What it's for
This painting estimate template is for the painting contractor or estimator who has measured a job and needs a price to send. Every surface goes in as an area, trim and doors included.
Overhead and margin go on after the job cost, keeping cost apart from price, as our guide on how to build a construction estimate does. For other trades, use our construction estimate template.
What's inside
Five sheets, each protected with no password and each printing on one page. Pale yellow cells are yours to fill in, and all other cells are locked.
Surfaces. A project block, then 16 SURFACES lines. LENGTH (FT) × HEIGHT OR WIDTH (FT) × COUNT is a line's GROSS AREA. Less the OPENINGS TO DEDUCT (SQ FT), it's the NET AREA, never below zero, and times COATS, the PAINT AREA. TOTALS BY TYPE gives each type's paint area and the Paint area total the other sheets read. Not in a type above holds the paint area of lines with no type, so the rows add up to the total.
Materials. PAINT turns the paint area total into Gallons at your Coverage per gallon (sq ft), rounded up, and prices them at your Unit cost. PRIMER does the same on a Primer area (sq ft) you type. Add Sundries for the Materials total.
Labor and job. Painting hours, the paint area total ÷ your Production rate (sq ft per hour), and Prep, masking and priming hours are priced at your Rate per hour. The Labor total and Equipment join the Materials total in the Direct cost. Sales tax on materials, permits, bonds and contingency bring it to the Job cost, overhead to the Total cost, and the Bid price is "Total cost ÷ (1 − margin)".
Quote. The page your client sees, on your letterhead: PAINTING QUOTE, QUOTE NO., DATE and VALID UNTIL, then CLIENT, PROJECT and ADDRESS, six SCOPE OF WORK lines, the Price and signature lines for you and the client.
About this template. Three steps, a note on the example figures, the version (v2, 2026-09-24), the license and links.
How to fill it in
- On Surfaces, type over or clear the three example lines: a line counts once its name or any figure is filled in.
- Sizes are in decimal feet, so turn inches into a fraction of a foot. Number cells refuse text. COUNT is 1 for a single surface, and a blank count gives no area.
- OPENINGS TO DEDUCT (SQ FT) is an area, not a count of doors and windows. COATS takes a whole number, 1 or more: left blank, the line has no paint area.
- On Materials, enter your product's coverage for one coat. The note there says the paint area already counts the coats. A blank or 0 coverage orders none. The Primer area (sq ft) doesn't read from Surfaces, so type it.
- On Labor and job, your own Production rate (sq ft per hour) runs on that same paint area, every coat counted. The primer area adds no hours of its own: count that time in Prep, masking and priming hours too.
- Type the tax and contingency rates with the percent sign. Blank lines count as 0. Sales tax is on the Materials total only, and the file doesn't decide what your state taxes. Replace the example overhead and margin, keeping the margin under 100%.
- On the Quote, type over the yellow letterhead. CLIENT and PROJECT don't copy from Surfaces. The Price can't be typed over, so change the figures on Labor and job. Send the Quote alone, printed or as a PDF: the workbook holds your costs, overhead and margin.
The worked example
Every figure typed into the example sits on a line marked "Example:". The About tab calls the 12% overhead and 15% margin the bid price calculator's worked example, and the rest illustrative, not recommendations, norms or typical prices. Use your product's coverage and your own rates and prices.
| Surface | Type | Length × height or width (ft) | Count | Gross area | Openings (sq ft) | Net area | Coats | Paint area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: living room walls | Wall | 52 × 9 | 1 | 468.00 | 60 | 408.00 | 2 | 816.00 |
| Example: living room ceiling | Ceiling | 16 × 14 | 1 | 224.00 | 0 | 224.00 | 1 | 224.00 |
| Example: hallway walls | Wall | 30 × 9 | 1 | 270.00 | 42 | 228.00 | 2 | 456.00 |
| Line | Figure |
|---|---|
| Paint area total (Wall 1,272.00, Ceiling 224.00) | 1,496.00 sq ft |
| Paint, at the example's 350 sq ft per gallon | 5 gallons |
| Paint cost, at $42.00 a gallon | $210.00 |
| Primer, 228 sq ft at the example's 300 sq ft per gallon | 1 gallon |
| Primer cost, at $30.00 a gallon | $30.00 |
| Sundries | $65.00 |
| Materials total | $305.00 |
| Painting hours, at the example's 175 sq ft per hour | 8.5486 |
| Labor total, with 3 prep hours, at $48.00 an hour | $554.33 |
| Direct cost | $859.33 |
| Overhead, 12% of job cost | $103.12 |
| Total cost | $962.45 |
| Bid price, 15% margin | $1,132.29 |
| Profit | $169.84 |
| Markup on total cost for this margin | 17.65% |
| Price marked up by the margin % instead | $1,106.82 |
| Left on the table by marking up | $25.47 |
Equipment, the tax rate, permits, bonds and contingency are blank, so the direct cost is materials plus labor, and the job cost equals the direct cost. The Quote's Price reads $1,132.29. Our guide to markup vs. margin explains the last three lines.
Frequently asked questions
Does the file do the math?
Yes. Every calculated figure is a live formula.
Does it work in Google Sheets or Numbers?
Both open .xlsx files. This one has no macros, and its formulas use only IF, AND, MAX, ROUND, ROUNDUP, SUM and SUMIF.
Can I add more surfaces?
Yes. Unprotect the sheet (there's no password), insert rows between two surface lines so the totals count them, and copy the three calculated cells into each new row.
Can I put my logo on it?
Yes, on the Quote: insert it where the sheet says YOUR LOGO. That row is 36 pt (half an inch) tall, so a logo sized to it fits without dragging the row taller. To remove the YOUR LOGO text, choose Review > Unprotect Sheet (there is no password), then protect the sheet again.
Is the Quote a contract?
No. It's a quote: a scope, a price and an acceptance block with signature lines. It has no contract terms, and the file doesn't decide yours.