How much does exterior house painting cost?

Render sits lowest in our estimate, weatherboard highest

In our estimate, the starting range for an exterior is set by what the walls are made of. Render sits at the bottom and weatherboard at the top, with cladding in between. Here's how the ranges in our estimate line up for a standard repaint on a house that's in good shape.

Standard means proper prep and two coats. The estimate also shows a budget tier and a premium one, where premium allows for higher prep, a premium finish and difficult colours. Dark colours can need extra coats, which we price at the site visit. See what's included on our exterior house painting page.

Weatherboard can need timber repair that render doesn't

Our estimate puts weatherboard above render, and a render repaint prices differently to weatherboard that needs timber repair first. Taubmans lists its All Weather paint for both weatherboards and rendered masonry, and Dulux Weathershield and Taubmans All Weather are the two systems we use on most exteriors.

Dulux's Weathershield instructions say to sand painted timber to a flat finish and remove greyed timber. Boards that need repair get it before any paint goes on. On bare, weathered tannin-rich timber, Dulux calls for three coats of Weathershield.

In our estimate, the weatherboard range tops out at $25,000 for one storey while render stops at $14,000. The state of the boards and the number of storeys move it from there. If your walls are render, our guide to painting rendered walls covers the prep that goes into those.

Two storeys add 20 to 40 percent for height and access

A second storey adds 20 to 40 percent to an exterior price in our estimate. That loading covers the extra height and access.

Access changes the timeline too. Most full exteriors take five to ten working days, and access is the biggest swing. A single-storey home with clear ground around it goes quicker than a two-storey on a slope that needs scaffold.

Here's a worked number. A two-storey weatherboard house in good condition comes out at $12,000 to $35,000 on a standard repaint. That's the single-storey range of $10,000 to $25,000 with the low end lifted 20 percent and the high end lifted 40.

Working at height (second storey, roof edges, eaves above a ladder) is a job for a painter with the right access gear. If you were planning to do the top floor yourself, stop there and get it priced.

Condition and prep can add up to 40 percent

In our estimate, average condition adds 15 percent. Poor condition adds 25 percent to the low end and 40 percent to the high end. Sanding, filling and sealing take most of the days on an exterior. The topcoat is the short part.

For a single-storey standard repaint, poor condition moves render to $8,800 to $19,600 and weatherboard to $12,500 to $35,000. Average condition puts render at $8,000 to $16,100 and weatherboard at $11,500 to $28,700. Signs your house is in the average or poor bracket:

• Paint lifts when you do Dulux's tape test. Cut a small X, press tape over it and rip it off. If paint comes away, the loose paint has to be stripped before a new top coat.
• Timber has gone grey, soft or split, so it needs sanding back or repair first.
• Fascias and barge boards look tired. They oxidise faster than the body of the house.
• Chalky north walls.

Separately, coast-facing and canal-front walls usually get a sealer pass first. Our prep order is wash, scrape, sand, fill, seal, undercoat, then the paint system that wall needs. We walk the house first and price the walls that need more, instead of charging the whole place for the worst one. If you're not sure how worn yours is, our guide on how long exterior paint lasts shows what ageing paint looks like.

Eaves, fascias and gutters on their own cost $1,500 to $4,500

Painting just the eaves, fascias and gutters is a smaller stand-alone job, and fascias are often the first part of a house to look tired, because they oxidise faster than the walls. Our estimate puts it at $1,500 to $4,500 for a single-storey home in good condition. Condition and height move it the same way they move a full exterior.

On a two-storey home, the eaves are work at height. That's what the two-storey loading covers.

A good exterior quote spells out the prep and the licence

A good exterior quote tells you what you're paying for, wall by wall. If two quotes are far apart, check whether they cover the same prep and access. Check each quote for these:

• A QBCC licence number. In Queensland, anyone contracting for building work over $3,300 needs a QBCC licence, and painting and decorating is its own licence class. Ours is 1281728.
• Which surfaces are in and which are out: walls, eaves, fascias, gutters, trims, doors.
• The prep, step by step, wall by wall where it differs.
• The paint system by name and the number of coats.
• How they'll reach the high bits, and whether scaffold is priced in.
• A start date and a rough number of working days.
• A written contract. QBCC says contracts over $3,300 must tell you about your cooling-off period, and the deposit a contractor can ask for depends on the job's value.

Paint guarantees lean on prep too. Taubmans backs All Weather against blistering, flaking and peeling when it goes on properly prepared surfaces. Dulux's Weathershield guarantee doesn't cover substrate failure or colour fade. We're Dulux Accredited and Taubmans Endorsed, and we've painted around the Coast since 1985. Find your suburb on our locations page.