Guides for painters

Quoting, pricing and paint quantities — the arithmetic behind the parts of the job that happen after you have put the brushes away.

• How much paint do I need?

  Put the room in and it works out the litres, then the cheapest combination of tins to cover it.

  3 min read

• How to quote a painting job

  The order of operations, and the two places most painters lose money without noticing.

  8 min read

• How much to charge to paint a room

  Nobody can tell you the number. They can tell you how to work out yours, which is more useful.

  6 min read

• Margin vs markup, and the money it costs

  The most expensive arithmetic mistake in the trade, and it is invisible on any single job.

  4 min read

• What a painting quote should contain

  A checklist you can write into whatever you already use, and the reason each line earns its place.

  5 min read

• How long does it take to paint a room?

  Put the room in and it works the hours out surface by surface, the way a quote does.

  5 min read

• How much to paint a three-bedroom house

  What is actually in a three-bedroom interior, in square metres — and what to do with it.

  6 min read

• How to measure a room for painting

  Five numbers per room, and three of them you can take from the floor.

  4 min read