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Painting Labor Hour Estimator

Enter your room count, prep level, crew size, and day rate. Get crew-hours, job days, and total labor cost instantly.

Prep level
typical repaint prep
Enter your job details above

Your crew-hours, days, and labor cost will appear here instantly.

The math

How painting labor hours are calculated

This estimator uses 6 crew-hours per average room as the baseline. That figure covers surface prep, masking door and window frames, cutting in along ceilings and trim, rolling walls with two coats, and basic cleanup. It is calibrated to a typical interior repaint with standard-grade latex, not a new-construction first coat.

Prep level adjusts the multiplier. Light prep (0.8x) applies when walls are clean, colors are similar, and masking is minimal. Standard (1.0x) covers a typical repaint with moderate masking. Heavy (1.5x) accounts for repairs, patching, tight masking around built-ins, or dramatic color changes where extra cutting-in is required.

Crew-hours to days: total crew-hours divided by (painters x 8-hour day), rounded up. One day is the minimum. A two-painter crew working 18 crew-hours finishes in 2 days, not 1.125, so you bill 2 full days.

Labor cost is day rate multiplied by days multiplied by crew size. If each painter runs $400/day and a 2-person crew takes 2 days, your labor cost is $1,600.

Reference

Crew-hour ranges by room type

These are ballpark ranges at standard prep. Heavy prep or tall ceilings will push times up. Use the estimator above for your specific job.

Room typeTypical sizeCrew-hoursNotes
Bedroom (avg)10 x 12~6 hrsStandard prep, 2 coats
Living room14 x 18~9 hrsLarger perimeter, taller walls common
Bathroom6 x 8~5 hrsHeavy masking around fixtures
Kitchen10 x 12~8 hrsCabinets and backsplash add masking time
Hallway / stairwellvaries~7 hrsAwkward angles, extra cut-in time
Full interior (5 rooms)whole house~30 hrs2-person crew: roughly 2 days

Prep includes masking, cutting-in, and cleanup. Crew-hours assume a two-coat application at 350 sq ft per gallon.

Related tools

More free resources for painters

Once you have your labor hours, the repaint pricing cheat sheet puts the full labor and margin math on one page. To nail your paint quantities, use the free paint coverage calculator. For a complete pricing framework, read how to price a repaint.

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More free resources

Free cheat sheet
Repaint Pricing Cheat Sheet

One page of repaint math for the truck: sqft, gallons, labor, margin.

Free tool
Paint Coverage Calculator

Enter wall sqft and coats, get gallons rounded to real bucket sizes.

Free guide
How to Price a Repaint

The full method: measure, materials, labor, overhead, margin, walk-away.