By Absolut Painting · Published October 27, 2026 · No prices in the guides
Why there is no price list on this site
A price per square foot has to assume the walls are sound, the ceilings are standard height and the new colour is close to the old one. Change any one of those and the number is wrong. Absolut quotes after a walkthrough instead, so each line matches a room you can stand in: these walls, this ceiling, this trim, this many doors. The quote is written and itemized, and it holds as long as the scope does.
Wall condition comes first
The biggest variable in any interior quote is what the walls look like before the first coat. A room with a few nail holes is filled, sanded and spot-primed in a morning. A room with cracked plaster, peeling tape joints, water stains or old wallpaper glue is a repair job before it is a painting job. The same goes for glossy walls that need a full sand and a bonding primer so the new paint has something to grip.
This is why the walkthrough matters more than a phone estimate. John looks at every wall that is being painted, because the preparation is where the hours go and where a cheap job cuts corners.
Height, layout and how cut-up the room is
A ten foot ceiling is not ten percent more work than a nine foot one. It means ladders or a plank on every wall, longer reaches on the cut lines and more time on the ceiling itself. Stairwells and two-storey foyers carry the most set-up of any room in a house.
Layout matters as much as height. A long open wall rolls quickly. A room with six windows, two closets, a built-in and a bulkhead is mostly edges, and every edge is cut by hand. The quote tracks the metres of trim and the number of corners more closely than it tracks the floor area.
Colour change and sheen
Going from one light colour to another is a standard two coats. Going from a deep red to a soft white, or from white to a saturated navy, often needs a tinted primer and sometimes a third coat to get an even, solid finish. The paint itself is a small part of the quote. The extra coats are labour.
Sheen matters in a quieter way. Higher sheens show every roller mark and every patch, so the walls under them need a finer sand and more care with the roll. Flat and matte are more forgiving on an older wall. The right sheen for each room is covered on the walkthrough.
Trim, doors and the finish on them
Trim and doors are quoted separately from walls, because they are a different job. Baseboards are caulked, sanded and brushed by hand. Doors are often best taken off and sprayed, which means a sprayer set-up, masking and drying time between coats. A home with original wood trim being painted for the first time needs degreasing, sanding and a bonding primer before any colour goes on.
Furniture, occupancy and access
An empty house paints faster than an occupied one, and that shows up in the quote. In a lived-in home the crew moves and covers furniture, works room by room so you keep a bedroom and a kitchen, and cleans up each day. Those are the right things to do, and they take time. A condo adds elevator bookings and set working hours. All of this is discussed on the walkthrough so nothing is a surprise on the first morning.