How Much to Charge for Fence Staining: Price It From Your Own Hours

How do you work out what to charge for fence staining?

Charge your break-even for the whole job divided by one minus your target margin. Break-even is loaded labour for both visits, plus stain, cleaner and sundries, plus a share of your yearly overhead. Price per linear foot and per square foot come out at the end, as checks.

I'm not a painter - I build the pricing maths. This page shows the arithmetic that turns your own hours and stain cost into a price; every input is an assumption you replace.

1. Stain area = linear feet × fence height × sides stained.
2. Hours = everything on the clock across both visits: drive, setup, washing, masking, staining, cleanup.
3. Labour = hours × people × loaded rate (wage × (1 + burden %)).
4. Materials = stain gallons × price per gallon + cleaner + sundries.
5. Break-even = labour + materials + hours × people × overhead per sellable hour.
6. Price = break-even ÷ (1 − target margin).

The method is the same one the deck staining price guide uses, on the same rates. A fence swaps railings and stairs for height and sides, and the choice of sprayer or brush moves the hours far more than on a deck.

How do you estimate fence staining from linear feet?

Convert linear feet to square feet: length × height × the number of sides you stain. Customers measure fences in linear feet; stain and hours follow the square feet.

I use the full face area even on a spaced picket fence, because the board edges take stain and slow the work. That is an assumption; change it if your timed jobs say otherwise. Ask before quoting whether the customer wants the neighbour's side done. It doubles the area, and you need access to it.

The worked example here is 150 ft of 6 ft privacy fence, both sides: 150 × 6 × 2 = 1,800 sq ft.

How much should I charge to stain a 150 ft fence? (try the calculator)

On the assumptions below, 150 ft of 6 ft fence stained on both sides prices at $2,072.31 at a 35% margin. Change the hours and stain cost to your own and the price moves with them.

The calculator starts on this example. The 16 hours are assumptions built from the split below; time your own jobs and replace them.

The working: 16 hours at a loaded $32.50 (a $25 wage plus 30% burden) is $520.00 of labour. Overhead of $14,520 a year over 1 person × 220 billed days × 8 hours is $8.25 an hour, so $132.00 on this job. Add $695 of materials and break-even is $1,347.00. Divided by 0.65, the price is $2,072.31, which leaves $725.31 of profit.

How much stain do you need for a fence?

Gallons = stain area × coats ÷ coverage per gallon, rounded up. Take the coverage from the label of the stain you use, for the surface you have; rough-sawn fence boards soak up more than smooth wood.

The examples assume 150 sq ft per gallon brushed and 130 sq ft per gallon sprayed (I knock spray coverage down for overspray), one coat, $45 a gallon, plus $40 of cleaner and $25 of sundries. All are placeholders.

So for 200 ft of 6 ft fence, both sides, one sprayed coat is 2,400 ÷ 130 = 18.46, so 19 gallons; brushed at 150 it is 16. If your product needs two coats, double the gallons and add the second coat's hours. Stain is the smaller cost on every row: on the 150 ft fence, materials are $695 against $520.00 of labour.

Fence staining price table: 100, 150 and 200 feet

Price rises with length, but not in a straight line, because the 4 fixed hours of driving, setup and pack-up across two visits are the same on a short fence as on a long one.

To scale the hours, I split the 150 ft job in two: 4.75 fixed hours (two visits plus masking) and 0.625 hours per 100 sq ft for washing and staining. Same person, same rates, same 35% margin.

Compare the first and last rows. 100 ft stained on both sides and 200 ft stained on one side are the same 1,200 sq ft and the same price, yet one is $15.60 per linear foot and the other $7.80. A per-linear-foot rate only means something with the height and sides attached. Price from square feet and use per linear foot to talk to the customer.

Sprayer or brush: what it does to the price

On these assumptions, brushing the same 150 ft fence takes 24.7 hours against 16 sprayed, and prices at $2,479.27 against $2,072.31. The method choice moves the price more than the stain does.

Brush-only assumptions: 0.9 hours per 100 sq ft instead of 0.375, no masking, and better coverage (150 sq ft per gallon, so 12 gallons, $540 of stain plus $65). Hours: 4 fixed + 4.5 washing + 16.2 brushing = 24.7.

The gap is $406.96 on one fence. If you quote from a sprayed production rate and then brush, that is what you give away. If you spray, the masking time and the extra gallons are real; leave them out and the sprayed price is too low as well.

Whether a sprayed-and-back-brushed finish suits a given stain is a product question; read the manufacturer's application instructions. The maths only prices the method you choose.

How much should I charge for labor to stain a fence?

Charge for labour at your loaded rate plus overhead, divided by one minus margin, for every hour of both visits. On the assumptions here that is $62.69 per hour on the clock.

The working: a $25 wage plus 30% burden is $32.50 an hour. Overhead of $14,520 spread over 1,760 sellable hours (220 days × 8) is $8.25 an hour. Together, $40.75 an hour before materials. Divide by 0.65 and each hour has to bill $62.69. The labor burden calculator builds the 30% line by line.

The wash day is a real visit with its own drive. If you sell washing as a separate job, the pressure washing pricing guide prices it on its own.

What are the common mistakes when quoting fence staining?

The mistakes that sink a fence quote are pricing one side when the job is both, copying someone else's per-foot rate, and adding margin as markup.

• One side priced, both sides stained. Quote the 150 ft fence on one side (900 sq ft) and the price comes to $1,235.05. If the customer expected both sides, you are $837.26 short of $2,072.31. Write the sides into the quote.
• A per-linear-foot number from a forum. It carries someone else's height, sides, wage and method. The table shows the same rates giving $15.60 or $7.80 a linear foot on the same area.
• Markup instead of margin. Adding 35% to the $1,347.00 break-even gives $1,818.45 and keeps only 25.93%. Dividing by 0.65 gives $2,072.31. The gap is $253.86 a fence, or $26,401.20 a year at two fences a week. The markup vs margin calculator has the conversion chart.

Can a painting estimate spreadsheet price a fence stain job?

Yes, if you enter the fence as surfaces. The painting estimate spreadsheet ($14.99, Excel and Google Sheets) has no fence or stain mode, but its Job Pricer takes up to 12 rooms or surfaces, each with square feet, labour hours and a primer switch.

For a fence, enter one row per run or per side with its square feet (length × height) and hours. In My Rates, type your stain price per gallon where the paint price goes and your stain coverage where the coverage rate goes (the default is 350 sq ft per gallon, a wall figure, so change it). Put the second visit's drive in the drive time and miles lines. It then returns gallons, stain cost, labour, overhead, break-even, the price at your margin, the same figure as a markup and price per square foot. The minimum job price is one of the rates you set.

One part does not apply: the sheet's market check compares your price with a $2 to $6 per floor sq ft band for interior painting. Ignore it on a fence.

For a single quick number, the free painting estimate calculator does one job in your browser: total the hours for both visits first, since it takes hours rather than area.

What should go in your fence staining price sheet?

A fence price sheet is a short list of your own numbers that turns a measurement into a price.

• Height and sides for every run, so linear feet convert to square feet.
• Fixed hours per visit: drive, setup, pack-up. Count two visits.
• Hours per 100 sq ft for washing, spraying plus back-brushing, and brushing, timed on your jobs.
• Masking hours when you spray.
• Stain coverage and price per gallon for each product, sprayed and brushed.
• Minimum job price for short runs.

Layout for the formulas: B2 = linear ft, B3 = height, B4 = sides, B5 = coats, B6 = coverage per gallon, B7 = hours, B8 = loaded rate, B9 = overhead per hour, B10 = materials, B11 = break-even, B12 = margin %, B13 = minimum job price, B14 = price.

If you would rather not build and test it, the painting estimate spreadsheet already does the labour, overhead, break-even and margin maths; you supply the stain rates and the hours.

Step-by-step: How Much to Charge for Fence Staining: Price It From Your Own Hours

1. Measure linear feet, height and sides. Measure every run, note the fence height and whether one or both sides are stained.
2. Convert to square feet. Stain area = linear feet × height × sides.
3. Count hours for both visits. Add drive, setup, washing, masking, staining and cleanup across the wash day and the stain day.
4. Work out stain and materials. Gallons = stain area × coats ÷ label coverage, rounded up, times price per gallon, plus cleaner and sundries.
5. Find break-even. Hours × (loaded rate + overhead per hour) + materials.
6. Divide by one minus margin. Price = break-even ÷ (1 − margin). Quote the higher of that and your minimum job price.

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