Exterior House Painting Cost Calculator
Plan the cost of painting your siding from the numbers you control: the square feet of siding, your price per square foot, labor, the usual add‑ons and a contingency buffer — for painting the existing siding, never replacing it.
Painting 2,358 sq ft of siding at $1.80/sq ft plus labor is about $4,668.84 with 10% contingency (exterior runs ~$1.50–$4.50/sq ft all-in — labeled). Enter your own prices — a planning estimate, not a bid.
Calculator inputs
Painting the outside of a house is a quantity–times–price sum, and the meticulous way to plan it is to settle the quantity first. Measure the net siding area (wall perimeter × total wall height, minus doors and windows), decide your all-in rate per square foot, then add the lines that quotes love to bury — scraping and sanding, a primer or sealer coat on bare or chalky spots, caulking, trim, and any wood repair. A contingency on top absorbs the discovery that always happens once the scaffolding goes up.
Everything here is your number. The tool holds no price list and no live rate, so it stays correct no matter what paint costs this season. It plans painting the existing siding — not replacing siding, roofing, gutters or cladding, which belong to other trades.
Formula
total = (net_siding_area × $/sq ft + labor + add‑ons − discount) × (1 + contingency)
where net_siding_area = wall_perimeter_ft × wall_height_ft − Σ openings (a door ≈ 21 sq ft, a window ≈ 15 sq ft — labeled typicals you can adjust). Enter an all-in rate in price per square foot, or set that low and put the crew’s cost in labor — the math is the same.
Worked example
Take a two-story house with roughly 2,358 sq ft of net siding at $1.80/sq ft, no separate labor line, and a 10% contingency:
2,358 × $1.80 = $4,244.40, then × 1.10 = $4,668.84.
So this repaint plans at about $4,668.84. Push the prep and primer into the add-ons line and the total climbs honestly rather than hiding inside the rate — exactly what you want when you compare two painters’ quotes.
Measure first, avoid the re-quote
- Measure the walls, not the floor. Net siding area is perimeter × wall height minus openings — a wide single-story house can have more siding than a compact two-story one.
- Split prep out. Scraping, sanding, priming bare wood and caulking are where exterior jobs really differ; keep them in the add-ons line so a “cheap” quote that skips prep is obvious.
- Rough siding drinks paint. Stucco, brick and weathered wood use more paint and usually a sealer/primer — that is a real cost, not padding.
- Hold a contingency. Ten percent covers the rot behind the trim you cannot see from the ground.
- Painting, not replacing. This budgets a repaint of the surface you have; new siding, roofing or gutters are a different trade.
Reference table
| Siding | Labeled $/sq ft band | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl / lap siding | $1.50–$3.00/sq ft | Smooth — least paint & prep |
| Wood siding | $1.75–$4.00/sq ft | Sand/scrape and prime bare spots |
| Stucco | $2.00–$4.50/sq ft | Porous — soaks up more paint |
| Brick | $2.25–$4.50/sq ft | Very porous — masonry primer, often permanent |
Exterior repaints run about $1.50–$4.50/sq ft all-in (paint + labor + prep). These are labeled planning bands, a sanity guide only — you enter the real price from your own quote; stucco, brick and rough wood soak up more paint and prep than smooth vinyl or lap siding.