Did you try getting another quote? That's crazy high.

What city are you in?

Wow - where do you live? I'm not under-valuing a painter's worth - but that sounds really high. I would collect a couple more quotes. If they are all that high, I'd seriously consider trying to do it yourself. As suggested above, have a painting party.

We live in a medium sized college town in Northern Idaho- our housing market has a low inventory and builders/contractors have no shortage of work, so I assume the same is true of painters. We are waiting on one other quote but it would have to be at least half as much. We did a painting party on our current (much smaller) house and I think we have used up our lifetime limit on that favor. But I am sure I can get at least a little volunteer help, definitely child care help.

I'm glad to hear it sounds high to other people, I thought maybe we were just super clueless.

Did they break down the estimate so you can see what's what? How many crew, estimate of man hours etc. Even at $40hr that would be a lot of hours!

Oh my goodness.. that is extremely high priced.. I have hired a certified contractor looking for work in the classifieds to paint my home and it ended up looking fantastic. 2800 sq ft and it was only $800.

Speaking as a life long painting contractor from the Chicago area, the price does seem pretty high, even for a 3700sf house.

I hate the idea of "painting parties". Quality work doesn't happen on one day by people with too much beer in them! Improperly applied paint can cause damage that is very expensive to correct. Preparation takes time and is the most important part of a good paint job.

If I can not afford to do everything at once, I would do those areas that would least affect my life in the future, such as the bedrooms. I would paint the closets so they could be loaded up during the move in and not have to be touched again.

If there are areas that are difficult to do, such as very high ceilings and stair halls, I would consider having them done professionally.

The estimate was not broken down into labor and materials. The wallpaper removal was separate and listed at $42/hour so that is probably what they charge per man hour in general. When he was walking through with me he said 300 ish hours, the bid said 32 days, less if he had more crew working on it. It is a big house but the trim work isn't super detailed or damaged-no cabinetry or stair railings included.

I don't want to live with the colors as is for very long, this house needs a fresh clean start and I need a not purple bedroom. We'll talk with him and also hope the other bid comes back a bit lower so we can swing getting some of it done. My husband definitely agrees that we should get the stair hall done professionally, that's a great suggestion.

That's a lot of days for a paint crew!

So that $44k did not include any cabinetry or wallpaper removal/wall repair-prep.

Just basic baseboard/crown, ceilings, walls, closets for 3,700 sq ft. with one high stairwell ceiling. And it's going to take him 32 days to complete?

Is that an accurate summary?

Wallpaper removal was something I never gave a firm estimate for. Depending on how it was hung, it can be a nightmare to get off. I always did it by time with a maximum figure not to exceed.

Even at $42 an hour it still seems high! Normal paint and materials don't exceed 10% of the bid price. It is overwhelmingly labor cost. For just straight painting, it really seems high.

Man. for 44 grand. I would almost move out there and spend the summer, do the job right, AND remove the wall paper!

300 hours X $42 = $12,600. I'm sure that labor is padded too. 300 hours is quite a lot for a house that size. You are certainly being gauged and the contractor is going by the policy that since he's super busy, bid everything really high.

Thank you all- Lori- it does include door and window casings as well as 4 rooms with beadboard wainscoting- I am sure that takes a long time to do.

If he can get enough work at those rates, then more power to him. I just need to figure out the best and most efficient combo of pro help and my work to get it done.

The rate itself is not too high, at least by urban area standards, it is his computation of hours necessary. A house of that size with straight forward painting should not require that much time.

Definitely get another quote because the hours are crazy high. But if a quote still comes in above what you want to pay, you could have painters do anything more involved like ceilings and high walls and you could take on other stuff. Or have them do certain rooms and leave other areas to you?

Wow yes, I'll do It! As others have noted, the painter doesn't need the work. But they will make time for you if you cough up 44k.

I have a crazy complicated house now and if I were bidding it out (for some reason) I would limit the bid to the main area. I would do the bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, etc myself. So that's an option.

Imo don't skimp on the ceilings.

Good luck. Let us know how the other bids turn out.

About 20 years ago, I did an 1883 Victorian in suburban Chicago. We were busy and did not particularly want to do the house. It was huge with 45 foot tall gable peaks and had a separate coach house out back. We bid it at $48,000! As it turned out, it was a good thing we did. It ended up taking 145 man/days of labor over 5 weeks. It took about 170 gallons of paint and primer to give it a complete two coat job. I rented a cherry picker at $2000 for a full month to get the high work.

It turned out to be a decent money maker, but not great. I guarantee it was a LOT more work than the interior of a 3700 sf interior of a modern house.

Nice job David and that sort of puts the price in perspective.

WOW! WOW! WOW! The end result is stunning, David. It looks like a million bucks.

I just got a quote near manchester nh for a 2 story 1700 sf house with 3 rooms of wallpaper removal, removal of window cornice boards and drapery rods, patch holes, paint walls, ceilings and trim/doors, cauldron all b aseboards and trim for 4130. About 10 days to complete with one person doing whole job.

I had a 3600 sf house painted completely for 7300. In el paso about 4 yrs ago. No wallpaper removal. 28 ft high ceilings in entry, and living rm.

Your quote seems ridiculous to me.

What is especially time consuming on an old Victorian is all the detailed trim, which was done in a forest green and magenta on the cream colored siding and white trim. For instance, there where 140 rings on the porch balusters which had to be painted with an artist's brush. Also the frieze boards had small dental blocks which were painted withe the alternating trim colors.

Second bid came back around $20,000, projected to take 15-20 days. We'll probably compromise a bit on communication and professionalism based on our initial experiences with the painters but I've seen good examples of both of their work, so I think that compromise will be worth it. We did follow up with the most expensive one since it seemed like it could be an error but he confirmed that he thinks it will take much more than 300 hours- closer to 800 or 900. I also have found a few handman types who charge less per hour and are willing to do some of the work so we may have one of them do some of the less important spaces.

Better but still a lot it seems to me without actually seeing it

I guess it might take 900 hours if they used artists brushes.

A contractor who doesn't know if it will take 300 or 900 hours is not a very good contractor! He is incompetent or dishonest!

quote"A contractor who doesn't know if it will take 300 or 900 hours is not a very good contractor! He is incompetent or dishonest!" Or just plain stupid. Either way, I would not want him on my job.

I'd go with dishonest. He just really doesn't want the job and is saying whatever he can to be sure he does not get it.