How we get our numbers
Most painting cost pages quote a range with no explanation of where it came from. Here is ours, including the parts we don't know yet.
Who builds this
The cost model was built by Louie Burmeister, a residential painting contractor in Madison, Wisconsin. It isn't assembled from other cost websites — it reflects how a working painting company actually prices interior work: by room, by surface, adjusted for ceiling height and the amount of prep the walls need.
What the model is made of
The estimate starts from per-room price ranges for walls, ceilings, and trim. Those are then adjusted by the three things that most reliably move a real quote:
- Ceiling height. Taller rooms mean more surface area and slower, more careful work at height. This affects walls and ceilings, but not trim, which is at floor level regardless.
- Surface condition. Nail holes, cracks, water stains, and covering a dark color all add prep hours. Each one compounds a percentage onto the job rather than a flat fee, because prep scales with the size of the space.
- Number of colors. One or two colors are normal. Each additional color means more cut-in time, more setup, and more cleanup.
The starting figures were drawn from published industry averages and then corrected substantially against invoices from completed jobs. Where the published averages disagreed with what real work actually costs, the real invoices won.
What we don't know yet
Painting costs vary enormously by region. Our verified job data comes from the Madison, Wisconsin area, so that's the only place we can currently claim local accuracy.
If your ZIP code is somewhere else, the calculator tells you plainly that you're seeing a national range rather than a local price. We would rather show you an honest wide range than a precise-looking number we can't support. As verified data accumulates for more areas, those areas will start returning genuinely local estimates.
How the data grows
Homeowners outside our service area can send us a quote they've been given, and we'll tell them how it compares to real job data for that kind of project. Those reported quotes — used anonymously, stripped of any identifying details — are what expand regional coverage over time.
This is deliberately circular in the useful direction: the more people who check a quote, the better the answers get for everyone who checks next.
What we will never do
- Publish a cost figure we made up or copied from another cost website.
- Present our own calculator's output back to you as though it were observed market data.
- Require your contact information to see an estimate.
- Sell or resell your details to contractors.