Before you start
- Your download is a zip with two files. Double-click it to open it. Start with the one marked with examples to see how everything works, then use the blank one for your business.
- Open the file in Microsoft Excel. Using Google Sheets? Upload it to Google Drive, then open it with Google Sheets.
- Start on the Start Here tab. It has the same steps, right inside the file.
- The sample data is there so you can see how everything works. Type over it with your own when you're ready.
Here's how to go from a new file to a priced, printable quote. Setup takes about 15 minutes, once. After that, a job takes a few minutes.
1Set up your rates (one time, about 15 minutes)
- Open Settings. Add your business details, painter pay, crew, pricing method, target margin and minimum job price.
- Check the production rates for walls, ceilings, trim, doors, cabinets, siding and fences, and your paint products. Time a few jobs and change them.
- Set overhead, driving cost and the condition adjustments. Every number is yours to change.
2Quote a job
- Open Job. Fill in the customer, the painters on the job and round-trip miles.
- Add one line per area and surface, like Living room walls or Back fence. Set Inside or outside, size, coats, condition, primer and dark to light.
- Count doors and windows on wall lines. Their openings come off the square feet.
3Check the price and print the quote
- The Dashboard shows quoted price, estimated job cost, profit, margin, profit per crew hour and crew days.
- Open Customer Quote and print it or save it as a PDF. It shows scope by area, price, deposit and terms, never your costs.
What the messages mean
The tool watches your numbers and tells you in plain words when something needs a look. Here's every message you might see.
What to do: Pick Walls, Ceiling, Trim or another surface from the list.
What to do: Add or fix the product on Settings.
What to do: Type the date so the good-until date works.
What to do: Type a positive number.
Using Google Sheets or your phone
- To use Google Sheets, upload the file to Google Drive, then right-click it and choose Open with, then Google Sheets.
- Dropdowns, colors, and every calculation work the same in Google Sheets.
- On a phone, the Google Sheets and Excel apps work for quick changes. For setup and printing, a computer is easier.
- Want to start fresh? Type over the yellow example cells. Don't delete rows, since other tabs may be reading them.
Ready when you are
Like what you see? Get the painting quote calculator for $19, with every future update free. Need more than one tool? Save with the toolkit.
Common questions
Does primer count as a coat?
Primer is counted as its own coat with its own product and time, on top of your finish coats.
Margin or markup?
Pick either on Settings. Margin is profit ÷ price, markup is profit ÷ cost, and the Dashboard shows both.
Quick reference from the Start Here tab
Welcome
Price any interior or exterior paint job in a few minutes. Add each room or side of the house, and we work out the paintable square feet, labor hours, gallons of each product, your costs, and a price that hits your margin. Then print a clean customer quote with no internal costs on it.
Where To Start
Open 'Settings' once. Add your business details, painter pay, crew size, production rates, paint prices, overhead, driving costs, minimum job price and deposit.
Open 'Job'. Fill in the customer, the painters on the job, round-trip miles and your pricing method (Target margin or Markup).
Add one line per area and surface: Living room walls, Living room ceiling, Living room trim, and so on. Pick Interior or Exterior, the surface, the size, coats, condition, primer and dark to light.
Count the doors and windows on wall lines. Their openings come off the wall area. Set 'Paint doors and windows?' to Yes to paint them too.
Check the status on the Job tab or the 'Dashboard'. Red means you lose money or miss your margin. Amber means the minimum job price was used.
Open 'Customer Quote' and print it or save it as a PDF. It shows the scope by area, price, deposit, terms and the date the price is good until.
Which Cells To Edit
Yellow cells with blue text are yours. Italic yellow cells are optional. Gray cells calculate on their own and are locked so a formula can't be erased by accident.
Leave unused area lines empty. Every line has a Check column that tells you what is missing.
Need to change a formula? In Excel go to Review, then Unprotect Sheet. In Google Sheets use Data, then Protect sheets and ranges. No password needed.
What The Results Mean
Labor hours: painter-hours for all areas, including prep, primer and exterior extra time. Crew days = labor hours ÷ painters ÷ hours in a crew day.
Estimated job cost: labor (pay plus payroll costs), materials, overhead, drive time and fuel, and other job costs.
Quoted price: the price from your pricing method, raised to your minimum job price if needed, then rounded up. Final quote adds sales tax on materials if you charge it.
Line price: each area's share of the quoted price, based on its labor and paint. The lines add up to the quoted price.
Paint order list: gallons are added up per product and rounded up to whole gallons. All numbers are Estimated, not guaranteed.
How To Clear The Examples And Reuse It
Open the Blank file for a clean start. Your Settings stay filled with typical values you can change.
Or clear them here: on the Job tab select the yellow customer cells and the yellow area lines and press Delete. Clear the Share box amounts on the Dashboard too.
For each new job, use File, then Save As with the customer's name, so every quote keeps its own file.
Good To Know
Margin vs markup: margin is profit ÷ price, markup is profit ÷ cost. A 50% markup is only a 33.3% margin.
Production rate: how many square feet (or linear feet, or doors) one painter finishes in one hour for one coat.
Coats: finish coats. Primer is counted as its own coat with its own gallons. Dark to light adds one more finish coat.
Materials cost for this job: paste it from the Paint and Materials Calculator into the Share box to use your exact materials list instead of our estimate.
Monthly equipment cost: paste it from the Painting Equipment Log into the Share box. It is spread over working days like your monthly overhead.
Share box: the "Share with other EasyWorkTools tools" box on the Dashboard lists the numbers this file gives to or gets from the other House Painting tools. Copy them by hand. The labels match exactly, so it's clear where each one goes.
Getting Updates
Every update is free. When a new version is ready we email you, and you can download it any time.
Moving to a new version: copy the yellow cells from each sheet into the same sheets of the new file.
Using Google Sheets? Upload this file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets (or File, then Import, then Upload). The math works the same.
Your License
This file is licensed to one business, including everyone who works there. Please don't share, resell or post it online.
© 2026 EasyWorkTools. All rights reserved. easyworktools.com
Every tab
This file has 7 tabs, in this order:
- Start Here
- Dashboard
- Job
- Customer Quote
- Pricing Help
- Lists
- Settings