Painting Estimate Template: 11 Sections and a Worked Two-Story Exterior Estimate

What a painting estimate template has to include

A painting estimate template is the document that turns your walk-around into a price the homeowner can say yes to. Homeowners compare two or three painting estimates, and the cheapest is not always the one that wins. The one that wins is the one that makes clear what is included: how much prep, which paint, how many coats, what happens to the shrubs and the rotted trim board by the back door.

Below is a fill-in template to copy, then the same template filled in for an exterior repaint, worked line by line. For interior pricing and production rates, see how to price painting jobs, which works through a bedroom.

The fill-in template

1. Customer and property. Name, address, phone, date of the walk-around, and how long the price holds.
2. Scope by surface. One line per surface: siding, trim, soffits and fascia, doors, shutters, deck or railings. Interior jobs go room by room: walls, ceilings, trim, doors.
3. Measurements. Wall area after subtracting windows and doors, linear feet of trim, count of doors and shutters. Write them down; they are your defense if the homeowner adds a surface later.
4. Prep, in plain words. Power wash, scrape loose paint, sand edges, spot-prime bare wood, caulk gaps. "Prep included" means nothing to a homeowner; a list does.
5. Repairs. Rotted wood found during prep is priced per board or per hour, on its own line, approved in writing before you do it.
6. Products. Brand, product line, sheen and number of coats for each surface. Colors once chosen.
7. Protection and cleanup. Plants, decks, windows, floors and furniture covered; daily cleanup; paint and debris hauled away.
8. Exclusions. Lead-safe work on homes built before 1978 if it applies, carpentry beyond the allowance, and surfaces not listed.
9. Schedule and weather. Start window, expected days, and that exterior work moves for rain and temperature.
10. Price and payment terms. Total, deposit, when the balance is due, and how changes are approved.
11. Warranty. What you guarantee (peeling, adhesion) and for how long.

Worked example: a two-story exterior repaint

These are example rates and production figures for illustration, not market prices. Check coverage on the product's data sheet and use your own crew's production rates. The house is 40 × 28 ft with an 18 ft average wall height, 14 windows and 2 doors.

The estimate the homeowner sees has fewer lines (surfaces, prep list, products, price), but this is the math under it. Two lines are where painters lose money on exteriors. Prep: 14 of the 49 labor hours are washing, scraping and caulking, and a peeling south wall can double that, so walk every side before you price it. Trim: 368 feet of trim at 60 feet an hour is 6 hours, about a third of the labor, and it's the part a one-line square-foot price misses.

At $5,582, this works out to about $2.54 per square foot of wall. If your square-foot price is much lower than your line-by-line estimate, the square-foot price is the one that's wrong. Our free painting estimate calculator runs the same math from your own rates.

Estimating software for painters and decorators

Estimating software for painters and decorators does the same math as the worked example above, faster: you enter or measure the surfaces, it applies your production rates and coverage, adds materials and margin, and turns the result into a proposal the customer can sign. Whether you use a paid package or a spreadsheet, check that it does four things this template depends on. It prices prep as its own hours, not a percentage. It prices trim by the linear foot, separate from wall area. It lets you set your own production rates per surface instead of a national default. And it sends the estimate the same day with a follow-up reminder.

If you are not ready to pay for software, our free painting estimate calculator runs the wall, trim, prep and margin lines from your own rates, and this template is the written version you send. For a comparison of the paid tools, see software for painting contractors.

Send it the same day

Painting jobs are usually won by the estimate that arrives first and reads clearly. If you walk the house at 4 p.m., the homeowner should have the estimate by that evening, with the prep list and the product written out. Follow up two days later, and again after a week, with one question: "Do you have any questions about the scope?" Most estimates aren't lost to a lower price. They're lost to silence.

Where Unmanually fits

Unmanually is a 24/7 AI Office Manager for painting contractors that you run by voice. From the truck, say "40 by 28 colonial, two stories, 14 windows, full scrape on the south side, Duration satin, two coats," and it drafts the estimate from your template and rates for you to approve, sends it, follows up, and books the start date when they say yes. It also answers the calls that come in while you're on a ladder. See Unmanually for painting contractors.