What a painting quote is for
A quote is a firm price. Once your customer accepts it, that is the number — so it needs an expiration date, a defined scope, and clear terms on what falls outside it.
For painters selling to homeowners, property managers, and commercial clients, the quote is usually the only thing the customer compares side by side against two competitors. It is doing sales work whether you designed it to or not.
The unit that trips this trade up: Painting is priced per square foot of surface, not floor area — and prep is most of the labor.
What every painting quote must have
- An expiration date, so the price does not follow you around forever
- A scope specific enough that both of you can tell what is excluded
- Deposit and payment terms stated before the work is scheduled
- A named change-order process for anything discovered after approval
- Your license or registration number where the trade requires it
What painters bill for
These are the lines that show up on most painting quotes, with the unit each is normally priced in. Ranges are illustrative planning figures, not market data — your own costs, region, and margin decide the real number.
| Line item | Unit | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Interior walls and ceilings | sq ft | $2–$4 |
| Exterior — body and trim | sq ft | $2–$6 |
| Cabinet refinishing | door/drawer | $75–$250 |
| Surface prep, patch and sand | hour | $45–$95 |
| Primer coat | sq ft | $0–$2 |
| Paint and materials | gallon | $35–$110 |
| Masking, drop cloths and protection | each | $150–$900 |
| Labor — painter | hour | $45–$95 |
Typical deposit convention: Deposit for materials on larger jobs, balance on walkthrough.
Painting quote example
A realistic job, priced line by line, with the arithmetic shown the way a customer sees it:
| Description | Qty | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prep — patch, sand, caulk and mask | 1 | $1,450.00 | $1,450.00 |
| Primer on patched and stained areas | 1 | $420.00 | $420.00 |
| Walls — two coats, 2,850 sq ft | 2,850 | $1.85 | $5,272.50 |
| Ceilings — one coat, 1,400 sq ft | 1,400 | $1.15 | $1,610.00 |
| Paint and materials | 1 | $880.00 | $880.00 |
| Subtotal | $9,632.50 | ||
| Tax (7.75%) | $746.52 | ||
| Total | $10,379.02 | ||
Notice that every assumption is a line rather than a conversation. That is the whole difference between a quote that holds up and one that gets renegotiated in a driveway.
Three mistakes that cost painters money
Not naming the number of coats
One coat and two coats are different jobs at different prices, and customers assume two. Write the coat count on every line.
Prep buried in the price
Prep is 40–60% of interior labor. Show it as its own line so the customer sees what they are actually buying, and so 'the other guy was cheaper' has an answer.
No sheen and color specification
Colors and sheens get chosen after approval and then changed. State that the price includes a set number of colors and that additional colors or sheens are a change order.
How to send a painting quote in about a minute
A template is only half the job — the quote still has to reach the customer in a form they can act on. With SendQuoteNow you add the customer, add your line items, and hit send. Your customer gets a branded PDF plus a link where they approve or decline with one click, and you get an email the moment they do.
- Your branding, not ours — your logo, business name, contact details, and terms on every document.
- From your phone — build and send the quote before you leave the customer's property.
- One-click approval — no login or account needed on your customer's side.
- Automatic math — subtotal, tax, and discounts calculated as you type.
- Quote → invoice — convert accepted work into an invoice without retyping it.