When I first started my painting company I had the challenge of figuring out how much paint I need and I had no idea where to start. I am a self taught painter and estimating paint was no exception. Back in those days there was no YouTube or Paint Life TV and there was little information and education on the painting trade. So I began with the paint can like so many have done.

I read the paint can instructions and it gave me how many square feet the gallon would cover. What I quickly found out is the number on the can is very rough at best. Reading and following the instructions only lasted a few jobs when I noticed I was running out of paint way too early or I had way too much paint left over. Running out of paint was not good as it cost time driving to the paint store to get more. I had lost labor not working, spent more or gas going to pick up the paint, and was putting wear and tear on my company vehicle. I also had to wait for my paint to be mixed and that is lost time also.  

The opposite of having too much also had it drawbacks. Probably not as costly but having a couple gallons of leftover paint could be $100 in over head that I could have saved if my calculations were right. Another thing that happened was my storage of paint kept growing and growing at one point I had to pay a recycle center over $2000 to take my leftover paint I had. Now there are free or more cost effective recycling options and you can watch my video HERE on what options are available.  

In the beginning of my career my margins were tight and $100 could be winning or losing on a job. Being profitable is what we all want right? I quickly developed my method that I used for 18 years. I would paint a room and make a mental note of how many gallons it took the paint the room. I began filing away mental notes of what it took in gallons to paint a particular job. Today you can use an app on your iPhone or log notes on your MacBook. 18 years ago we did not have cell phones. Our work, as painters, has some variations but it is surprising how similar jobs become. An average size bedroom took 2 gallons to paint. I simply ordered 2 gallons of paint for a bedroom and it took about 2 seconds to pull that out of my mental file. If I would have measured the walls in the room I could have easily spent 15 minutes of my time do the calculations. This is time I would rather spend painting and making money. Of course every job is not that simple.  

Calculating How Much Paint:

• 1. Measure each wall length and height.
• 2. If wall is vaulted measure to the highest point
• 3. Add up your total height (H) and total length (L)
• 4. Multiply HxL = Total Wall sq. ft
• 5. Minus Each Window (21 sq ft per door, 15 sq ft per window, these are averages)
• 6. =Total sq ft paintable are (T)
• 7. Divide (T) by how many aq ft the gallon will cover (Most paints cover around 400 sq ft)

Let’s look at a 2500 sq. ft exterior of a house. After painting only 3 houses I noticed it took about 14 gallons for the body, 1 gallon for the front door, 1 gallon for the accent color, and 2 gallons for the trim. Now that is 18 gallons. So the next 2500 sqft house I simply ordered 2 gallons less to make sure I would not have any paint left over.  I would rely on myself to make mental notes along the way on how much paint I have as we are working along. This is another thing I teach in my Academy, painting is a skill, craft, trade, and art. You have the opportunity to study your craft daily and not just show up to work with headphones in your ears and mindlessly work. If you study and treat your job like a classroom you will learn and become a skilled craftsman. For most of my career if I needed paint the paint stores would deliver it to our jobsite and rather quickly.  

With this convenience we were always able to order under what we thought we would need. We would order short and when I determined I would run out in an hour or so I would call in an order of exactly how much it would take to complete the job. It was a lot easier to estimate exactly what I needed to finish then what the entire job would take. That worked incredibly well. I rarely had left over paint and I did not have to drive to the paint store. Unfortunately paint stores have become so cheap and are unwilling to deliver or deliver in a timely manner that I had to adopt a new method. I eventually turned to estimating time and paint as the day progressed.  I would send the new guy to the paint store who was the least effective painter on the team. Using your employees wisely. An hour before we would run out an order was called in. We let 45 minutes go by so the paint store would have the paint ready. Having a painter sit at the paint counter waiting for paint to be mixed is overhead you should not be paying. I cannot tell you have many times I have been in a paint store and a painter walks in and orders paint then sits at the counter waiting for it to me mixed.  

My employees were trained to walk into the paint store and ask for our paint and we never signed the receipts. This may not happen in the beginning but if you speak to your manager and let him know the importance of you not waiting for paint they will understand and make it work for you. Every paint store did this for us. That way we would not have to wait for the paint to be rung up and signed for. Now of course I was very detailed and went over every invoice at the end of the month to make sure all the charges were correct. This method worked well for us. Making metal notes along the way in your career is very important to the success of your company.

Just to give you an idea how some painters really never pay attention and make these notes mentally to use later on in their career I will talk about a former employee who went out on his own as a painter. After a few month on his own I subcontracted a job to him. This employee worked for me for many years, maybe 4 years or more. At one point he was my only employee and we handled the day to day activates together. He sprayed, rolled, brushed, prepped, and did pretty much everything I did. On the job I subcontracted to him he now had the responsibility to order his own paint for the job. The building had 4 doors that were one color, a body color, and a trim color. The building was probably around 3000 sqft. I would have ordered 1 gallon for the doors, 3 gallons for the trim, and 15 gallons for the body. I would have been fairly close with my numbers.  

After the job was complete he said he had a lot of extra paint and I need to pay for the paint or he would not make any money. Subcontracting where I come from, the sub is responsible for all supplies and labor. You merely pay them an agreed upon sqft price. He quickly realized he was going to lose money because he ordered 5 gallons for the 4 doors, 40 gallons for the body, and 10 gallons for the trim. At $50 a gallon that is a big mistake. Especially as a sub who is not getting the full price of the paint job. If this employee had been making metal notes along the way of what he was doing this would have never happened. Especially as he knew he was going to leave my company and start his own. Lesson learned. Treat every job site as your classroom. Begin making mental or written notes and calculating paint will not be a chore that takes time away from what makes you money.

Here are a few tips when it comes to ordering paint that I followed over the years. It takes less than a quart to paint a door but we always spray our doors and it takes a less than a gallon to load and spray a door. We could typically spray 3-4 exterior doors with a gallon. The extra paint was filed in our paint storage and could be used to spray another door on a later date. A garage roll up door takes a gallon of paint. Tips Painting a door HERE.

Painting a bathroom or powder bath would take one gallon.  If the ceiling was a different color then one gallon for the walls and one for the ceiling.  Bathrooms take less paint because you have a door, window, shower, mirror that all take space that do not require paint. A kitchen is more or less the same as cabinets take up the bulk of the wall space. An average sized master bedroom walls only would take 3 gallons. An average closet would take 2 gallons. Amazing to think but closets have a lot of surface area.

An average size 2-3 car garage would take 7 gallons to spray walls and ceilings one color. Garages are usually bare drywall and are all open wall space that eat up paint very fast. A trim pack in a 2500 sqft house would typically be around 7 gallons of trim paint. We always spray are trim. Spraying your walls or trim always takes more paint as you lose a small percentage in overspray and load and clean up.  

On a 1500 sqft foot exterior we would always start with 9-10 gallons on the body, 1 gallon for the front door, 1 gallon for the garage door which is usually an accent color, and 2 gallons for the trim.  Here is something to always take into consideration, your gallon price is always more expensive than the 5 gallon price. Sometimes if you are 9 gallons but maybe 10 you may want to go with 10 as your price is cheaper.  

A fence panel, 8’ long by 6’ high would take about a half gallon. Fences eat up a lot of paint as more where we live are rough sawn cedar and you have to spray tons of product on and back brush it while it is soaking wet. To do a fence properly you will use twice as much as a homeowner will. Hence why you will not get very many fence jobs if you are bidding and coating them like a professional painter.

A two car garage epoxy floor as always 8 gallons. We used 2 part industrial epoxies and I would by 4 kits. 2 kits were used for the first coat that was cut with Reducer 54 to get it to absorb and bond better the the concrete. The final coat was another 2 kits part A and part B. 

Well, hopefully I have given you a few helpful hints when it comes to estimating paint. If you want more tips on the business side of painting you can watch my business playlist on YouTube HERE. To purchase our Paint Life apparel, game changing tools, or gift a Paint Life gift for your favorite painter visit your store HERE.