Proper Figuring of Square Footage

Questions & AnswersProper Figuring of Square Footage
Anonymous asked 10 years ago

I am a female who loves painting. To date I’ve mostly done jobs for friends and just charged by the day. However, I am now presented with a very large job painting the interior of a house being remodeled and I want to figure up the square footage to make sure I don’t short change myself when giving my estimate. I found a site that gave you the formula for measuring the square footage of a room, subtracting the windows and doors, in order to obtain the actual square footage you will be painting, but I now can’t find that same site. Does someone know it? Or can you tell me the formula. When you figure square footage, how do you allow for all the trim, baseboard, closet interiors, etc. that you will have to paint? Thanks for any help.

1 Answers
MagicDave answered.

It's a BAD idea to quote a job that way… only beginners do it by the sq foot area and you need to quote the job by the day, figuring how many days (for one man) it will take overall to complete the job, based on your personal painting experience and work capability, and what you want to charge for one man-day of work (besides most customers will want to know "how long" it will take to finish the job anyway)… after calculating this, just add in your estimate for paint and material costs plus perhaps 5% for overhead (advertising, equipment, insurance etc.) … Good Luck! This is the method that real professional painters use!