How Much Does It Cost To Paint A House - Exterior
A freshly-painted home exterior is always a good sight to see. So if your home’s exterior paint is starting to peel or fade, it is about time for you to repaint it. Read on and check out how much it costs to paint the house’s exterior these days.
Typical Cost Of Painting A House
The cost range of painting a house exterior is $4,500 to $7,500.
This price includes the materials and labor for painting a 3,500 square foot home as well as all the prep work needed prior to painting the walls. Prep work can include cleaning off mold or mildew, scraping, sanding, and applying primer.
Factors That Affect The Price Of Painting A House
Size of the house. Of course the bigger the house is, the more expensive the exterior painting will become. This is true because of the amount of paint needed and the amount of time and effort needed by the contractors to finish a job. Say for example the cost of the paints alone. A gallon of paint usually covers 400 square feet of wall. If you have 4,000 square foot walls, you need around 10 gallons of paint. If a gallon of paint is $40, you have to spend $400 on the cost of paint alone. Hence, the price of the overall painting job can be affected by the number of paint needed. A smaller house will require less paint and will be cheaper while a bigger one will need more paint and definitely will be more expensive.
Levels. How many levels is your house? A one-story house can be cheaper than multi-level house not only because of the overall size of the walls but it is also harder and more dangerous to work on walls that are too high.
Quality of paint. We have already talked about the quantity of paint affecting the overall cost of the project. Now, we speak of quality. Different kinds of paint are priced differently per gallon. Check this article on how much does paint cost to know more about the price of paint these days. The better quality your paint choice is, expect to pay more for the project.
Contractor. Your choice of contractor has a very huge impact on the cost of painting your home's exterior. Eighty five percent of the cost of painting a house usually goes to the contractor. So if your choice of contractor bills expensively, the overall cost of the project will be expensive as well. Good quality contractors can bill as much as $50 per hour on labor alone. However, for those who want to save on the expenses, they usually skip hiring professionals for the job. This usually saves them a lot of money because they no longer have to worry about the labor costs.
Additional Costs
Replacement of damaged walls such as rotted wood or siding can add up to the cost of painting the house's exterior. The type and extent of damage will determine how much you need to pay extra.
Do-it-yourselfers need to spend on equipment and materials to help with the painting job. For instance, renting a pressure sprayer or power sprayer can cost $50 to $100 per day while renting long ladders can range from $20 to $75 per day.
Prepare yourself for added labor and paint costs when you decide to change the color of the exterior walls from light to dark or dark to light. This is true because this kind of change will require more coatings of paint to get the best color possible.
Tips Before You Decide To Paint A House
Estimate how big your house is and know what type of paint you want for the job. These two things will help you determine early on the cost of the overall painting task.
Choose good quality paint when painting the exterior of the house. As compared to painting a room inside, the exterior walls are exposed to various elements all the time. A good quality paint can promise you long-lasting results without too much fear of fading or peeling.
If you are thinking of doing the job yourself, check whether you can really do the job successfully or not. Take note that it is better to spend more money for the painting job in exchange for a good quality work. Nothing can go as bad as being stressed, being tired, and failing just to save money.
Find contractors that are reliable and efficient enough to do the job for you. Ask for recommendations from friends and other people. You can visit houses in your neighborhood and ask people who worked on their exterior painting. Ask people how satisfied they are with the contractor and whether or not they will recommend them to you.
Before hiring a contractor, make sure you have a very detailed copy of the contract. Make sure it includes both labor and materials and keep an eye on all the services they will be offering. Doing this will help you not to get last-minute surprises such as additional expenses while completing the project.