Worked case: walls and trim of the main rooms, patching and eight interior doors — steps and cost

The scenario

Picture a three-bedroom house or townhome in Mt. Eden, with a living room, a dining area, a kitchen, a hallway and three bedrooms. The owners plan to repaint the main living areas first, which is about 900 square feet of floor area, and leave the bedrooms for a later round.

The walls carry the usual history: picture-hanging holes, small dents from furniture, a longer gouge near the hallway corner, and a patch where a thermostat was moved. A few ceiling corners show hairline cracks. The trim is a glossy white that has yellowed in the sun by the front window.

The first job is to look at the wall in side light. A lamp held low against the wall shows every patch, dent and old repair, so the painter marks them before any compound is mixed. That is the difference between the base choice, which assumes normal wear, and the extra patching line, which covers a house where repair is a large part of the work.

The colors are changing from a warm beige to a pale gray. That is not a dark-to-light change, so one primed coat and two finish coats are enough. Closets and ceilings are not part of the job.

The eight interior doors are the second block of work. Each door is sanded lightly, cleaned, primed where the finish is worn and painted on both faces and edges. They are removed and laid on sawhorses, or they stay on the hinges and are painted in sequence so the household can still pass.

Paint dries fastest in warm, moving air, and the climate here is mild, with a July mean high near 75°F and about 16 inches of rain over a year. The windows are opened for ventilation while the paint dries, and the painter chooses a low-odor, water-based product for the bedrooms if someone sleeps in them that night.

If the house is a pre-1978 build, the lead-safe practices in the lead-safe page apply to anything that disturbs painted trim, and the calculator's pre-1978 line is added. In this example the house is newer and the line stays off.

Color is the last decision. The owners put three paint samples on a patch of wall near the window and look at them in morning light, at noon and under the evening lamps. A gray that reads cool at breakfast can turn warm at night, and the choice is easier when the lamp-lit look is seen before the cans are opened. Sheen matters as much as color: a washable satin is chosen for the hall and kitchen walls, a flat finish for the living room, and a semi-gloss for the trim, because glossier paint wipes clean but also shows every wall flaw. The painter writes the colors and sheens on a sheet so a later touch-up uses the same paint.

What the job involves

1. Furniture is moved to the middle of each room and covered; floors are covered with drop cloths and the edges of trim are taped.
2. Holes and gouges are filled, dried and sanded smooth; a skim of compound hides larger repairs and is sanded flat.
3. Patches and any stained spots are spot-primed; walls are lightly sanded and dusted.
4. Two coats go on the walls, cut in at corners and edges with a brush and rolled on the flat areas.
5. Trim and baseboards are painted after the walls dry; doors are sanded, primed and finished.
6. Tape comes off at the right moment, touch-ups are made, and the rooms are put back.

Materials and tools

• Drop cloths, painter's tape and masking film
• Putty knives, sanding sponges and a pole sander
• Brushes, a roller frame and an extension pole
• Sawhorses for doors

Add-ons often paired with this job

• Interior doors — +$60–$150. Eight interior doors are priced per door; each door has two faces, an edge and sometimes a jamb. Hollow-core doors go quicker than paneled ones.

Why it is done this way

Interior work is priced from the floor area, not the wall area, because floor area is what a homeowner knows. The calculator's walls-and-trim rate covers the prep, the primer where needed and two coats on the walls, baseboards and window and door casings.

The patching line is a separate modifier because it changes how long the painter spends before paint is opened. A house with a few nail holes needs no extra line, while one with repairs on every wall does.

Doors are an option, not part of the base, because they are a separate item with their own prep and drying time.

What would change the price

• The floor area is larger or smaller than 900 square feet.
• The ceilings are included, which moves the rate to the walls-trim-ceilings choice.
• A vaulted room needs staging.
• The colors change from dark to light, which adds an extra coat.
• The painter moves heavy furniture, which is a separate line.
• The number of doors changes from eight.
• The walls are textured and the owners ask for a smooth surface, which adds skim-coat time.
• The owners ask for a sample of each color before the work starts, which adds a visit.