of exterior siding to brush paint on it. 

Moreover, wood siding is even harder to prepare for painting. The wooden parts need to be scraped and sanded to become smooth and ready to absorb the paint. Epoxy fillers should be applied to fill in small gaps and holes on the wooden siding surfaces, increasing the final painting costs. As a result, brush and roll painting would cost $43 per sq. foot; that is a reasonable price for the preparation needed.

Home Exterior Paint Preparation Costs

More than 80% of the time spent by painters has to do with preparation works for your exterior surfaces. Power washing may cost between $0.42 and $1.4 per sq. foot, while priming, painting, and repairing are charged by the hour and cost between $30 and $40 per hour. Patching all holes to create a smooth surface would cost from $0.51 to $1.20 per sq. foot and is among the hardest tasks to complete.

Painting your home exterior is a tough job that would be best to assign to professionals. Breaking down the various costs of tasks could make you more knowledgeable about a reasonable final price. 


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