A house painting estimate template that prices every room from your own rates, then shows break-even and the price to quote before you bid.
Get it on Payhip →In short: This painting estimate spreadsheet turns rooms into a bid: enter square feet and labour hours per room, and it works out gallons from your coverage rate, adds drive time, vehicle, sundries and overhead, shows the break-even, then the price to quote at your target margin. On the shipped example, three rooms price at $1,807.69.
Works in Microsoft Excel and in Google Sheets (File, Open, Upload). Inputs are the yellow cells; everything else is a live formula you can click and read.
The workbook ships with three rooms filled in. These are its own results, not a mock-up:
| Line | Result |
|---|---|
| Living room walls, 400 sq ft, 6 labour hrs | 3 gal, $105 paint + $270 labour = $375 |
| Master bedroom, 350 sq ft, 5 labour hrs | 2 gal, $70 paint + $225 labour = $295 |
| Kitchen, 250 sq ft, 4 labour hrs, primed | 2 gal paint + 1 gal primer, $98 + $180 labour = $278 |
| Drive time 0.5 hr x 2 painters x $45 | $45 |
| Vehicle 20 miles x $0.70 + sundries 3 rooms x $12 | $14 + $36 |
| Direct job cost | $1,043.00 |
| Overhead: 16 crew-hours (15 on site + 0.5 hr drive x 2) x $8.25 | $132.00 |
| Break-even | $1,175.00 |
| Price to quote at a 35% margin (break-even / 0.65) | $1,807.69 |
| Profit on the job | $632.69 |
| Price per sq ft of wall painted | $1.81 |
Three things the example shows. First, labour is $675 of the $948 in room lines, so a wrong hours guess costs far more than a wrong paint price. Second, overhead follows the hours: $29,040 a year over 2 painters x 220 billed days x 8 hours is $8.25 for every crew-hour, so a longer job carries more overhead and a short one carries less. Third, adding 35% as a markup instead would bill $1,175.00 x 1.35 = $1,586.25, which is $221.44 less for the same job and keeps only 25.9%. The sheet prints both numbers so you can see the gap before the customer does.
Solo painters and small crews who quote interior and repaint work and want the same method on every bid. It is a pricing sheet you keep, not a printable customer form: you get the number from here and put it on your own estimate or invoice. If you only need one quick number, the free painting estimate calculator does a single job in your browser; the spreadsheet keeps every room, every rate and every job in one file. For a walk-through of what an estimate template must calculate, see the painting estimate template guide.
An honest comparison. A free template is the right choice if you only need a form to fill in, and software is the right choice if you need scheduling, invoicing or bank feeds. This file is for getting the number right.
| This spreadsheet | Free blank estimate template | Field-service software | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works out the price for you | Yes, from your own rates and hours | No, you type the price in | Varies by product |
| Shows your break-even before the price | Yes, on every job | No | Varies by product |
| Customer-facing branded estimate | No, it is an internal pricing sheet | Yes, that is its job | Usually |
| Scheduling, invoicing, CRM | No | No | Usually |
| Where it runs | Your own Excel or Google Sheets file | Word, PDF or a spreadsheet | The vendor's app and account |
| Cost | $14.99 once | Free | Monthly subscription |
Get the painting estimate spreadsheet on Payhip, $14.99 once
Prefer it built around your business — your rates, line items and branding? Done-for-you custom build →
Same method, costed for the work you actually do. Painting and Landscaping are also in the $49 bundle.
Get the free Job Pricing Starter — loaded labour cost, overhead, break-even and the price to quote, on one sheet. It also shows what pricing on markup instead of margin costs you per job. No card.
Measure the wall/ceiling area, work the paint out from the coverage rate, estimate labor hours, add overhead, and that total is your break-even. Your price is the break-even divided by one minus your target margin — not cost plus a markup, which is the mistake that quietly costs painters money. The Painting Estimate Calculator does all of it: enter area, hours and your rates, and it shows break-even, the price to quote, your profit, and the margin it actually lands on.
It depends on square footage, number of coats, prep work, your loaded labor rate and your overhead — guessing is what eats your margin. Enter the numbers and the calculator returns your break-even first, then the price that covers materials, labor, overhead and your target margin.
Yes, both. It's a spreadsheet file with live formulas — nothing to install.
Yes, $14.99 one-time. Also in the 7-tool bundle for $49.
It depends on the hours, not the area alone. In the workbook's shipped example, 1,000 sq ft of wall across three rooms takes 15 labour hours and prices at $1,807.69 at a 35% margin, which is $1.81 per square foot of wall. Change the hours to your own production rate and the price follows.
Wall area times coats, divided by the coverage rate, rounded up. At the sheet's defaults of 2 coats and 350 sq ft per gallon, 400 sq ft of wall needs 3 gallons. Rough stucco or heavy texture can drop coverage to about 250, which is why coverage is an input you set.
Cost it up from your own numbers: paint from coverage, labour hours at your loaded rate, drive time, vehicle, sundries and overhead give the break-even. Divide by one minus your target margin for the price, and check the result against the per-square-foot market band before you send it.
