# square foot pricing for new construction commercial painting?



## Mr. Mike

There is no industry standard across the board. Every city has different prices that they need to pay or charge.

I paint over 100 jobs in the Highlands around Bardstown Rd. every year. BTW, That is a one coat $21,000.00 Aura Job below.











If you don't measure the walls though how do you know what 300 to 400 sq. is. I measure every wall or surface I paint and then figure out a price per sq. ft. on the project. The largest single wall I ever painted was over 15,000 sq. ft. for just the one wall. I went in at $1.13 per sq. for what you described and got the job. It only cost me roughly $.40 per sq. ft. to do the job after figuring in the lift.

This is confusing me because I measure everything and if you don't I can't see how you survive.


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## WisePainter

I use a laser measuring device, point and click, it even does the math for me.


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## WisePainter

Mr. Mike said:


> I paint over 100 jobs in the Highlands around Bardstown Rd. every year. BTW, That is a one coat $21,000.00 Aura Job below.



I hope you pay your guys very well! 
They could easily find out they need a raise when you are posting your totals...

:laughing:


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## BiggSlick

Mr. Mike said:


> There is no industry standard across the board. Every city has different prices that they need to pay or charge.
> 
> I paint over 100 jobs in the Highlands around Bardstown Rd. every year. BTW, That is a one coat $21,000.00 Aura Job below.
> 
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> 
> If you don't measure the walls though how do you know what 300 to 400 sq. is. I measure every wall or surface I paint and then figure out a price per sq. ft. on the project. The largest single wall I ever painted was over 15,000 sq. ft. for just the one wall. I went in at $1.13 per sq. for what you described and got the job. It only cost me roughly $.40 per sq. ft. to do the job after figuring in the lift.
> 
> This is confusing me because I measure everything and if you don't I can't see how you survive.



Of course I measure the walls when I do my bids. I can't see how anyone could get away without first doing that. What I do on an interior for example is get the linear ft. of the walls I am painting. Then I multiply that by the height from the floor to the ceiling. If I have 2000 linear ft. of wall with 10 ft. ceilings I know I have 20,000 sq. ft of wall space to paint. 20,000 sq.ft will take my guys 100 hrs. to paint if they are only doing one coat (20,000 sq. ft./ 200 sq. ft per hour they can paint). I allot some time for setup/cleanup and then figure the amount of paint gallons I will need, mark up the labor and materials to what I am happy with and give the customer a price.

This is a typical repaint project for me. Of course I am leaving out ceilings, prep, and trim for simplicity. New construction is a different ball game though. With repaints I usually brush and roll so I do have to mess with getting paint on the ceiling and trim or masking off windows, etc. With new construction I am going to spray and backroll all the drywall. By doing it this way I can obviously get done more than 200 sq. ft. per hour. I am just trying to figure out how much I can realistically get done per hour. From there I can figure out my square foot price. Any thoughts on what a realistic estimate of wall space I can get done per hour?

BTW, if you are doing 100 jobs in Bardstown every year that is great. The house you showed looks pretty big. 21k sounds like a lot, but I have no idea the detail of the rest of the house, how much prep was involved, etc. Thanks for your help.


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## Mr. Mike

You need to get the RS Means from the library and copy the painting section, it will tell you how much one person can do in one hour. I think 2 men can spray and back roll 700 sq. per hour, and spray a primer coat roughly 1100 sq. per hour. I am not 100% sure you may want to check with others, thought I would get some numbers flying.:w00t:


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## BiggSlick

Mr. Mike said:


> You need to get the RS Means from the library and copy the painting section, it will tell you how much one person can do in one hour. I think 2 men can spray and back roll 700 sq. per hour, and spray a primer coat roughly 1100 sq. per hour. I am not 100% sure you may want to check with others, thought I would get some numbers flying.:w00t:


well i finished my proposal today. went on the conservative side and used 600 sq.ft for the painting (for 2 guys) and 900 sq.ft for the priming (also for two guys). i figure i can do more than that but on new construction i seem to have a lot of touch-ups and repairs from other contractors. hopefully it all evens out or works out in my favor.


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## Mr. Mike

If you don't mind me asking, and I am sure you don't; What was the total per sq. ft. price? or over all bid amount for this project.:thumbup:


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## BiggSlick

Mr. Mike said:


> If you don't mind me asking, and I am sure you don't; What was the total per sq. ft. price? or over all bid amount for this project.:thumbup:



I haven't submitted my price to the customer yet because the bid isn't due until the 14th, but I have it priced out at $1.32/per sq. ft. of wall. This turns out to be about $70k for the project. There isn't any trim to be painted so I think it is an ok price for me to be profitable, but let me know what your thoughts are.


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## Mr. Mike

I think someone around $.88 will win the bid.


Let us know what happens.


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## 4thGeneration

Mr. Mike said:


> There is no industry standard across the board. Every city has different prices that they need to pay or charge.
> 
> I paint over 100 jobs in the Highlands around Bardstown Rd. every year. BTW, That is a one coat $21,000.00 Aura Job below.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> If you don't measure the walls though how do you know what 300 to 400 sq. is. I measure every wall or surface I paint and then figure out a price per sq. ft. on the project. The largest single wall I ever painted was over 15,000 sq. ft. for just the one wall. I went in at $1.13 per sq. for what you described and got the job. It only cost me roughly $.40 per sq. ft. to do the job after figuring in the lift.
> 
> This is confusing me because I measure everything and if you don't I can't see how you survive.




People think I take too long on quotes because I measure a lot. They say I should know. If I come to a little old small bedroom or something like a door or piece meal its a snap, but when it is a large job I take the time or a job that has the weird angles. 



Hows the season for you thus far Mike?


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## Mr. Mike

Started out a little slow, but 5 contracts signed this week is making for a great year.


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## THINKPAINTING

There is nothing wrong with measuring everything, I do and was trained that way many years ago. Much easier to price a job if I know how much, LF of trim, SQ FT of siding, how many doors, window trims and sash etc etc....then just looking and throwing out a number and hoping it sticks...... lets hope for a good year.

BTW, Aa good mechanic can paint 300 sq ft an hr but dont forget all the other bumps, such as setup, piss stop, scratch my a***** 6.5 hrs is work the other 1.5 is not......for an 8 hr day.....


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## 4thGeneration

*Method of application*

Mike,

I take it that the whole job on this house had the coatings laid on by hand? I am glad to see contractors that are not forgetting how to use a Purdy.

When do you use a airless? New construction and high builds would be my guess. I have an air assisted airless. I plan on using it more when starting up the prefinishing side of the biz this fall and Winter.


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## Mr. Mike

> When do you use a airless? New construction and high builds would be my guess. I have an air assisted airless. I plan on using it more when starting up the prefinishing side of the biz this fall and Winter. __________________


I have some big spray rigs and small ones, I spray shopping centers, dryfall ceilings, new houses, fences, and lots of other projects. For the most part we don't spray these repaint exterior houses, like I say for the most part.


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## Paul Painter

Other reading would be,can you spray?? I found the best time to do hospital jobs is at night when everyone has gone for the day..off shifting works well...no traffic walking through,its quiet and production is better..people walk in the next morning and say wow..this whole hall was bare drywall yesterday..135 feet done overnight!!!I insist that the drywallers clean all their dust up after sanding and leave areas to be painted clean..I include this in my quote,that work will not begin untill areas are free of debris/clean..I also mention that if a strike or lock out occurs I will not cross the line or pay penalties for not having job complete..if the roof leaks and wets the painting surfaces work will not continue untill areas are dry or repaired..work will not continue if conditions are too humid for paint to dry or if interior temps. fall below 50 degrees..painter is not responsible for damage to finish coats by other contractors..like setting a door against the wall while paint is still wet ..take lots of pictures!!Just trying to help!!


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## vikingpainter

*Big Job, Big Bid - - Any help? Any suggestions would be appreciated.*

I got a 500,000 sq. ft. warehouse to paint with 35' ft. tall ceilings that I'm bidding, and I'm crunching numbers currently. This is the first time I have took on such a big project even though all of it will be white paint and straight forward. Any help? Any suggestions, would be appreciated.


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## Sir Mixalot

Thank you for posting on ContractorTalk.com. Straight pricing questions are frowned upon here, as are 'Going Rate' questions. If you are a contractor seeking advice regarding your pricing structure, the Moderators of this forum would like to direct you to this thread: "Pricing, Estimating and Success".

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