Exterior House Painting Cost for a Two-Story Home (2026)
Exterior House Painting Cost for a Two-Story Home in 2026 Exterior house painting cost for a two-story home in 2026 runs $3,000-$10,000 for a full job, or about $1.50-$4.50 per square foot of wall area, with a 20-35% height surcharge stacked on top of the single-story price for scaffolding, extension ladders, and fall-protection time. A 2,500 sq ft two-story averages around $7,582, with a typical band of $5,844-$9,321. Price your own elevation, stories, and siding with the Exterior Paint Cost Calculator(/construction/exterior-paint-cost-calculator) before you collect bids. On a two-story colonial I painted last spring, the house was 2,200 sq ft of floor space but roughly 2,600 sq ft of actual wall surface once we measured all four elevations. At $2.75 per square foot of wall area that was about $7,150 of base field work, and the two-story access — two days of scaffolding rental plus a slower ladder pace — added...
Paint Cost Per Gallon (2026): Interior & Exterior by Brand and Grade
Paint Cost Per Gallon (2026) Interior paint costs $20 to $110 per gallon in 2026, and exterior paint runs higher at $28 to $120 per gallon. Economy, contractor-grade gallons are $20-$35, standard mid-grade paint is $35-$55, and premium lines run $55-$110. Exterior gallons carry a 20-40% premium over their interior twins because of UV inhibitors and mildewcide. Coverage holds near 350-400 square feet per gallon across every grade, so the per-gallon price — not the spread sheet — drives your material bill. Price your own job by the gallon with our Exterior Paint Cost Per Gallon Calculator(/construction/exterior-paint-cost-per-gallon-calculator) before you load the cart. Two springs ago I priced eight gallons of mid-grade interior paint for a 1,400-square-foot repaint at four stores in one afternoon. Valspar Signature came in at $304, Behr Ultra at $336, Benjamin Moore Regal Select at $464, and Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint at $496 — a $192 spread on the...
Sherwin-Williams Paint Price (2026): Cost Per Gallon by Product Line
Sherwin-Williams Paint Price (2026) Sherwin-Williams paint costs $45 to $116 per gallon at list price in 2026, or roughly $30 to $75 per gallon during the chain's frequent 30-40% off sales. SuperPaint sits in the middle at about $62 per gallon, Duration runs $88, and the top-tier Emerald line tops out near $116. Quality and price climb together across the lineup, but a one-coat coverage rate of 350-400 square feet per gallon stays nearly identical from the cheapest line to the most expensive. Estimate how many gallons your project needs with our Paint Calculator(/construction/paint-calculator) before you walk into the store. Last spring I repainted my own 1,500 sq ft single-story house and bought 12 gallons of SuperPaint during a 35%-off weekend sale. List price was $62 a gallon, but I paid $40, so my wall paint cost $480 instead of $744 — a $264 saving on one receipt. I added...
Cost to Paint Kitchen Cabinets Professionally: 2026 Data & Averages
Cost to Paint Kitchen Cabinets Professionally: 2026 Data & Averages The cost to paint kitchen cabinets professionally in 2026 is $2,000-$6,500 for a typical kitchen, or $30-$60 per linear foot brushed and $40-$100 per linear foot sprayed. Priced by the door, painters charge $90-$175 per cabinet door and $30-$50 per drawer front. Labor drives 70-85% of that quote, which is why the painter you hire matters far more than the paint that goes on. Estimate your exact job with our Cabinet Painting Cost Calculator(/construction/cabinet-painting-cost-calculator) before you collect a single bid. Over the past two years I have priced cabinet painting for three different kitchens in my circle: a 15-foot galley in Texas that came in at $2,400, a 25-foot shaker kitchen in Ohio at $4,200, and a 35-foot laminate U-shape in California that hit $11,000. Same job description, wildly different numbers. The Texas galley was solid wood with light prep;...
DIY vs. Professional Painting Cost in 2026 (Full Comparison)
DIY vs. Professional Painting Cost in 2026 DIY interior painting costs $200 to $600 per room in 2026, while professional painting costs $700 to $1,800 per room -- saving 50-70% by doing it yourself. For a whole-house interior (2,000 sq ft, 8-10 rooms), DIY runs $1,500-$3,500 versus $4,200-$11,500 for professional. The trade-off is time: what takes a pro crew 2-4 days takes a homeowner 3-6 weekends. I tracked 8 interior painting projects last year -- 4 DIY, 4 professional -- and the real cost of DIY is not paint and supplies. It is time. A couple spent 3 weekends painting their 4-bedroom colonial themselves. They saved $4,200 versus the contractor quote. But those weekends were 28 combined hours of work. At their combined household income, those hours were "worth" $2,800 in opportunity cost. The real savings? About $1,400. Still worthwhile -- but not the $4,200 they celebrated on social media....
How Much Does Interior Painting Cost in 2026? (Per Room & Per Sq Ft)
How Much Does Interior Painting Cost in 2026? Interior painting costs $3.75 per square foot for walls only and $6.75 per square foot for walls, trim, and ceilings in 2026. A whole-house repaint for a typical 2,000 sq ft home runs $4,200-$11,500 depending on scope, paint quality, and your regional labor market. Labor accounts for 70-80% of every professional painting quote, which means the painter you hire matters far more than the paint you pick. Last fall I managed a full interior repaint on a 1960s colonial in suburban Philadelphia -- 2,400 square feet of living space, 9-foot ceilings on the first floor, 8-foot on the second. The painter's quote came in at $7,800 for walls, trim, and ceilings throughout. Paint alone was $1,100 (22 gallons of Sherwin-Williams Duration at $52/gallon). The remaining $6,700 was pure labor, and $1,400 of that went to wall prep alone because plaster walls in...
Average Interior Painting Cost by State in 2026 (All 50 States Compared)
Average Interior Painting Cost by State in 2026 The national average cost to paint the interior of a 2,000 sq ft home in 2026 is approximately $6,500, but actual costs range from $3,800 in Mississippi to over $10,500 in California depending on local labor rates and cost of living. Professional interior painting runs $2.10-$5.75 per square foot of wall space, with labor comprising 60-90% of the total. I have estimated painting projects across the mid-Atlantic for years, and the cost gap between urban and rural areas within a single state is often as large as the gap between states. Professional painters in downtown Philadelphia charge $4.50-$6/sq ft. Drive 60 miles west to Lancaster, and the same quality work runs $2.50-$3.50/sq ft. Labor supply and cost of living drive the difference more than anything else. Use our Paint Calculator(/construction/paint-calculator) to estimate paint quantities for your specific room dimensions before requesting contractor...