PAINTING LABOR COST CALCULATOR
Build the labor line the way estimators actually do it — from production rates. Get painter-hours, man-days, crew-days, burdened cost, and the price with markup, plus a check against typical hourly rates.
PAINTING LABOR COST CALCULATOR
Pre-filled with a 3-bed interior repaint. Every production rate is editable — hours, crew-days and the labor price update as you type.
SURFACES & PRODUCTION RATES
Every rate is editable — swap in the numbers your crew actually hits.
Walls — cut & roll
35.6 hr
sq ft / hr / coat · 150–200 sq ft/hr brushed & rolled per coat; 90–130 on heavy texture
Ceilings — cut & roll
7.2 hr
sq ft / hr / coat · 140–190 sq ft/hr per coat; knockdown and popcorn run slower
Trim & base — brush
15.3 hr
lin ft / hr / coat · 50–60 linear ft/hr per coat brushed; 100+ if you spray and back-brush
Doors — both sides + jamb
11.4 hr
units / hr / coat · 1.2–1.6 doors/hr per coat brushed, jamb and casing included
Windows — sash & casing
10.0 hr
units / hr / coat · 1.5–2.5 per hour per coat; divided-light sash drops under 1
CREW, WAGE & MARKUP
Burden covers payroll taxes, workers' comp, liability and paid time — not overhead or profit.
True cost of one painter-hour
$35.84= $28.00 wage + 28% burden
LABOR PRICE ON THE BID
$4,960
95.4 painter-hours · $51.97/hr billed
95.4 hr
6 crew-days
- Raw wages
- $2,672
- Burden (28%)
- + $748
- Burdened labor cost
- $3,421
- Markup (45%)
- + $1,539
- Labor price
- $4,960
Labor $ / sq ft
$1.14
4,350 sq ft measured
Burdened cost / hr
$35.84
What an hour actually costs you
YOUR BILLED RATE VS TYPICAL $/HR
Right in the market
This lands where most residential repaint crews bill labor. Competitive without giving margin away.
Where the production hours go
HOW PAINTING LABOR COST IS ACTUALLY CALCULATED
Every profitable painting bid is built the same way: hours first, dollars second. You take a measured quantity, divide it by a production rate to get painter-hours, load those hours with a burdened wage, then add markup for overhead and profit. Contractors who skip straight to a price per square foot are guessing, and the guess is usually wrong on the two jobs that matter most — heavy-trim interiors and textured ceilings.
THE FORMULA
(quantity × coats) ÷ production rate = production hours
+ prep + setup = total painter-hours
× (wage × [1 + burden]) = burdened labor cost
× (1 + markup) = labor price on the bid
The calculator above runs that chain live. It also splits out man-days from crew-days, which is the number that tells you whether you can actually start Monday and be off the job Friday. For the full pricing method — materials, overhead recovery and close rates — read how to price painting jobs, then move the numbers into a painting estimate template the customer can sign.
HOW TO USE THIS LABOR CALCULATOR
Enter what you measured
Wall and ceiling square footage, trim in linear feet, and a count of doors and windows. Measure off the walk-through, not the floor plan — closets, stairwells and returns are where square footage hides.
Set the production rate you actually hit
The defaults are conservative pro rates. Time one room with your own crew, divide the square footage by the hours, and put that number in. Your rate beats any published chart.
Load the wage with burden
Put the base wage in, then the burden percentage that covers payroll taxes, workers' comp, liability and paid time. 25–30% is the usual band; high comp states run higher.
Add markup, then sanity-check the meter
Markup covers overhead and profit. Watch the billed-rate meter — if the labor price divided by the hours lands under your market's $/hr band, the bid is thin no matter how good the total looks.
Track two jobs and the guessing stops. Write the measured quantities on the estimate, then have the crew log actual hours by task. Two completed jobs give you production rates that are yours, not the industry's — and they are the single most valuable number a painting business owns.
PAINTING PRODUCTION RATES BY TASK
Production rates are the backbone of the whole estimate. These are the working ranges most residential crews hit on prepped surfaces — conservative enough to bid against, honest enough that a fast crew beats them.
| Task | Brush & roll | Sprayed | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walls — smooth drywallsq ft / hr | 150 – 200 | 400 – 700 | Cut and roll, one coat, room already masked |
| Walls — knockdown or heavy texturesq ft / hr | 90 – 130 | 300 – 500 | Texture eats a coat and slows the roll |
| Ceilings — flat, 8–9 ftsq ft / hr | 140 – 190 | 500 – 800 | Add 20–30% for anything over 10 ft |
| Popcorn / acoustic ceilingsq ft / hr | 80 – 120 | 300 – 450 | Roll once, slow, and never back-roll a soaked one |
| Baseboard & door casinglin ft / hr | 50 – 60 | 120 – 180 | Brushed rate assumes caulk and sand already done |
| Crown molding (ladder work)lin ft / hr | 35 – 50 | 90 – 140 | Ladder moves are the real cost, not the paint |
| Doors — both sides + jambdoors / hr | 1.2 – 1.6 | 3 – 5 | Spray rate assumes doors off hinges, laid flat |
| Windows — sash & casingwindows / hr | 1.5 – 2.5 | 2 – 3 | Divided-light sash drops under 1 per hour |
| Cabinet doors & drawer frontspieces / hr | 2 – 3 | 8 – 12 | Sprayed rate excludes sanding, degreasing and racking |
| Exterior lap sidingsq ft / hr | 120 – 170 | 350 – 600 | Back-brushing bare wood cuts the spray rate in half |
| Railings, spindles, balusterslin ft / hr | 20 – 30 | 60 – 100 | The single most underestimated line on any bid |
| Prep — patch, sand, caulksq ft / hr | 200 – 350 | — | Bid prep as its own line, never inside the roll rate |
| Masking & drop clothssq ft / hr | 100 – 150 | 100 – 150 | Spray jobs live or die on this number |
All figures are per painter-hour, per coat, on a prepped and masked surface — they are typical working ranges, not a standard. Spray numbers assume an airless at the right tip size and exclude masking time, which is exactly why the spray vs roll decision rarely comes down to raw speed. If you are new to an airless, read the sprayer setup guide before betting a bid on these rates.
HOW TO COMPUTE YOUR BURDENED LABOR RATE
A $28/hr painter does not cost you $28/hr. Payroll taxes, workers' comp, liability, and paid time push the real number 25–35% higher before a single truck leaves the shop. That loaded figure — the burdened rate — is what every hour in your estimate must be priced against.
WORKED EXAMPLE — $28/HR PAINTER
| Burden item | % of wage | Per hour | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| FICA (Social Security + Medicare) | 7.65% | $2.14 | Fixed by law, every payroll, no exceptions |
| FUTA + state unemployment | ~2.5% | $0.70 | Rate depends on your state and claims history |
| Workers' comp @ $7 per $100 payroll | 7.0% | $1.96 | Painting class codes commonly run $5–$14 per $100 |
| General liability allocation | 1.5% | $0.42 | Policy premium spread across payroll hours |
| Paid holidays + PTO | 4.0% | $1.12 | 10 paid days over ~2,000 payroll hours |
| Health / retirement contribution | 5.4% | $1.50 | Skip this line and you keep losing your best painters |
| Total burden | 28.0% | $7.84 | On top of the wage, before overhead |
Base wage
$28.00
+ 28% burden
$7.84
True cost / hour
$35.84
Burden is not overhead
Burden is what the painter costs you beyond the wage. Truck payments, the estimator's salary, software, advertising and your own pay are overhead, and they get covered by the markup — not by the burden percentage. Contractors who fold overhead into burden end up double-counting it and losing bids they should win. Workers' comp is the swing factor here; see painting contractor insurance for what drives the rate, and use the markup calculator to size the overhead-and-profit side.
HOW MUCH DO PAINTERS CHARGE PER HOUR?
Two different numbers get called “the painter hourly rate”: what the painter is paid, and what the customer is billed. Homeowners searching the phrase mean the second one. Contractors setting price need both, because the spread between them is the business.
| Market | Wage paid / hr | Labor billed / hr | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rural South & small metros | $17 – $22 | $35 – $55 | Mississippi, Arkansas, west Tennessee |
| Southeast metros | $19 – $26 | $45 – $65 | Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Charlotte |
| Midwest metros | $20 – $27 | $45 – $70 | Columbus, Kansas City, Milwaukee |
| Mountain West & Southwest | $21 – $28 | $50 – $75 | Denver, Phoenix, Boise, Salt Lake |
| West Coast metros | $26 – $38 | $65 – $105 | Seattle, Portland, Bay Area, LA |
| Northeast metros | $27 – $38 | $65 – $110 | Boston, NYC metro, northern New Jersey |
| Union / prevailing-wage commercial | $30 – $50 package | $80 – $140 | Public work, schools, federal projects |
Typical ranges as of 2026 — the national median painter wage sits in the low-to-mid $20s per hour, and the billed column is what a licensed, insured residential crew charges the homeowner for that same hour. The gap between the two columns is your burden, overhead and profit, which is the entire reason a $22/hr painter cannot be billed at $30/hr and still leave you a business.
PAINTING LABOR COST FAQ
RELATED TOOLS & GUIDES
How to Price Painting Jobs
The full estimating method: measuring, production rates, overhead recovery and close rates.
Painting Markup Calculator
Turn the overhead and profit you need into the markup percentage to charge.
Interior Painting Cost Calculator
Add materials to the labor number for a complete interior estimate.
Spray vs Roll Painting
When the masking time kills the speed advantage — and when it does not.
Painting Contractor Insurance
Workers' comp and liability costs that drive your labor burden percentage.