How Much to Paint? What is 'Reasonable'?

Are you kidding? Should be more like 1K-2K per room.

woa! Reuptable at those prices! Sorry to say, but you are getting completely ripped off there. At that price you can gut renovate a kitchen or bathroom...

For that size apartment, you should expect to pay no more than a total of about 3,000..I paid 1200 to get my 1093 sft JR4 painted and it came out great, with ceiling painted, walls painted, and baseboards painted white. No crown moldings.

This seems insanely high. Take your $20k - $25k number and divide by $75/hr. $75/hr is still very high for a painter, but it is good for estimating. Your painter is therefore saying is will take, 267 - 334 man hours to paint your place. That is between 6 and 8 man weeks!!! What are they doing, painting the Sistine Chapel?

I had a good, reputable, insured painter do my place (prep, two coats, without trim) for about $3.50 a foot (including material - also Benjamin Moore). Double that quote because trim is much harder and at most you should be around $7500. Anything over $10k seems like highway robbery to me.

I agree that that quote is insane. I have the same size apartment (including the 11 foot ceilings and molding, stc.) and paid about $1800 (not including the paint, which was a few hundred extra) to have 1/2 of it painted. That said, my super did it and it was by no means perfect. He also did it in 2 days (with some help from 1 guy), so I'm guessing your job is maybe 7 solid days (2 guys) to do a great job. It seems to me that if you pay more than $10K, you are getting a crappy deal. That assumes he does a great job. Good luck.

Total, total nutball of a quote. Good apt. painters are PLENTIFUL in this town. You can get superb work done for very, very modest prices ---- you can use people on Craigslist.

http://www.realtor.com/search/searchresults.aspx?ctid=241&mxp=8&typ=2 . . .
I don't know if it needs painting, though, in which case double your budget.

[Sorry, I couldn't resist.]

Thank you all for your feedback. I will start looking for other painters--and maybe take a nice vacation with the savings.

First I have to say discount every single comment here. You did not provide enough information for anyone to accurately comment.

First, there are many degrees of painters. Do you want an ok job or an excellent job? Better painters do charge more, period. Second, does your building require your painter to have insurance to enter the building? Yes, that will make the cost higher. I bet $1000 Noah's (urbandigs) did not use someone that needed insurance at all. That is the only way to get a price that low.

Last, how many coats? One? Two? Three? Primer coat? How much prep work is needed? Any skim coating?

What exactly is in that estimate?

To give you some sort of guideline, I got an estimate last week for $25k for 1800 sq ft plus ceilings and base mouldings (no crown) for a prime coat plus two coats. This does not include any patch work at all, as I am having the place professionally prepped.

So, depending on what you need done, insurance, and expertise of the painter, your quote will resemble that. When the painting is done, you can decided whether to hang a Van Gogh or fingerpainting on the walls and decide what makes your place work.

"First I have to say discount every single comment here"

If you want to add another data point, feel free. However, discounting all of the data points above is just plain stupid. There was no mention of skim coating by the OP and, whatever planet you are from, $20-$25k is a insane (almost criminal) price to paint a 1100 sqft apartment.

As I mentioned in my post above, I had a professional paint job for $3.50 a sqft (fully insured without trim) and I could not be happier with the result. This was two solid coats with prep. You do not need a primer coat when using Benjamin Moore paint unless you are painting over some really bright or really nasty stuff – the paint is just that good. But, if you really want one, add another $1-$2 a sqft as it doesn’t take long for a primer coat – (about 30% of the time it would take for a standard coat).

I agree with you cdrvf that there is a difference in painters and not all are focused on quality, however $20 - $25k is criminal – and I personally have seen A++ work for a third of price. Just because you have a Van Gogh to hang on the wall, doesn't mean you have to hire Van Gogh to paint the wall.

I was mistaken, the $3.50 a sqft, included the primer coat.

"Just because you have a Van Gogh to hang on the wall, doesn't mean you have to hire Van Gogh to paint the wall."

Ha! That is indeed a classic quote!

Again, thanks for all your comments.

The walls are in perfect condition, as they were skim coated about 4 years ago, and all pictures were hung using a strip of picture hanging molding (right under the crown molding). There is no major work--besides painting. I would imagine two coats. I am planning to use 2-3 colors/per room. No other work is needed besides painting--ceilings, walls, doors, trim.

There is also a built in (hip-high) book case in the living room that I want painted (basicly I want everything that is 'white' to be painted, e.g., trim around windows, doors, etc.). I wanted all trim (except for the crown molding) to be painted the same color as the walls--but was told that this would need to be a different 'finish'.

Also, any painter that I hire will need to be insured with proof of workers comp insurance. Again, I am not looking to nickel and dime the painter--I respect their professionalism and this is their business. I just do not want to be ripped off.

Again, thanks for all the discussion points.

Initially I thought you perhaps omitted the true extent of work necessary and that your walls may have been plaster in very bad shape. In a wreck of a pre-war, $10,000 for an average-sized room is not unheard of if major skim coating, sanding, priming, complex mouldings etc have to be addressed and you want a job worthy of say the Pierre or classic Park Avenue home. But since your walls are in very good condition, I don't understand the price quote you got. Using a few different colors may increase materials costs, but honestly, how much do brushes, rollers and pans cost? Yes, there is more taping/careful cutting in if there are color changes, but again, how much does that really add? Certainly 300-400% or more. Similarly, insurance does not cost $15,000. I think something told you your estimate was off which is why you posted the question. My suggestion: ask around the building (super, porters, neighbors, even managing agent) to get referrals and then try to take a look at their work (there are worse things than knocking on a neighbor's door and asking for a look/see. Good luck. Let us know what happens.

uh...I meant "certainly NOT 300-400%"

I agree I think this estimate is waaaay off. I recently had my 700 sw ft 1 br coop professionally painted using 3 types of Benjamin Moore paints. It included priming some walls, painting the ceilings and closets. Insurance and all the job was done for $2500.

OP it sounds as if your job is more involved, but still, considering there's no skim coating, I would think you shouldn't pay more than $10,000.

With that new information, walls in excellent condition, just skim coated etc, i would venture 10k for two full coats of paint. The variety of colors wont matter that much, unless you are using 2-3 colors per room, different in every room. Personally, I have never seen a good quality $3.50 p sq/ft paint job in NYC but that is just me. Alos, dont forget you have 11ft ceilings vs 8ft which will be more time consuming.

[OP here] I just wanted to provide an update to my original post. I did receive a few names of painters from my real estate agent and from 'friends of friends'. After interviewing about 5 painters, I went with Michael Kuhn of Mike's Painting (212.874.2303). Mike did an excellent job, at less than 1/3 of the cost of my original estimate (see original post). I moved in on Tuesday, and I could not be happier with the quality of Mike's work. He exceeded my expaecations. Top quality work from an honest and trustworthy professional. I hope sharing this information will assist the next individual that may be looking for a painter. You can always contact me if you would like to see pictures of Mike's work in my apartment.