Labor cost guide
How to calculate painting labor cost
Painting labor cost starts with man-hours. Once you know the hours, you can add loaded labor cost, overhead, and profit instead of guessing a price per square foot.
1. Measure the paintable area
Measure the surfaces that will actually be painted. Separate walls, ceilings, trim, doors, exterior siding, and detail work because each task has a different production rate.
2. Apply the number of coats
Multiply paintable area by the number of coats. A 2,000 square foot wall area with two coats equals 4,000 square feet of paint application work.
3. Divide by production rate
Man-hours = paintable area x coats / production rate
If your crew paints interior walls at 200 square feet per hour, 4,000 square feet of application work requires about 20 man-hours before extra preparation.
4. Add preparation and job conditions
Prep work can change labor more than the paint itself. Add time for cleaning, sanding, patching, masking, moving furniture, high access, color changes, and cleanup.
5. Use loaded labor cost
Loaded labor cost = base wages + labor burden
Labor burden can include payroll taxes, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, benefits, paid time, and other employee costs above base wage.
6. Add overhead and profit
Overhead covers the business costs that are not tied to one can of paint or one hour on the wall. Profit is what remains after project costs and overhead are covered.