Guides / Estimating
How to price exterior painting
Exterior work has more ways to go wrong than interior work, and they are mostly not about painting. Substrate condition, access, and weather decide the outcome, and only one of them is visible from the driveway.
The substrate decides the job
Sound, previously painted siding in good condition is a straightforward job. Failing paint, bare wood, chalking, rot, failed caulk, or a previous coating that is letting go is a different job with a different price — and the difference can be several multiples, not a percentage.
Inspect properly. Scrape test a few areas. Look at the sun-facing elevation and the one that never dries. The south and west walls and anything under a drip line will tell you what the job actually is.
Where you cannot know until you start — behind shutters, under a deck, the back of the fascia — say so on the estimate as a stated exclusion with a rate for the work if it is found. That is much easier than a change order argued from nothing.
Access and height are labor, not inconvenience
Two storeys with ladders, three storeys, steep ground, a deck in the way, landscaping you must not damage, scaffolding, a lift. All of it is hours, and setup and moving often exceeds the painting time on a tall narrow elevation.
Price the access separately so you can see it. It is also the line most worth photographing on the walkthrough, because it is the line customers most often forget they were told about.
Washing and preparation
Most exteriors need washing, and washing needs dry time before coating. That is a day in the schedule that produces no visible progress and is often unpriced.
Scraping, sanding, spot priming, caulking and replacing failed sealant are each real hours. On a repaint of a house that has gone a few years too long, prep is the majority of the job and the paint is the easy part.
Weather is a scheduling cost
Exterior work is weather-dependent, which means a job can occupy more calendar days than labor days, and a crew that cannot work is still a crew you are paying or losing.
Build it into the schedule rather than the price where you can: sequencing exteriors with an interior job available as a wet-day fallback is worth more than a weather contingency line.
Be specific about what is coated
Siding, trim, fascia, soffits, shutters, doors, garage doors, railings, decks, fences, foundation. Each is a separate decision and each is a separate rate. "Paint the exterior" means something different to you and to the customer, and the gap surfaces on the last day.
Coats and product matter more outside than inside, because the failure is visible in two years rather than never. Say how many coats, on what, in what product.
Questions
Why do exterior painting quotes vary so much?
Mostly substrate condition and access. Sound siding is a straightforward job; failing paint, bare wood or rot is a different job entirely, and three storeys with scaffolding is a different job again.
Should washing be included in an exterior quote?
It usually has to happen, and it needs dry time before coating — so it is both a labor line and a scheduling day. Both are commonly unpriced.
How do I handle rot I cannot see when quoting?
State it as an exclusion with a rate for the work if found. A stated rate agreed up front is far easier than a change order argued from nothing.
Where this stops being arithmetic
Aerys prices a job from your own catalog and production rates, sends it with an accept link and the invoice already attached, and then compares what the job actually cost against what you quoted — by task, while the job is still running.