House Interior Painting Costs

Paint is an easy way to update any home. When you want to refresh your home, clean up old walls, or brighten a room, paint is a fairly simple choice. While you can paint one room at a time, it’s going to be more expensive and time-consuming. Also, if you’re creating a new “color story” in your home, it is best to paint the entire interior at the same time.

The square footage of your home is going to be the biggest factor in your project costs. There are several factors that affect the price of a full interior paint job aside from square footage, however. The type and quality of paint that you choose, wall conditions, and the complexity of the job will also impact your total project costs. The type of painter that you choose, as well as the amount of prep and cleanup, can affect the cost of interior painting, as well.

House interior painting: by footage size. Based on common interior square footage sizes, interior painting jobs national average rate is $2-$5 per square foot.

Other considerations and costs

• If you have to dispose of paint and materials, do not throw them in the trash. Contact your city or waste removal service to ask about paint disposal and if there is an additional charge. Ideally, your painters should take care of this.
• This cost chart assumes using mid-range paint and primer. If you choose higher-quality paint, it may impact your total project costs.
• If you choose to hire an interior decorator or some kind of design service, expect to pay an additional charge for this. Usually, their fees are $50-$200 per hour.
• Some painters will charge by the square foot for a full interior painting job, while others may charge by the room, the job, or even by the hour.
• If you have excess detail work, trim, wallpaper that needs to be removed prior to painting, or other labor-intensive tasks, this will significantly increase your total project costs.

Check out our guide if you need a loan for your home improvement project.

DIY considerations

• Since painting is such a labor-intensive job that requires a lot of prep work and cleanup, you can find significant savings by doing a lot of the work yourself. Even if you still hire someone to do the actual painting, you can take care of other tasks that will minimize labor hours.
• If you decide to do your own painting, you can save a lot of labor costs, but you will have to factor in materials costs for supplies and tools, such as paintbrushes, drop cloths, rollers, and other tools and materials.

References

• Craftsman Estimator Costbook, complete series year 2019.
• Latest prices found on Home Depot and other vendor Web sites.
• Literature review of DIY Web sites.