A painter rolling smooth interior walls covers about 150 to 250 square feet per hour per coat; ceilings 125 to 200; brushed trim 50 to 100 linear feet; airless spray on open walls 600 to 1,000. Hours are area times coats divided by the rate, plus a prep allowance. 1,800 square feet of walls at two coats with light prep is 20.7 painter-hours, or 1.3 crew-days for two painters, and prices at $1,231 in labor on industry-default rates.
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.
Painter-hours for one surface type: your area or count, times coats, divided by the production rate for the crew speed you pick, plus a percentage for prep. Then hours on site for your crew size, crew-days at eight hours, gallons at standard coverage, and a labor-only price from burdened wages, overhead, general and administrative cost, and your target margin. The rate table below is the reference; the calculator is the table with your numbers in it.
hours_per_coat = quantity ÷ production_rate (or count × hours_each for doors) paint_hours = hours_per_coat × coats prep_hours = paint_hours × prep_allowance (none 0%, light 15%, heavy 35%) painter_hours = paint_hours + prep_hours crew_days = painter_hours ÷ (painters × 8) gallons = ceil( quantity × coats ÷ coverage ) labor_price = painter_hours × wage × (1 + burden) × (1 + overhead) × (1 + G&A) ÷ (1 − margin)
| Constant | Default | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walls, roll and cut in | 150 / 200 / 250 sq ft per hour | PDCA Craftsman's Manual and PCA guidance; slow / medium / fast | Oct 2026 |
| Ceilings, roll and cut in | 125 / 150 / 200 sq ft per hour | Same sources; overhead work is slower than walls | Oct 2026 |
| Textured walls | 75 / 110 / 150 sq ft per hour | Same sources; texture roughly halves roller speed and coverage | Oct 2026 |
| Trim and baseboard, brush | 50 / 70 / 100 linear ft per hour | Same sources | Oct 2026 |
| Doors, both sides | 0.75 / 0.5 / 0.35 hours each per coat | Same sources; slab doors, brush and mini-roller | Oct 2026 |
| Exterior siding, spray and back-roll | 250 / 300 / 400 sq ft per hour | Same sources; masking time is in the prep allowance | Oct 2026 |
| Airless spray only, open walls | 600 / 800 / 1,000 sq ft per hour | PaintPricing production rates | Oct 2026 |
| Prep allowance | none 0% · light 15% · heavy 35% | Share of painting hours for patching, caulk, sanding, masking; heavy prep on bad surfaces can exceed painting time and deserves its own line | — |
| Coverage | 350 sq ft/gal walls and ceilings · 300 exterior · 600 lf/gal trim | Manufacturer spec sheets (350–400 on smooth, previously painted surfaces) | Oct 2026 |
| Painter wage · burden · overhead · G&A · margin | $26/h · 22% · 25% of labor · 5% · 30% | BLS OES 47-2141 median wage; Krib painting seed rate card for the rest | Oct 2026 |
The default. A three-bedroom interior's wall area, light prep, medium production rate.
| Production rate | 200 sqft/h per coat |
|---|---|
| Hours per coat | 9.0 h |
| Painting hours | 18.0 h |
| Prep allowance | 2.7 h |
| Painter-hours | 20.7 h |
| Crew-days (8 h) | 1.3 (2 painters) |
| Paint, rounded up | 11 gal |
| Recommended labor price | $1,231.13 (30% margin = 42.9% markup) |
| Billed per hour | $59.48/h |
Brush work goes slowly and does not benefit from a second painter; no prep because the trim is new.
| Production rate | 50 lf/h per coat |
|---|---|
| Hours per coat | 8.4 h |
| Painting hours | 16.8 h |
| Prep allowance | 0.0 h |
| Painter-hours | 16.8 h |
| Crew-days (8 h) | 2.1 (1 painter) |
| Paint, rounded up | 2 gal |
| Recommended labor price | $999.18 (30% margin = 42.9% markup) |
| Billed per hour | $59.47/h |
$55 – $75 per painter-hour — residential interior, United States, 2026. Public sources, verified Oct 2026.
Public-source range for the billed rate, which already carries burden, overhead and profit. The calculator's labor price divided by painter-hours should land in or near this range; if it does not, your overhead or margin is the reason.
| Surface | Unit | Slow | Medium | Fast | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interior walls, roll and cut in | sqft / painter-hour | 150 | 200 | 250 | 350 sq ft/gal |
| Ceilings, roll and cut in | sqft / painter-hour | 125 | 150 | 200 | 350 sq ft/gal |
| Textured walls, roll | sqft / painter-hour | 75 | 110 | 150 | 275 sq ft/gal |
| Trim and baseboard, brush | lf / painter-hour | 50 | 70 | 100 | 600 sq ft/gal |
| Doors, both sides, brush and roll | hours each | 0.75 | 0.5 | 0.35 | 0.12 gal each |
| Exterior siding, spray and back-roll | sqft / painter-hour | 250 | 300 | 400 | 300 sq ft/gal |
| Open walls, airless spray only | sqft / painter-hour | 600 | 800 | 1000 | 300 sq ft/gal |
Per coat, per painter, including normal cut-in; prep excluded. Ranges compiled from Painting and Decorating Craftsman's Manual and Textbook, PCA, PaintPricing, painting production rates. "Slow" is a new or careful painter, "medium" a typical residential crew, "fast" a production crew on open walls. Time one room with your own crew and use that column.
Rolling smooth interior walls, 150 to 250 square feet per hour per coat; ceilings 125 to 200; textured walls 75 to 150. Brushing trim runs 50 to 100 linear feet per hour. Airless spraying open walls reaches 600 to 1,000 square feet per hour before masking time.
A 12×12 room with 8 ft ceilings has about 350 square feet of wall after openings. Two coats on walls, one on the ceiling and the trim come to roughly 5 to 7 painter-hours for a typical crew, plus prep. One painter does it in a day; two in a morning.
Roughly 1,200 to 2,000 square feet of wall per painter per eight-hour day at two coats, depending on cut-in, height and prep. Production crews spraying open walls can pass 4,000. Use the calculator's crew-days figure for your actual mix.
On the wall itself, three to five times faster. Masking, covering floors and back-rolling eat much of that gain in occupied homes, which is why the spray rate here is paired with a prep allowance rather than used alone.
Time one representative room from first cut-in to last roller stroke, divide the painted square feet by the painter-hours, and repeat on two more jobs. That average, not a published table, is the rate to price with. Put it into the quantity and hours and use the price that results.
No. Published production rates are for applying paint. Patching, caulking, sanding and masking are added here as a percentage of painting hours, and on bad surfaces they should be a separate line in the quote.
Painter-hours divided by painters on the job and an eight-hour day. Twenty painter-hours is 2.5 days for one painter or 1.25 days for two. It is the number that lets you schedule the next job.
Yes. "Send this as a quote" opens a labor line in Krib's quote builder with the hours and your billed rate filled in. Krib is free for contractors, with no monthly fee; add materials and prep lines and your customer accepts online.
The labor line opens in Krib's quote builder with hours and rate filled in. Add paint and prep, send, get paid. Free for contractors, no monthly fee.