Cost · 7 min read
How much does it cost to paint a house in Austin?
· by Dustin Allan, Optimal Home Services
Almost every painting company in Austin makes you book an appointment before they will tell you a number. That is a sales tactic, not a technical necessity — and it is why most homeowners end up sitting through three in-home pitches just to learn what a project costs.
So here are our actual ranges, published. They are the same numbers on our painting page, and the same ones we quote from.
Interior painting prices
Interior work is priced on surface area and prep, not on the square footage of your house. A 2,000 sq ft home with nine-foot ceilings, heavy patching and three colors costs materially more than a 2,000 sq ft home with flat walls and one color.
| Job | Typical Greater Austin range |
|---|---|
| Single room, walls only | $450 – $900 |
| Whole-home interior (~2,000 sq ft) | $4,500 – $9,000 |
| Ceilings | $1.50 – $3 / sq ft |
| Trim, baseboards and casing | $2 – $5 / linear ft |
| Interior doors | $90 – $200 each |
| Kitchen cabinets | $3,000 – $7,000 |
Exterior painting prices
Exteriors in Central Texas are priced around access and sun exposure as much as square footage. A two-storey elevation is not twice the paint of a single storey — it is twice the staging, and staging is time.
| Job | Typical Greater Austin range |
|---|---|
| Single storey (~2,000 sq ft) | $4,000 – $8,000 |
| Two storey | $6,500 – $12,000 |
Why one quote is $4,000 and the next is $9,000
This is the question worth understanding, because the gap is almost never paint. Two gallons of the same Sherwin-Williams product cost both companies the same.
The gap is prep. A cheap quote usually assumes rolling straight over what is already on the wall. An honest quote includes washing, scraping, patching, sanding, caulking, spot-priming and full floor protection — and on an older South Austin home that prep can be more than half the labour.
The paint job looks identical for about eighteen months. Then the cheap one starts telling on itself: flashing where bare patches were never primed, peeling where a chalky exterior was never washed, hairline cracks that were painted over instead of filled.
What changes the number on your house specifically
- Wall condition — patching and sanding is the single biggest variable in any interior quote
- Color changes — going dark-to-light, or any strong color, means an extra coat
- Ceiling height — anything above nine feet needs staging, which is time
- Trim volume — crown, wainscot and heavy casing are slow, brush-only work
- Occupied vs empty — working around furniture and around your schedule adds days
- Older homes — pre-1978 stock in central Austin needs lead-safe prep, which is not optional and is not free
How to compare quotes fairly
Get everything in writing, and make sure each quote specifies the same scope. The most common way homeowners get burned is comparing a quote that includes ceilings and trim against one that only covers walls, then choosing the lower number.
- Is it walls only, or walls, ceilings and trim?
- How many coats — and is primer included where it is needed?
- What product and what sheen?
- Who moves and covers the furniture?
- What happens if you spot something after they leave, and for how long?