How Much Does It Cost to Paint the Exterior of a House?

If you ask Google how long an exterior paint job can be expected to last, the answer it spits back is from five to 10 years. But let’s face it: many homeowners wait much longer to update their home’s exterior paint, and cost is certainly a factor. You can’t wait forever, though, so if you own your home for a long time, you’ll have to include re-painting in your maintenance budget at some point, and you’ll want to know how much you need in your bank account to do the job.

I asked several contractors for an average cost for painting a home’s exterior, and most told me that every job is different and that it isn’t practical to come up with a ballpark figure that fits every situation. Brandon Walker of ASAP Restoration in Phoenix, AZ, was more forthcoming, explaining his process for estimating a job and providing the cost to paint an average home, which is (spoiler alert) around $5,000.

Of course, many factors go into the estimate for painting a particular home, and not every painter uses the same estimation methods. Because of the development of AI estimation tools, even Walker’s method has changed over the years. Here’s a rundown of the considerations that go into a cost estimate for exterior painting. Hopefully, they will give you the tools to figure out (roughly) how much it will cost to paint your own home.

Why Paint Your Home?

Exterior painting isn’t a top priority for many homeowners, but here are four reasons why it should be:

• A fresh paint job improves your home’s curb appeal and, ultimately, its value.
• New paint protects the siding from water damage, pests, mold and rot, and increases its lifespan.
• Prepping for a paint job (including caulking/filling holes and replacing any damaged trim and siding) helps seal your home against leaks.
• Painting provides the chance for a new color scheme and a reboot of your home’s appearance.

Factors that Influence the Cost of Painting

“The biggest factors that affect the pricing for a job,” explains Walker, “are the amount of prep work, the siding and trim materials and the brand of paint or kind of finish the customer wants.” The amount or difficulty of the trim work and the color scheme is also important; a three-color scheme requires much more masking than a two-color scheme. Finally, he says, some factors, such as landscaping and weather, depend on location.

Home size: The size of the building determines the amount of prep work and paint it needs.

Multiple stories: Multi-story homes require extension ladders and possibly scaffolding and lifts. You usually don’t have to calculate this separately because, as Walker notes, most professional painting companies own their own rigs, their own scaffolding, and all of the supplies and tools needed for almost any project they come across. “This allows them to price into their estimate how much the labor to set up their own scaffolding will cost.”

Prep work: Prep work on a home’s exterior includes cleaning (usually power washing), scraping, sanding, caulking, repairing/filling holes and cracks, and sometimes priming. Extensive damage to the existing siding means a higher cost estimate.

Paint quality: A gallon of paint or primer can cost between $25 and $80. While the specific type of paint you need depends on your home’s siding material, there’s usually a range of options. Higher-quality paint, with more total solids and fewer solvents, costs more, but considering that it’s more durable, lasts longer and requires fewer coats, it may save you money in the long run.

Siding material: The absorbency of the siding and trim material affects paint coverage. Brick, stucco and concrete generally require more paint than wood, vinyl or aluminum.

Extra features: The need to paint doors, fascia, trim, gutters and shutters will add to the project’s total cost. Some typical rates include:

• Doors: $70 to $300 each
• Fascia and trim: $1 to $3 per linear foot
• Gutters: $1 to $4 per linear foot
• Shutters: $60 to $80 each

Estimating by the Square Foot

When Walker ran his own painting company, he would estimate by the square foot, with pricing variations for things like pillars, trim and difficult materials like stucco or block walls. This is because these materials take paint differently, and that can increase the amount of time and paint that it takes to get complete coverage.

“By and large,” he says, “you can find quality painters who aren’t a part of major corporate companies that will do good quality, bonded and insured work for anywhere between $1.50 and $3.00 per square foot with an average for most surfaces at $2.00 per square foot.”

Walker took the average square-foot price of $2.00 and applied it to an average-size house of 2,229 square feet to calculate a cost estimate of $4,598. He rounded up to arrive at the ballpark average cost estimate of $5,000 mentioned in the introduction.

But remember…it’s just an average. As Walker points out, the many considerations that factor into a cost estimate prompt many contractors to use online programs like Xactimate to produce more accurate estimates.

How to Save Money on an Exterior Paint Job

You can’t escape bad luck no matter how hard you try. Even with careful preparation, you may find yourself having to paint your house at a time you can’t afford it. Here are some ways to temper the assault on your bank account:

• Don’t wait too long: The longer you wait, the more work will be involved in the job and the more expensive it will be.
• Get several estimates: In the future, every painting contractor may use AI algorithms to get identical estimates for painting jobs, but until that day arrives, you can still rely on marketplace competition to get the best price. The more estimates, the better, but three is a practical minimum.
• Do some of the prep work yourself: Power washing, scraping and sanding are time-consuming, expensive tasks, and they are all DIYable.
• Do some of the painting yourself: Hire a contractor to spray or roll the base coat, then do some or all the brushwork (trim, gutters, doors and windows) in your spare time.

About the Expert

• Brandon Walker has been in the painting and construction industry for more than 20 years. After running his own company, he decided to advance his skills as a Superintendent with ASAP Restoration.