Painting Industry Benchmark

Figures from painters, by country: Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada, across eight areas of the business. Add your answers anonymously and get the results by email once enough painters have answered. Every figure says what it rests on.

The figures so far

Speed

• How much interior wall do you paint in an hour?: Australia 15 m²/hr (starting figure), United States 160 ft²/hr (starting figure), United Kingdom 15 m²/hr (starting figure), New Zealand 15 m²/hr (starting figure), Canada 160 ft²/hr (starting figure)
• How much exterior wall does one painter paint in an hour?
• How much ceiling does one painter paint in an hour?

Pricing

• What do you charge per hour for a painter on site?
• How do you usually price a job?
• How close do your jobs finish to the hours you quoted?

Winning work

• Where do your best clients come from?
• Out of every 10 quotes you send, how many do you win?

Getting paid

• Do you take a deposit before you start a job?
• After you finish, how long do clients usually take to pay the final invoice?
• In the last 12 months, how many of your jobs were paid late or not in full?

Materials

• Roughly what share of a typical job's price is materials?
• Do you charge clients more for paint than you pay for it?
• Which paint brands do you use most?

Crew

• Who does the painting in your business?
• How hard is it to find good painters right now?
• What do you pay an experienced employed painter per hour?
• How do you pay yourself?

Season

• Which months are you busy?
• Which month is your quietest?
• How far ahead are you booked right now?
• In the last four weeks, how many working days did weather cost you?

Tools

• How much of your painting do you spray?
• How do you measure a job for a quote?
• What do you use to write your quotes?

The eight categories

• Speed
• Pricing
• Winning work
• Getting paid
• Materials
• Crew
• Season
• Tools

How it works

• Each question asks for one answer: slide to your number, or tap your answer. Sensitive figures, like your rate, are asked as a range.
• Every answer is anonymous and needs no account. Leave your email at the end and we send you the results by email.
• Nothing is published until at least 10 painters have answered.

How the figures work · Surfacely