Painting job costing: what a job really costs by crew size

What is painting job costing?

Painting job costing is tracking every dollar a job takes, labor hours, paint, supplies and a share of overhead, against the price the homeowner accepted. It tells you which jobs made money and which crew setups actually pay.

The job costing formula

1. Brush hours: square feet × coats ÷ production rate, times a prep factor. See the painting production rates table.
2. Days on site: brush hours ÷ (painters × 6.5 brush hours per day), rounded up to the next half day.
3. Paid hours: days × painters × 8 clock hours, plus 0.5 hours per painter-day of travel and 1 hour for the material run.
4. Labor: paid hours × burdened rate (wage plus about 35% for payroll taxes, workers' comp and insurance).
5. Materials: gallons × price per gallon, plus supplies per painter-day.
6. Overhead: a share of the price for truck, insurance, phone, software and selling time. 15% is a common starting point.
7. Price: (labor + materials) ÷ (1 − target margin).

Worked example: an 11-room interior repaint

This is the same 2,200 sq ft, 11-room house used in the how to estimate a painting job guide, at $45/hour burdened labor, 2 coats, standard prep and a 35% gross margin.

How crew size changes the job

Same house, same rates. Only the number of painters changes.

Three painters cost $306 more on this job because 140.25 brush hours split across three people rounds up to 7.5 days. That half day is paid whether or not there's brush work left. Before you staff a job, check whether the crew size divides the work cleanly.

Where job costs leak at scale

• Unpriced changes: extra rooms or color changes done on a verbal OK. Price them with a painting change order before the work starts.
• Rounded-up days: a crew sent for a half day that the schedule didn't need.
• Material reruns: a second trip to the store for paint that wasn't counted. Count gallons per surface.
• Late collection: a finished job that isn't paid for weeks ties up the cash you need for the next payroll. Collect a deposit and request the balance at the walkthrough.

Track it on one job record

In dropcloth, the quote, crew days, approved change orders and payment sit on the same job, so the job cost is visible without rebuilding it in a spreadsheet. Try the numbers on your own job with the free painting estimate calculator, or see how the painting contractor software keeps every job on one record.