How to hire an interior painter

Prep is 30–50% of the labor on most paint jobs and 80%+ on a peeling exterior. Scraping loose paint runs $1–3/sqft, sanding $0.50–1.50/sqft, patching $5–25/repair, priming $0.75–1.50/sqft. Ask your pro to walk you through the prep scope — what gets scraped, sanded, caulked, and primed. The bid that wins on price alone often has less prep in it; make sure you are comparing the same scope.

Two coats is the warrantable standard for nearly every premium paint — Aura, Regal, Emerald, Duration all require it. One coat is acceptable when you are repainting the exact same color over a sound, primed surface, though you lose some film build (paint life is roughly proportional to film thickness). "One-coat coverage" claims on the can refer to hiding power, not to warranty terms — worth a quick conversation with your pro about what makes sense for your job.

Premium paint ($75–95/gal) costs about 2–3x contractor-grade ($25–40/gal) but is a smaller share of total cost than homeowners expect. On a $5,000 interior job, the paint itself is $400–800. Upgrading from ProMar 200 to Emerald or Aura adds roughly $300–500 to the bill and roughly doubles the wear life. Premium is worth it for high-traffic walls and moisture-prone rooms (kitchens, baths, hallways). For low-traffic rooms, builder-grade is fine. Ask the pro to walk through which rooms benefit most.

Smooth drywall sprays fast. Heavy stucco, cedar shingles, T1-11, and clapboard with deep reveals all eat material and time. Exterior height past 16 ft means staging, scaffold rental, or lift rental — $400–1,200/day added to the job. Cathedral ceilings, stairwells, and decorative trim all add ladder time, which is the most expensive kind of labor. Confirm with your pro how they plan to access upper stories — boom lift, scaffold, or pump jacks — so you know it is budgeted properly.

In MA and RI, any work that disturbs 6 sqft interior or 20 sqft exterior of painted surface on a pre-1978 home triggers RRP containment requirements — plastic, HEPA vacuums, certified workers, dust testing. This is federal law (with MA and RI running their own enforcement) and adds roughly $0.50–1.50/sqft to the job. If your home is pre-1978, expect your pro to ask the build year up front and include RRP line items in the quote — this is the right way to do the work and protects your family from lead exposure.

Going from a dark red to a soft white usually needs a tinted primer plus two finish coats — effectively three coats. Going from off-white to a similar off-white is two coats and done. Deep saturated colors (true red, true yellow, navy) almost always need three coats regardless of base color because the pigment loads are low. Share your color plan with the pro up front so they can scope coat count accurately.

Interior trim runs $1–3/linear foot to paint. Doors run $50–125/door (both sides + jamb). Detailed crown, beadboard, and built-ins eat hours that flat walls do not. A "whole house repaint" that includes all trim and doors can be 2x the walls-only quote — make sure the scope explicitly states what is included so the bid matches what you have in mind.