To estimate a paint job, measure wall area (perimeter × height, minus doors and windows), convert it to gallons by coverage and coats, convert it to hours by production rate, then price it: burdened labor plus materials plus overhead, divided by one minus your target margin. A 12×14 bedroom with 9 ft ceilings and two coats comes to about $1,089 on industry-default rates. Every default below is editable.
Updated 2026-10-21 · by Devon Davila, Founder, Krib · methodology and sources below
The interactive calculator on this page needs JavaScript. The method, constants and worked examples below are the same ones it uses.
Wall, ceiling and trim quantities from room dimensions, with standard deductions for doors and windows. Paint by coverage and coats, aggregated across rooms and rounded up to whole cans, because one job places one paint order. Labor hours from production rates per surface. Then a price from burdened labor, materials, overhead, general and administrative cost, and your target gross margin. Nothing is hidden: the formula and every constant are printed below, and the result can be sent to a customer as a quote.
wall_sqft = 2 × (length + width) × height − doors × 20 − windows × 15 ceiling_sqft = length × width trim_lf = 2 × (length + width) − doors × 3 + doors × 17 + windows × 14 gallons = ceil( Σ quantity × coats ÷ coverage × (1 + waste) ) per product, across all rooms hours = quantity × coats ÷ production_rate × (1 + modifiers) labor = hours × wage × (1 + burden) direct = materials + sundries + labor cost = (direct + labor × overhead) × (1 + G&A) price = cost ÷ (1 − margin) margin, not markup
| Constant | Default | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paint coverage per coat | 350 sq ft / gal | Sherwin-Williams, Behr and Benjamin Moore spec sheets quote 350–400 on smooth, previously painted surfaces; the low end is used | Oct 2026 |
| Door and window deductions | 20 sq ft and 15 sq ft | Common estimating convention for a 3×7 door and a 3×4 window | — |
| Trim per opening | 17 lf per door, 14 lf per window | Casing perimeter; baseboard is not counted across door openings | — |
| Production rate: roll walls | 175 sq ft / h per coat | PCA estimating guidance and the Painting and Decorating Craftsman's Manual range of 150–250; low end seeded | Oct 2026 |
| Production rate: ceilings, trim, doors | 150 sq ft / h · 70 lf / h · 0.5 h per door per coat | Same sources; low end of each range | Oct 2026 |
| Painter wage | $26 / h | BLS OES 47-2141 Painters, Construction and Maintenance, national median; adjust to your crew | Oct 2026 |
| Labor burden | 22% | FICA 7.65% + FUTA/SUTA ~3% + painters' workers' comp ~10% + general liability ~1.5%; California runs higher | Oct 2026 |
| Paint cost | $42 wall · $32 ceiling · $55 trim per gallon | Contractor-grade retail, Orange County, CA | Oct 2026 |
| Sundries | 8% of wall paint | Tape, plastic, caulk, rollers; allowance on the walls assembly | — |
| Overhead · G&A · margin · waste | 25% of labor · 5% · 30% · 10% | Krib painting seed rate card; every contractor edits these in Settings → Pricing | Oct 2026 |
The default scenario. Two doors and two windows are deducted from the walls; the ceiling and trim are included.
| Walls, net of openings | 398 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Ceilings | 168 sq ft |
| Trim and baseboard | 108 lf |
| Doors | 2 |
| Paint, rounded to whole cans | 3 gal wall · 2 gal ceiling · 1 gal trim |
| Materials incl. sundries | $255.08 |
| Labor hours | 11.9 h |
| Burdened labor | $376.65 at $31.72/h |
| Overhead and G&A | $130.45 |
| Fully loaded cost | $762.19 |
| Recommended price | $1,088.84 at 30% margin (42.9% markup) |
| Per sq ft of wall | $2.74 |
Six rooms, two coats, furnished and occupied (+10% labor). The paint order is aggregated across every room before rounding to cans.
| Walls, net of openings | 2,483 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Ceilings | 1,040 sq ft |
| Trim and baseboard | 644 lf |
| Doors | 14 |
| Paint, rounded to whole cans | 16 gal wall · 7 gal ceiling · 7 gal trim |
| Materials incl. sundries | $1,334.76 |
| Labor hours | 82.1 h |
| Burdened labor | $2,604.47 at $31.72/h |
| Overhead and G&A | $880.64 |
| Fully loaded cost | $4,819.87 |
| Recommended price | $6,885.52 at 30% margin (42.9% markup) |
| Per sq ft of wall | $2.77 |
$400 – $1,200 per room — walls, ceiling and trim, two coats, California. Public sources, verified Oct 2026.
Public-source range. When enough Krib painters in a state have sent quotes, this block switches to what they actually quoted, anonymized and aggregated. It never shows thin data.
Measure wall, ceiling and trim area, deduct doors and windows, convert to gallons by coverage and coats, convert to hours by production rate, then add burdened labor, materials, overhead and a target margin. This calculator does each step in the open and prints the constants it uses.
Manufacturers quote 350–400 sq ft per gallon per coat on smooth, previously painted drywall. Textured or porous surfaces cover 250–300. This calculator uses 350 and adds 10% waste before rounding up to whole cans.
Yes. The common convention is 20 sq ft per standard door and 15 sq ft per window. Some painters skip the deduction on small jobs to cover cut-in time; this calculator deducts them and counts the trim and doors separately instead.
Residential painters commonly target 30–50% gross margin. Margin is not markup: a 30% margin is a 43% markup on cost, and a 30% markup is only a 23% margin. The engine prices on margin and shows both.
Burden is everything you pay on top of the hourly wage: payroll taxes, workers' compensation, liability insurance. For painters it is commonly 20–30%, and workers' comp alone can be 10–20%. Pricing on a bare wage under-prices every hour.
Both are fine if they come from the same math. Per square foot is easier for customers to compare on straightforward repaints; hourly fits prep-heavy or unpredictable work. This calculator shows the price per square foot of wall so you can quote either way.
Surface condition adds labor (poor condition +20%), but patching, priming, caulk and drywall repair should be separate lines on the quote so the customer sees what they are paying for. Add them in the quote builder after you send the estimate.
Public sources put a standard bedroom at roughly $400–$1,200 for walls, ceiling and trim with two coats, varying by region, ceiling height and condition. The number that matters is yours: put your wage, burden, overhead and margin into "Your numbers".
Yes. "Send this as a quote" opens the lines in Krib's quote builder with quantities and unit prices filled in. Krib is free for contractors, with no monthly fee; your customer accepts the quote online and you get paid through the same link if you choose.
The lines above open in Krib's quote builder with quantities and unit prices filled in. Free for contractors, no monthly fee.