I am looking for a way of estimating a house painting job. I do handyman work and I have an exterior job.?

Question

I have never estimated and exterior job before and I need to know is it done by the foot, by the coats you have to do. I need some help on this estimation.

Answer 1

its quite simple my friend, you measure the size of each exterior wall, total up the sizes and lets say you have a size of 50 square metres.
you charge so much per square metre for preperation,so much for undercoating(x two if required)and so much for the finishing paint,add on time and materials for the wooden window cills and fix the final price,
if i was doing 50 square metres i would charge 200 for the undercoat,300 for the finish,100 for the cills,and 100 for the preperation work that is very important, materials are additional at cost as is any scaffold required..

good luck

Answer 2

Some advise for you would be...make sure when you give your estimate you are clear about what that estimate includes. My husband did a job for someone that was suppose to be just painting the interior of an appartment. The man he was doing the job for was suppose to wash the walls, take down any shelving, and do all the staining himself, and my husband was suppose to have a month to do the job. He did not include any of this in his estimate. When my husband got there the man said I need this job done in three days, there were more rooms than what my husband thought he needed done, he had him also paint all cupboards and cabinets, he had to wash all the walls first, and do all the staining, and on top of that half way through the job the man changed his mind on the color of all the closets in the place and had him change them. My husband got taken for a serious ride, losing a lot of time and money! He does not paint for a living, just wanted to help someone out and make a bit of extra money. So in closing, make sure your estimate states EXACTLY what you plan to do included in that cost, how many coats, and what jobs the owner will need to have done for you before you get there. Good luck!

Answer 3

Are you going to use an airless sprayer? It is worth the masking involved. I just did the exterior of a 1100 sf house plus a detached 700 sf garage. Pressure wash, trim and walls in 7 days with three workers, $4000. The job went very well.

Answer 4

I can relate.

After appling thousands of gallons of paint in my time, I have learned a few things. Initially,,,or even by choice, someone might get a break from me. If you check my recent answers you see I answered a similar Q.

Certainly as a trades person, of quality, who wants to develop a decent reputation, and client base, you need to be fair to the customer and yourself.

I base my bids on a few factors,,,with experience. I charge anywhere from $25 to $60 per hour depending on those factors,,,IE: Design of the house, painting over roofs for example. Access to all areas needing paint. repairs to degraded siding etc., Equipment I might have to rent, buy, or charge to use in depreciation. Help I might enlist or hire, and sometimes the customer wanting to be my foreman...No offense to them BTW.

Examples:

A mobile home: Average single wide, 14 x 60. I bid everything at 40 hours plus,,, @ $25 per hour that calculates to $1000. Certainly I've painted them for less, but I am almost never at a job for the "at bid hours."

A house, 1200 to 2500 sq. ft. with minimal prep issues, such as care for plants, raw stone, driveways, etc, will likely be in the $2000 to $4000 range.

I painted a 6000 sq. ft. 3 or 4 level house in Seattle, using spray, for $6000. I happened to know the person, and gave them, a break.

The issue is not so much what the competition charges, although that's good info to have. It's more about what do you think your time and effort is worth, where are your jobs coming from, what are the costs of materials and labor, what will that market bear, and in the end, will you not only offer a quality job, be willing to return for any reasonable issues, and expect in your work to be given a decent reference that will generate more business and repeat business as well.

Certainly you have options as well as your customers. If you see that a job will be intense, add to your bid in a reasonable manner. If you NEED to establish a client base and references, you can do it in some level of charity. Advertising,,,especially by example and word of mouth is as valuable as any check you'll get.

You need not underbid everyone else either, but use caution in overbidding any contractors who have been in the business for any lenght of time, and consider, again, what you're willing to settle for with regard to income, versus expenditures of materials, time, labor, etc.

Rev. Steven