Condition, not size
A big room in good shape is cheaper than a small one with cracked plaster and forty picture holes. Prep is most of the labour, so prep is most of the price.
Interior painting
Every room has about forty feet of edge. That is the job.
Walls and ceilings are the easy part. What you are paying for is the cut against the ceiling, the trim that doesn’t bleed, and your furniture coming back to the same spot with nothing on it.
The number, itemised
What is in the price, and what is not.
Most complaints about painters are really complaints about a surprise on the final invoice. So here is the line, drawn before you book rather than after.
In the number
- Moving and covering furniture, and putting it back where it was
- Papering floors, masking fixtures, dropping switch and outlet plates
- Filling nail holes, dents and hairline cracks, then sanding flush
- Re-cutting failed caulk lines at trim and baseboard
- Spot priming every patch, and any bare or stained drywall
- Two finish coats on walls, in the sheen you pick
- Ceilings, doors, door frames, baseboard and window trim where quoted
- Cut lines brushed by hand, not taped
- Daily clean-up, and a final vacuum before we hand it back
- Leftover paint labelled by room and left with you
Quoted separately
- Drywall repair bigger than a dinner plate, or any re-taping
- Skim-coating a whole wall to bury heavy texture or old wallpaper glue
- Wallpaper removal
- Lead-safe containment in pre-1978 homes, where testing calls for it
- Water or smoke staining that needs a dedicated blocking primer
- Trim too far gone to fill, that wants replacing instead
- Colour changes made after the first coat is on the wall
- Popcorn ceiling removal
Nothing on the right-hand side gets added without your say-so. If we open something up and find a problem, work stops, you get a photo and a price, and you decide. We would rather lose an afternoon than hand you an invoice you did not see coming.
Before you compare quotes
Four things move an interior price more than square footage.
When two quotes come back far apart, it is almost always one of these — not the paint. Worth asking whoever else you are talking to.
How much trim there is
Trim, doors and window casing are slow, brush-in-hand work. A room with three doors and a bay window costs more than a plain box of the same floor area.
Colour distance
Cream over cream covers in two coats. Deep navy over white, or white over deep navy, can need a tinted primer and a third coat to stop the old colour ghosting through.
Whether the room is empty
An empty room paints fast. A furnished, lived-in room means moving, covering and working around things — which we will happily do, but it is real time on the clock.
Asked most
Interior painting questions.
If yours is not here, call and ask. We would rather answer it now than have it come up on day two.
Do I need to move out?
No. We work one room at a time so you keep the rest of the house. Low-VOC paint means the smell is mild and gone in hours rather than days.
The exception is a whole interior done at once on an empty house, which is faster and cheaper if you happen to be between move-in dates.
Do you move the furniture?
Yes, and it is in the number. We move it to the centre, cover it, and put it back. Anything fragile, irreplaceable or genuinely heavy — a piano, a loaded bookcase, your grandmother’s mirror — we would rather you moved, or flagged before we start.
Who buys the paint?
We do, and it is listed in the quote by product name and sheen so you can price it yourself if you want to. If there is a brand you insist on, say so and we will quote that instead.
How soon can I put things back?
Walls are dry to the touch within a couple of hours and your furniture goes back the same day. Paint keeps hardening for around two weeks, so go easy scrubbing marks off a new wall and do not press furniture tight against fresh trim for the first few days.
I do not know what colour I want.
Normal, and not a problem. Colour consultation is included: samples go on your actual wall and get looked at in your actual light, which is the only test that means anything. Nothing is locked in until we start.
My house was built before 1978. Does that change things?
It can. Older paint layers may contain lead, and it is disturbing them — sanding, scraping — that matters. If the surfaces we are touching look original, we test first and tell you what we find before anything gets decided about method or cost.
What does the warranty actually cover?
Our workmanship for five years, in writing: peeling, blistering, cracking or flaking that traces back to how we prepped or applied it. It does not cover damage, ordinary wear, or a building problem such as a leak pushing paint off from behind — though we will come and look, and tell you honestly which one it is.
Free, no obligation
Send us the room.
Photos get you a far more accurate number than a description does. The wall you keep meaning to deal with, the trim that never got finished — whatever it is. We reply with a written quote within one business day.
Rather talk it through? Call (314) 489-6667, weekdays 7am–6pm.