Interior painting runs $2 to $6 per square foot of floor area for walls, ceiling and trim in most of the US. A 12 × 14 ft bedroom is 168 ft² of floor, so $350 to $1,000.
Typical US figures. Metro labor sits at the top and beyond.
Where the money goes
| Line | Share |
|---|---|
| Prep — patching, sanding, caulking, masking | 25–40% |
| Walls | 20–30% |
| Ceiling | 10–15% |
| Trim, doors and windows | 25–35% |
| Paint and materials | 10–15% |
Two things stand out. Paint is about a tenth of the bill — the $30 difference between a mid and a premium gallon is noise against the labor. And trim is nearly as large a line as walls, on a fraction of the area.
Why trim costs so much
Trim is linear-foot work with cutting-in, and cutting-in is slow, skilled and cannot be rolled or sprayed without masking everything else.
A room that takes three gallons of wall paint usually takes under a quart of trim enamel — and about three times as long to apply. Doors are worse: a six-panel door is 45–90 minutes a side done properly.
This is why "walls only" quotes come in so much lower, and why comparing a walls-only quote with a full-room quote is comparing two different jobs.
What moves the number
Condition. A wall that needs nail holes filled is normal prep. A wall with failed drywall tape, water damage, or heavy texture to be skimmed is a different trade, and it appears as a big prep line or a change order.
Colour change. Going over a dark colour with a light one takes three coats, or two over a tinted primer. Not more paint per coat — more coats.
Ceiling height. It multiplies the wall area directly, and above 9 ft needs ladders that slow everything; above 12 ft needs staging. A stairwell is the most expensive interior painting there is per square foot, because the setup takes longer than the painting.
How much furniture stays. Painters charge for moving and covering. An empty room is meaningfully cheaper than a full one.
Paint quantities
Wall paint covers about 375 ft² per gallon on primed drywall, less on porous or textured surfaces, and the second coat spreads about 15% further than the first because the surface is sealed.
That means two coats is roughly 1.87× one coat, not 2×. Doubling the first-coat figure is the most common over-buy in painting. Gallons by room size, coats and openings does the arithmetic properly.
DIY: what you actually save
Materials for a bedroom are $80–$150. The quote is $350–$1,000. So you are buying back $250–$850 of your own labor — typically one to two full days including prep and cleanup.
The part worth paying for, if you pay for anything: trim and cutting-in. It is the slow part, the visible part, and the part where a steady hand shows.
The part worth doing yourself: walls and ceiling with a roller, which is forgiving and fast.
Getting comparable quotes
Ask each painter for: number of coats, whether trim and ceiling are included, what prep is included, and whether they supply paint and at what grade.
Two quotes 50% apart are almost always two coats against one, or walls-only against everything. Neither is wrong — they are different jobs, and the quote should say which.
Whole-house pricing works differently
A painter quoting one room prices setup, masking, cleanup and a trip into that one room. The same painter quoting six rooms spreads all of it, which is why per-room cost falls sharply with scope.
Typical whole-interior figures run $1.50 to $4.00 per square foot of floor area — noticeably below the single-room range, for exactly that reason.
If several rooms need doing within a year, doing them together is one of the few genuine discounts in the trade. It also means one paint order, one batch, and consistent trim colour throughout.
What a cheap quote is usually leaving out
- One coat instead of two. Over a similar colour on a sound wall it can be defensible; over anything else it is not.
- Ceilings excluded. Common, and rarely stated plainly.
- Trim excluded. The largest labor line after prep.
- Prep limited to "minor patching". Which means anything real becomes a change order at a worse rate.
- Customer-supplied paint. Fine, but it moves 10–15% of the job onto your shopping list.
None of those make a quote dishonest. They make it a different job, and the only defence is asking each contractor the same four questions.