Painting Quote Template for Australian Painters
A painting quote template is a ready-made pricing sheet for painters that covers preparation, coats, coverage rates, labour and margin across jobs like repaints, new work, roofs and commercial. A trade-specific template beats a blank invoice because it prompts you for the lines you forget to charge, like prep hours and the extra coat a dark colour needs. Grab the free version below, or price painting jobs live from the plan in QR-rise.
The structure follows the same bones as our full construction quote template: parties, scope, itemised lines, GST, exclusions, terms and acceptance. The line items here are tuned to painting, where the money is won or lost on preparation time and honest coverage maths.
Painting quote template: line items by job type
Start from the job type and let the prompts pull the quote out of you.
Interior repaint
Price by area. Walls and ceilings in square metres, doors and windows per unit, and skirting and architraves per lineal metre. The big variable is prep: filling, sanding, sugar-soaping and cutting in. Quote prep as its own line so the client sees it is real work, not something you throw in.
Exterior
Add access to the picture. Ladders, scaffold or a scissor lift are real costs, and weather delays cost you days. Price the prep hard on exteriors, because scraping, priming bare timber and treating render take longer than the top coats. Note the number of coats and the product.
New work
New plaster and timber drink paint. Allow for the sealer or primer coat plus two top coats as standard, and more on strong colours. Coverage rates on the tin are best-case, so build in a realistic loss.
Roofs and commercial
Price by area with a clear spec: clean, prime, and the coating system. Note the coats and the drying windows, and add a line for surface repairs found on inspection.
The lines painters forget to charge for
Ask any experienced painter where quotes leak, and it is rarely the paint. It is:
- Prep hours. Filling, sanding and cutting in are most of the labour on a repaint.
- The extra coat a deep or bright colour needs to cover.
- Masking, drop sheets and clean-up time.
- Access: ladders, trestles, scaffold, height work.
- Consumables: rollers, brushes, tape, filler, sandpaper.
A worked example with GST
Say you are quoting an interior repaint of a three-bedroom house. You measure 320 square metres of wall and ceiling, price it at your per-square-metre rate for two coats, then add a prep line and a line for doors and trims. On a job with a cost of 3,000 dollars, you add your margin to reach a price of 4,000 dollars. Add 10 percent GST of 400 dollars for a GST-inclusive total of 4,400 dollars, shown as its own line. If a room is going from white to charcoal, add a coat and say so, so the client understands the price. For the takeoff behind a bigger job, see how to quote a house build.
Template vs painting software: when to switch
The template is perfect for a few jobs a month. When you are measuring wall and ceiling areas off plans all week, doing the coverage maths by hand gets slow and inconsistent. That is where painting estimating software earns its keep: measure the areas on screen, apply your coats and coverage rates once, and the quote prices itself. The template is the free starting point, the software is the faster tool when volume climbs. Work another trade? The same pattern exists in the carpentry quote template.
Download the template or quote live: free 30-day Pro trial
The template and fill-in tool are free to use, no signup. When you want to save the quote, send it as a branded PDF, and turn accepted quotes into invoices, that is the Pro trial. Start your 30-day Pro trial, or stay on the free capped plan for occasional quoting.
Frequently asked questions
What should a painting quote include?
Your business details, a clear scope, the number of coats and the product, itemised areas and prep, GST shown separately, exclusions, payment terms and a validity period. Quote prep as its own line so it does not get lost.
How do painters price by the square metre?
You measure the wall and ceiling area, then apply a per-square-metre rate that covers the paint and the labour for the number of coats you are quoting. Add prep, trims and access as separate lines on top, because they vary job to job.
Should a painting quote include GST?
Yes, if you are registered for GST. Show a subtotal, the GST amount, and a GST-inclusive total so the client knows the final figure they will pay.
