How Much Does It Cost to Paint a House Exterior in 2026?

Exterior painting is priced by the square footage of paintable surface — not the total square footage of your home. A 2,500 square foot home that is all brick with a little bit of trim around the windows and doors has far less paintable surface than a 2,500 square foot home with full lap siding on every wall. The brick home might cost $3,500 to paint. The full-siding home might cost $8,000. Same home size, very different scope. This is why a phone estimate is almost never accurate. A contractor needs to physically walk the property and measure the actual paintable surface to give you a real number.

A two-story home costs more than a one-story home — not just because there is more surface area, but because everything above the first floor is harder, slower, and more dangerous to access. Crews need extension ladders, ladder jacks, or scaffolding. Every task — scraping, caulking, priming, painting — takes longer when you are doing it 15 or 20 feet off the ground instead of 6 or 8. Safety requirements increase. Setup and teardown time increases. As a rough guide, expect a two-story home to cost 40 to 60 percent more than a comparable one-story home with the same paintable surface area.

This is the single biggest variable most homeowners do not think about — and it is the single biggest reason two quotes on the same house can look so different. A home that was last painted 7 years ago with decent paint and proper prep might need a pressure wash, minor caulk touch-ups, spot priming, and two coats. That is a straightforward job. A home that was last painted 15 years ago with builder-grade paint and minimal prep might need extensive scraping of peeling paint, replacement of rotted fascia boards, complete recaulking of every joint, priming of large bare-wood areas, and two coats. That is a much bigger job — and the difference is almost entirely in the preparation, not the painting. When you get an estimate that seems high, ask what is driving the cost. If the answer is "your fascia has rot on two sides and the caulk has failed around every window," the contractor is being honest with you. If the answer is vague, ask for a written scope that separates prep work from paint application so you can see exactly where the money is going.

The paint itself is typically 15 to 20 percent of the total project cost — labor is the majority. But the product you choose directly affects how long the job will last and what warranty you receive. Builder-grade and bargain exterior paints cost less per gallon but contain weaker resins, less UV-resistant pigments, and fewer mildewcide additives. They look fine on day one and start failing in year 3 or 4. Premium exterior paints — like Sherwin-Williams Duration or Emerald — cost more per gallon but contain higher-quality resins and pigments that resist UV, heat, and moisture significantly longer. The difference in paint cost on a typical one-story home might be $300 to $500. The difference in lifespan is 3 to 5 years. Any contractor who tells you they use "premium paint" but cannot tell you the specific brand and product name is probably not using premium paint.

A single-color exterior with contrasting trim (two colors total) is the most efficient job to produce. Every additional color — a different body color on an accent wall, a third color on the shutters, a fourth on the front door — adds time because the crew has to mask, tape, change products, and cut clean lines between colors. Most homes in DFW use two to three colors (body, trim, and accent). If your home has four or more distinct colors, expect a modest increase in labor cost.

If your home needs boards replaced, rotted trim repaired, damaged soffits rebuilt, or other carpentry work before paint can go on, that work adds to the total project cost. Carpentry is priced separately from painting because it involves different materials, different skills, and different time estimates. A good contractor will identify carpentry needs during the walkthrough and include them as a separate line item in the proposal — not hide them in the painting price and not discover them halfway through the job. If a proposal does not mention carpentry at all and you can see damaged wood on your home, either the contractor did not look carefully or they are planning to paint over it.