A clean, ready-to-print contract with every section a painting job needs: parties, scope, exclusions, deposit, change orders, cancellation, and two signature lines. Download the PDF and fill in the blanks.
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Every section below maps to a section in the PDF. This is crawlable, readable content you can reference before downloading.
Interior repaint of living room, dining room, and hallway. All walls two coats Benjamin Moore Regal Select, color Chantilly Lace OC-65. Ceiling one coat flat white in living room only. Trim is excluded from this scope and will be addressed under a separate agreement if requested.
Patch and sand up to five nail holes per room. Mask all trim, windows, and switch plates. Move and cover furniture with drop cloths; client is responsible for removing breakables and valuables before the start date. Haul away all materials and drop cloths on completion.
All paint (Benjamin Moore Regal Select, color per client approval), primer for patched areas, masking tape, drop cloths, rollers, and brushes. Two-person crew. Final walkthrough and touch-up at completion.
Trim, baseboards, doors, and closets. Drywall repairs larger than three inches in diameter. Lead paint testing or abatement. Moving heavy furniture (piano, large bookcases). Any rooms or surfaces not listed above.
Any changes to the scope of work must be agreed to in writing before additional work begins. Change orders will specify the added or removed work and the adjusted price. Verbal authorizations are not binding on either party.
Work is scheduled to begin June 17 and is estimated to be complete by June 19. Delays caused by weather, client-requested changes, or conditions discovered on site may extend the timeline. Contractor will notify client promptly of any delay.
Client may cancel this contract with 72 hours written notice before the scheduled start date. Deposit is non-refundable after 48 hours of signing. If contractor cancels for reasons within their control, deposit will be returned in full within five business days.
The PDF download has blank-ruled fields for every section. Print it, fill it in by hand, or type directly if your PDF reader supports it.
A contract that does not name both parties is not enforceable. Include the contractor business name and registration number, the client full name, and the exact property address where work will take place. These three pieces of information anchor every other clause in the document.
Write out exactly what will be painted: which rooms, which surfaces, how many coats, and which product. Then write what is NOT included: trim, closets, repairs above a certain size, adjacent rooms. Exclusions protect your margin and make change orders easier to justify. If a surface is not named, a client can reasonably assume it is covered.
State the total contract price, the deposit amount and when it is due, and when the balance is due (usually on completion). A deposit of 30 to 50 percent covers your material costs before you start and filters out low-commitment clients. Put the deposit deadline and the non-refundable policy in plain language so there is no dispute later.
Verbal add-ons are how painters lose money on jobs. A change order clause requires both parties to agree in writing before extra work begins. This protects you from doing extra rooms for free and protects the client from surprise charges. Even a brief written text thread can count if the clause defines it.
Spell out how much notice is required to cancel, what happens to the deposit, and what the contractor owes if they are the one who cancels. A clear cancellation clause prevents the most common post-contract disputes and gives both sides a fair exit.
This is a template, not legal advice. The sections above cover what most painting jobs need, but every state has different contractor licensing and contract requirements. If you are working on large commercial jobs or have complex payment structures, consult a local attorney before relying solely on this template.
Before you write the contract, you need an accepted quote. The free painting quote template walks you through every section from scope to deposit terms. Not sure what numbers to put in the quote? How to price a repaint covers the full method from wall sqft to the final price. For more detail on what to put inside your contract itself, see what to include in a painting contract.
Walk the rooms, punch in dimensions, send a branded quote, and convert it to a contract in one tap. No template hunting, no copy-paste, no waiting until you get home.
A clean repaint quote layout you can copy. PDF download, no signup.
Every section a residential painting contract needs, plus deposit and cancellation rules.
The full method: measure, materials, labor, overhead, margin, walk-away.