Painting Costs • Houston TX
Houston Painting Cost Guide
Typical Houston-area prices for interior, exterior and cabinet painting in one place, with what moves each number. Get a free instant quote for your own rooms.
Executive Summary: Houston Painting Costs
Painting costs in Houston depend on what gets painted, how much prep the surface needs and the paint grade, so most estimates price by the room, the square foot or the linear foot.
Typical Houston-area ranges (estimates): $400 to $1,600 per room inside, $4,000 to $9,000 for the exterior of a 2,000 sq ft home, and $30 to $60 per linear foot of cabinets. Most interiors take an estimated 1 to 3 days with a 2 to 4 painter crew.
Repairs, a second story, dark-to-light color changes and homes built before 1978 (lead paint testing first) push a job above the typical range.
Interior Painting Costs in Houston
Interior work is priced by the square foot of wall or by the room, with ceilings and trim added as their own lines.
| Item | Typical range (estimate) | Unit and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Walls | $3 to $7 | Per sq ft of paintable wall |
| One room, walls | $400 to $1,600 | Per room; about $1,085 on average |
| Bedroom | $350 to $1,400 | Per room |
| Living room | $600 to $2,000 | Per room |
| Ceilings | $1 to $2.50 | Per sq ft of ceiling |
| Trim and baseboards | $1 to $4 | Per linear ft; up to $6 more on hard-to-reach runs |
| Drywall repair | $150 to $2,000 | Per repair, before repaint |
| Color consultation | About $200 plus $25 per room | Typical national industry pricing |
Tall ceilings, heavy patching and a dark color to cover land at the top of the range. Detail by job: Residential Homes Interior Painting, Single-Room Refresh Interior Painting, Ceiling & Trim Painters, Drywall Repair Houston TX and Paint Color Consultation Houston TX.
Get an Exact Number
We measure every room on site, check the walls and put the price in writing before any work starts.
Exterior Painting Costs in Houston
Exterior work is priced by the square foot of paintable surface, so siding type, stories and repairs move it most.
| Item | Typical range (estimate) | Unit and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Whole exterior | $2 to $4.50 | Per sq ft of paintable surface |
| 2,000 sq ft home | $4,000 to $9,000 | Whole exterior, one story |
| Each extra story | Adds roughly 40 to 50% | Per sq ft |
| Stucco | $1.20 to $3.30 | Per sq ft; crack repair and elastomeric are line items |
| Brick | $1.20 to $3.75 | Per sq ft; mortar repair and masonry primer extra |
| Fence | $6.07 to $10.54 | Per linear ft |
| Garage door | $100 to $250 single, $200 to $500 double | Per door; typical national pricing |
Rot repair, scraping failed paint and lead paint testing on pre-1978 homes are priced as separate lines. Detail by job: Exterior Painting Houston TX, Whole House Exterior Repaint, Stucco Exterior Repaint and Brick Exterior Painting Services.
Cabinet and Commercial Painting Costs
| Item | Typical range (estimate) | Unit and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen cabinets | $30 to $60 | Per linear ft; about $100 per door and $25 per drawer |
| Full spray enamel system | Top of the range or above | Shellac primer plus 2 coats of enamel |
| Commercial interiors | $1.50 to $3.50 | Per sq ft of paintable surface |
| After-hours or weekend work | Adds an estimated 15 to 30% | Commercial jobs only |
Scope by job: Cabinet Painting Houston TX, Commercial Painting Companies Houston TX and After Hours Painting Crews.
What Moves a Painting Price
On a worn surface, patching, caulking, scraping and spot-priming take more hours than the finish coats. Heavy drywall or rot repair shows as its own line on the estimate.
Tall stairwell walls, vaulted ceilings and a second story need more setup time. Each extra exterior story adds roughly 40 to 50% per sq ft (estimate).
Premium lines such as Sherwin-Williams Emerald cost more per gallon than builder-grade paint. A dark-to-light change needs a tinted primer under 2 finish coats.
For worked examples with these numbers, see Typical Houston Painting and Flooring Projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
The short answer is about $400 to $1,600 per room inside and roughly $4,000 to $9,000 for the exterior of a 2,000 sq ft home, based on typical Houston-area pricing. Prep, stories and paint grade move the number. Your written estimate after an on-site walkthrough sets the exact price.
Interior and exterior are priced separately, so you can schedule one now and the other later. Ceilings, trim and cabinets each get their own line.
The short answer is that square-foot pricing is more accurate for whole homes and exteriors, while a per-room price works for one or two rooms with standard ceilings. Both are estimates until someone measures the walls, checks their condition and writes the number down.
Our written estimate lists each room, the ceilings and the trim on separate lines either way.
The short answer is that November through February is the slower season for interior work in Houston, so dates open up and off-season pricing is more common. Interior painting runs year-round, and the written estimate still sets the price for your specific rooms.
Exterior work is best booked for March through May or September through November, when Houston has milder heat and more dry days.
The short answer is repairs beyond basic patching. Rot replacement, heavy drywall work, lead paint testing on pre-1978 homes and after-hours commercial work are priced as their own lines, so compare written estimates line by line before you choose a crew.
A low total that leaves these out usually grows once the work starts.
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