How Much Does Exterior Painting Cost in San Diego?

Get­ting ready to paint your house? It’s an excit­ing process, but we know that it can raise a lot of ques­tions. What col­or should you use? How long will it take? Who’s the best house painter to hire? And, of course, the ulti­mate ques­tion: how much does it cost to paint a house in San Diego? 

There’s no sim­ple answer to that last ques­tion. It’s a lit­tle like ask­ing how much a car costs; are we talk­ing a fam­i­ly sedan, a lux­u­ry coupe, or an all-orig­i­nal antique? 

Since say­ing that ​“It depends” isn’t super help­ful to you, we’re going to give you some ball­park num­bers and the fac­tors that impact the cost of exte­ri­or painting. 

Ball­park cost for exte­ri­or paint­ing in San Diego

• Low end: a one-day project could cost around $760. Paint­ing a front door, paint­ing a few win­dows, paint­ing a garage door, touch­ing up fas­cia, etc.

• High­er end: a full exte­ri­or repaint of a mul­ti-sto­ry home could cost up to $50,000, or more.

As we said, that’s a big range! So let’s dig into what impacts the cost.

What impacts the price of an exte­ri­or paint job in San Diego?

Here’s a quick overview, but keep read­ing down below to get more spe­cif­ic info about the main points.

1. The size of your home

2. Num­ber of stories

3. Amount of detail 

4. Num­ber of colors

5. Con­di­tion of your home’s surfaces

6. How much prepa­ra­tion is needed?

1. The size of your home

This one is pret­ty self-explana­to­ry. Larg­er homes require more time, more labor, more mate­r­i­al, and more cost. 

2. Num­ber of stories

Much like the over­all size and square footage of your home, the num­ber of sto­ries impacts pric­ing from a prac­ti­cal stand­point too. Lad­ders, scaf­fold­ing, and lifts can all come into play, adding to the bot­tom line.

3. Amount of detail and num­ber of colors

This is a big one. A home that’s all one col­or, or maybe one field col­or plus a trim col­or, is a lot sim­pler to paint than one that has dif­fer­ent col­ors for the sid­ing, fas­cia, eaves, and trim. The results can be stun­ning, but it’s def­i­nite­ly more labor intensive. 

4. Con­di­tion of your home’s surfaces

We can’t (and won’t) sim­ply paint over your sid­ing exact­ly as it is. We have to fac­tor in peel­ing paint, bub­bles, and dam­age from dry rot or ter­mites. We also need to fac­tor in the exist­ing paint. Maybe it’s a stan­dard water-based/la­tex prod­uct, or it might be an old­er oil-based or even lead-based exte­ri­or paint. These vari­ables call for a spe­cial­ized approach and more in-depth sur­face prepa­ra­tion, prod­ucts, and project containment. 

How much does it cost to paint a 2 – 3 bed­room house in San Diego?

Just as an exam­ple, a two-bed­room home in good shape with few unique con­sid­er­a­tions might cost $6,000 – 8,000 for a full exte­ri­or repaint. If it needs more exten­sive sur­face prepa­ra­tion, that same house could cost $12,000 – 16,000 to paint, or even more. As we men­tioned above, it comes down to the amount of prep/​repairs need­ed, the exist­ing con­di­tion, and the num­ber of col­ors involved.

What’s your takeaway?

It pays to be knowl­edge­able, espe­cial­ly as you com­pare esti­mates. Look for a detailed pro­pos­al that out­lines exact­ly what is includ­ed as far as prepa­ra­tion, repairs, and type of paint being used. A pro­fes­sion­al painter won’t leave any details out, and is an open book when it comes to their pric­ing and how/​why they arrived at that number.

If you have any more ques­tions, con­tact us at Chism Broth­ers Paint­ing. It would be our plea­sure to chat with you.