Exterior house painting cost
Painting a house exterior costs $2.00 to $5.00 per square foot of wall. A two-storey house costs up to 50% more per foot, and the reason is staging rather than paint.
National average
$325
per sq ft
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Painting the outside of a house costs $2.00 to $5.00 per square foot of wall area, so a 1,500 square foot single-storey house is roughly $2,700 to $6,800 and a 2,000 square foot two-storey house $5,500 to $14,500. The national average lands near $3,200 for a modest house and $5,800 for a two-storey one.
A two-storey house costs up to 50% more per square foot than a single-storey one, and the reason is not paint. It is staging: ladders, scaffolding, and the time spent moving them.
Cost by house size
Wall area, not floor area. Measure the perimeter, multiply by 9 feet per storey, and subtract about 15% for windows and doors.
| House | Storeys | Wall area | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 1 | 1,110 sq ft | $2,200 to $5,600 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 1 | 1,360 sq ft | $2,700 to $6,800 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 1 | 1,570 sq ft | $3,100 to $7,900 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 2 | 2,230 sq ft | $6,700 to $14,500 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 2 | 2,490 sq ft | $7,500 to $16,200 |
| 3,000 sq ft | 2 | 2,730 sq ft | $8,200 to $17,700 |
The two-storey rows use the higher rate throughout, which is how most painters quote a two-storey house.
Cost by surface
| Surface | Per square foot | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl or aluminium siding | $2.00 to $3.50 | Smooth, minimal prep, least paint absorbed |
| Wood siding | $2.50 to $4.50 | Scraping, sanding and spot priming |
| Fiber cement | $2.25 to $4.00 | Smooth but the caulk lines need attention |
| Stucco | $2.75 to $5.50 | Textured, absorbs far more paint |
| Brick | $3.00 to $6.00 | Porous, needs masonry primer, and it is permanent |
Painting brick deserves its own warning. It is effectively irreversible: stripping paint from brick is expensive, damaging and often unsuccessful. Painted brick also has to be repainted every five to ten years forever. It can look excellent, and it is not a decision to make quickly.
Prep is the job
Paint is perhaps 15% of the price. Everything else is preparation and labour, and preparation is the entire difference between a paint job that lasts four years and one that lasts twelve.
A proper exterior job includes:
- Washing, either pressure washing at appropriate pressure or hand washing
- Scraping loose and failing paint
- Sanding the edges of scraped areas so they do not telegraph through
- Spot priming every bare area, and full priming on new or heavily scraped wood
- Caulking joints, trim and around windows and doors
- Repairing rotten trim, or identifying it before starting
- Masking windows, roofing, plants and hardscape
- Two finish coats
A quote that is 30% below the others has almost certainly removed items from that list, and the ones removed are always prep. Ask each bidder to itemise their prep, then compare.
What pushes the price up
Colour change, especially light over dark, which needs an extra coat. Add 15% to 30%.
Peeling paint over a large area, which turns scraping from a detail into the main task. Extensive scraping can add $1,000 to $4,000.
Lead paint in houses built before 1978. Disturbing it triggers federal renovation rules requiring certified containment and cleanup. Add $500 to $2,500.
Rotten trim, which cannot be painted over. Replacing fascia, corner boards and window trim is carpentry priced separately, commonly $500 to $3,000.
Height and access, the two-storey premium above, and worse on a house on a slope or with limited setback.
Trim in a second colour, which is more cutting-in and typically 10% to 20% more.
Paint choice, briefly
Buy the good paint. The difference between a builder-grade exterior paint and a premium one is roughly $25 a gallon, and a whole house takes 12 to 20 gallons, so $300 to $500. Against a $6,000 job where labour is most of the cost, paying that to get four extra years is obviously right.
Acrylic latex is the default for almost everything. Elastomeric coatings are worthwhile on stucco with hairline cracks and are usually wrong elsewhere, because they trap moisture in wood.
When to paint, and when not to
Most manufacturers require surface temperatures above 50°F and falling no lower than that overnight for the drying period. Late spring and early autumn are ideal. High summer is workable but direct sun on a hot wall makes paint flash off before it levels.
Do not paint over damp wood, and do not paint within a day or two of rain. A wall that looks dry can hold moisture, and paint applied over it fails by blistering within a season.
Frequently asked questions
How often does an exterior need repainting?
Five to ten years on wood, seven to twelve on fiber cement, ten to fifteen on stucco. South and west walls fail first and can be done on their own.
Is painting cheaper than new siding?
Substantially. A $6,000 paint job against $10,500 for vinyl or $19,600 for fiber cement on the same house. Painting is the right answer when the siding is sound and the finish is tired. It is the wrong answer when the siding itself is failing, because paint will not stick to a substrate that is coming apart.
Can I paint vinyl siding?
Yes, with paint formulated for vinyl and only in a colour no darker than the original. Darker paint absorbs heat, and vinyl warps. Manufacturers publish the limit as a light reflectance value; a painter who has done it before will know to check.
Should I do it myself?
A single-storey house with sound paint is a genuine DIY project over a couple of weekends and saves most of the labour. A two-storey house is not: the work happens on ladders, at height, with a roller in one hand.
How long does it take?
Three to seven days for a single-storey house, one to two weeks for a two-storey one, weather permitting. Prep is usually more than half of that.
Read next
Pressure washing cost$0.15 to $0.75per sq ftPressure washing a house costs $0.15 to $0.75 a square foot, putting a 2,000 square foot house at $300 to $900. The distinction that matters is between pressure washing and soft washing.
Exterior trim replacement cost$8 to $25per linear ftExterior trim costs $8 to $25 a linear foot installed. It is the first thing on a house to rot and the last thing anyone budgets for, and it always fails at the end grain nobody looks at.
Siding repair cost$300 to $2,500per projectRepairing siding costs $300 to $2,500, typically $800. Replacing a few vinyl panels is a two-hour job. Opening a wall because the panels were hiding rot is a different project.
How long does siding last$500 to $1,000per squareVinyl lasts 30 to 40 years, fiber cement 40 to 60, brick a century. Siding rarely fails all at once: it goes at the details first, at the trim, the caulk and the missing flashing.
Curb appeal improvements cost$700 to $12,000per projectThe changes that most affect what a house looks like from the street cost between $50 and $4,000, and the ones at the bottom of that range do more than the ones at the top.