How much paint do I need — and what will the paint job cost?
Free, no-signup calculators for homeowners, DIYers and small painting contractors planning an interior or exterior paint job — figure out how much paint to buy (wall, ceiling and trim square footage, coats, coverage per gallon, primer, door and window deductions), how much a paint job costs (interior, exterior, per room, whole house, cabinets, per square foot, labor), and how to sanity-check a painter’s quote. Every tool runs on the surfaces you measure and the prices you enter, and shows its formula, a worked example and a reference table.
Example: a 12 × 15 ft room, 8 ft walls, 2 coats at 350 sq ft/gal, less one door and two windows — about 3 gallons. Round up to whole gallons, and allow extra for texture, porosity and color change.
The paint job, step by step
Measure → quantity & coverage → interior cost → exterior cost → whole house → cabinets & specialty → selection & planning — the whole job in one focused hub, in the order a careful planner works.
- 1
Paint Quantity & Coverage
Start here: how much paint do I need (paintable area × coats ÷ coverage), wall & room square footage, ceiling paint, primer, paint coverage per gallon, trim/baseboard linear feet, and exterior siding paint — from the surfaces you measure.
- 2
Interior Painting Cost
Budget the inside: interior painting cost, cost to paint a room, cost to paint the interior of a house, cost per square foot, cost by room type, and interior labor cost — on the prices you enter from your own quotes.
- 3
Exterior Painting Cost
Budget the outside: exterior house painting cost, cost to paint the outside of a house, cost per square foot, cost by siding type (wood/stucco/brick/vinyl), repaint vs new construction, and a two-story / height-access cost.
- 4
Whole-House & Project Cost
The whole job & quote check: cost to paint a house, whole-house interior + exterior, average cost by home size, a painter quote checker, a labor cost estimator, and cost to repaint a house.
- 5
Cabinets & Specialty Surfaces
High-value adjacencies: kitchen cabinet painting & refinishing cost (by door + drawer count), deck & fence painting/staining cost & quantity, trim & door painting cost, and a brick/stucco/concrete masonry reference.
- 6
Paint Selection & Planning
Choose and plan: a sheen & finish selector, a paint-type-by-surface reference, how to measure for paint (smallest of three), a prep & primer planning reference (with the pre-1978 lead flag), and a coats & drying-time reference.
Built for the whole paint job — and to stay correct forever
PaintingCalcs gathers the calculations homeowners, DIYers and small painting contractors reach for when a room, a house or a set of cabinets gets painted — how much paint a job needs (paintable area = perimeter × height − openings; gallons = ceil(area × coats ÷ coverage); ceiling = length × width), how much an interior, exterior, whole-house, cabinet or specialty job costs, and how to sanity-check a painter’s quote — quantity → coverage → cost → by-surface → selection, in one focused hub, in US units, without signup, with transparent formulas. Every tool shows not just the answer but the underlying formula, a worked example and a reference table.
Because the tools rest on timeless paintable-area geometry (wall area = perimeter × height; net area = gross − openings; ceiling = L × W; gallons = ceil(area × coats ÷ coverage); primer = ceil(area ÷ primer coverage); trim_lf = Σ perimeters × (1 + waste); cost = area × your $/sq ft [or gallons × your $/gallon] + labor + add-ons − discount, ×(1 + contingency); cabinet cost = (doors + drawers) × your $/unit + labor) and stable, labeled conventions (coverage per gallon by paint & surface, primer coverage, coats by scenario, door/window deductions, cost bands), they stay correct with no maintenance — no live material or labor price list, no regional cost index, no product catalog, no contractor directory. Cost tools use the prices you enter from your own quotes and bills; labeled cost bands are only a sanity guide. More at Sources & formulas, Methodology and About.
Estimates, not bids. Every result is a planning estimate from your own prices, or a paint quantity / coverage guide — not a bid, an application procedure, or surface-prep, structural, lead-abatement or code-compliance advice. Get itemized written quotes from licensed, insured painters; measure your actual surfaces and confirm coverage on the paint can; allow extra for texture, porosity, color change and waste; and follow the EPA RRP rule with a certified firm for pre-1978 lead paint.