Exterior bids fail in the takeoff, not on the ladder. Miss a gable triangle or count gross wall area without subtracting windows, and your price per square foot looks fine while the crew paints for free. Homeowners rarely accept change orders for “we forgot the soffit.” You need one written number before you talk price.
This guide walks a repeatable exterior takeoff: body siding, gables, trim, soffit and fascia, and what to subtract. You will turn paintable square feet into hours with your own production rate, then into a bid with the painting estimate calculator.
Pricing methods and margin live in how to price a painting job. Production logging lives in painting production rates.
What counts as paintable square feet
Paintable area is the surface that gets the coat you are bidding. It is not the footprint of the house and not the lot size.
Body siding is the main wall field between corners, excluding trim boards you price separately if your shop splits them. Gables are the triangular walls above the eave line. Measure base width times height from eave to peak, divided by two, for each gable end.
Trim includes corner boards, window and door casings, band boards, and rail caps if they are a different color or material build. Trim and soffit often get their own lines because production rate differs from wide siding.
Soffit and fascia are the horizontal and vertical surfaces under the roof edge. They add up fast on deep overhangs.
Garage doors can be body color or a separate line. Either way, write them on the scope sheet so production rate matches reality.
Do not subtract landscaping. Do subtract fixed openings when they are not painted the body color.
Tools that keep takeoffs consistent
A rolling wheel, laser measure, and pad beat guessing from street view. Photos help, but you still walk the house.
Sketch an elevation for each face: north, south, east, west. Label story height, eave height, and peak height on gable ends. Mark doors, garage bays, and window counts per wall.
Use the same door and window deductions your office uses on interiors unless the exterior scope paints them differently. The calculator uses 20 sq ft per door and 15 sq ft per window as standard openings on interior takeoffs. On exteriors, many painters subtract full opening size only when the body color does not hit that area.
Step by step on one wall
Step 1: measure width along the ground. Follow the wall plane, not the foundation curve.
Step 2: measure height to the eave on each story. Multi story walls are stacked rectangles. A two story wall 30 feet wide with 9 foot first story and 8 foot second story is 30 × (9 + 8) = 510 sq ft before gables.
Step 3: add gable triangles. For a gable 30 feet wide and 6 feet from eave to peak, add 30 × 6 ÷ 2 = 90 sq ft.
Step 4: subtract openings you are not painting. A garage door 16 × 7 = 112 sq ft if the door is not in scope.
Step 5: repeat for every elevation and sum. That sum is body paintable sq ft at the coat count you bid.
Worked example: single story ranch, three sides of body color
Assumptions for this math only: one story ranch, body color on front, right, and left elevations only, back wall is brick and not painted, two coats on lap siding, light wash prep, no trim line in this body total, standard windows painted same color as body. The sketches below sum three sides only.
Front elevation
- Width 42 feet, eave height 9 feet. Gross rectangle 42 × 9 = 378 sq ft.
- One garage door 16 × 7 = 112 sq ft not painted. Painted wall 378 − 112 = 266 sq ft.
- Three windows, each treated as 15 sq ft opening deduction (same convention as the calculator defaults). Subtract 45 sq ft. Front body 221 sq ft.
Right elevation
- Width 28 feet, height 9 feet. Gross 252 sq ft.
- Two windows at 15 sq ft each. Body 222 sq ft.
Left elevation
- Width 28 feet, height 9 feet. Gross 252 sq ft.
- Two windows at 15 sq ft each. Body 222 sq ft.
Total body paintable sq ft: 221 + 222 + 222 = 665 sq ft.
Turning sq ft into hours (same assumptions as the calculator exterior default)
Use 120 sq ft per hour production and 2 prep hours for the whole house wash and mask at this size. Rolling and brushing time for two coats: 665 × 2 ÷ 120 = 11.08 hours. Add 2 prep hours = 13.1 labor hours before margin and materials.
A real bid on this house adds trim boards, soffit, fascia, downspouts, story counts on other houses, and more prep when chalking fails. This example is only the body field so you see the add up.
Gallons check (body only)
At 350 sq ft per gallon coverage and two coats, gallons to buy = ceiling(665 × 2 ÷ 350) = ceiling(3.8) = 4 gallons for the body field at this coverage assumption. If your crew logs 90 sq ft per hour on similar lap siding, rerun hours with your measured rate before you quote. The defaults are a starting point from painting production rates.
Trim, soffit, and fascia without double counting
Many shops measure trim in linear feet and convert with a width factor. Example: six inch corner board on a 9 foot corner is 9 × 0.5 foot width = 4.5 sq ft per side.
Soffit is often length times depth of the overhang. A 40 foot eave with 2 foot deep soffit is 80 sq ft per side you paint.
List trim and soffit on the proposal even when you bundle one price. When the customer drops trim from scope, you still know the hours you removed.
What to subtract and what to leave in
Subtract garage doors, masonry fields, and windows if they are vinyl and not coated. Subtract large covered porches when no paint hits that ceiling.
Do not subtract shrinkage from lap siding exposure. You still paint the full face you measure.
Chimneys count if they are sided or painted block. Count each face you coat.
Story count and ladder time
The takeoff sq ft does not include ladder moves, but your production rate should. A three story tower with the same sq ft as a ranch runs more hours per sq ft because setup dominates.
Log hours separately on multi story jobs for a few weeks. You will see when to lower exterior production below 120 on the calculator.
Common takeoff mistakes
- Using footprint times story count instead of measuring each elevation.
- Forgetting gable triangles above the eave line.
- Counting the same soffit twice on inside corners.
- Quoting body sq ft only, then painting fascia without hours attached.
FAQ
Should I measure from grade or from the bottom of siding?
Measure the painted field you will coat. Start where paint starts, not always at dirt level.
How do I handle detached garages?
Separate line item with its own elevation sketch. Production and access differ from the house.
Can I enter total sq ft in the calculator instead of room dimensions?
Yes. Choose exterior job type and enter 665 (or your total) in sq ft mode with your coat count, production rate, prep hours, and margins.
Do I need separate numbers for spray versus brush?
Your production log should say which tool you used. Spray back roll on lap siding often beats brush only rates.
Where does the bid price come from after sq ft?
Hours, materials, markup, and margin. Walk through dollars in how to price a painting job.
Next step for your business
Clean takeoffs make every estimate defensible. When property managers and homeowners compare painters, the one with clear scope and a professional site often wins the walkthrough. Build service and city pages on a painting contractor website so your takeoff discipline shows up before you arrive.
GotLocal builds your site first, so you see it before you pay anything. Measure the house once, quote it once, then let the right jobs find you.