What is the average cost per square foot to paint the exterior of a house in Charlotte NC?

Answer 1

If you are painting the area yourself, figure the square foot of the area being painted, not the floor area of the house, but the surface area. Divide that by 350 for all but the coarsest textured walls to discover the gallons of ordinary house paint needed to paint the house. Multiply that times the cost of a gallon of paint, as of June 2012, that's about $32 a gallon for a good quality exterior, and that will give you the cost of the paint to do a single coat. Double that amount for two coats, triple if you want a sealer and two coats of paint. For example, if your house has 1600 square feet of wall area, you'll need about five gallons for a single coat of paint. That would cost $160 for a single coat, About 500 for a complete paint job.

The labor cost of painting the exterior of a house in any area depends solely on the complexity of the job and the motivation of the painter to get the job. A good guideline for an average house is to multiply the cost of the paint by 3 and add that to the cost of materials to get the price of a professional paint job. Figure about $2000 to paint your house that has 1600 square feet of paintable surface area. If you get three estimates, they should be near that amount, give or take 10%.

Divide the 2000 by 1600 and that will give a total of $1.25 per square foot.