Hi,

I just recently started up my own painting biz. After 3 years of making other people money I decided its time to work for myself. I just finished my first job and the people loved it. I know that I under quoted the job extremly and was just looking on some insight as to what I should be charging per square foot of wall space I would also like to know what I should be charging per liner foot for the base board and trim and what i should charge per square foot for ceilings . Any help would be tons of help.

P.s: I live in Canada

 

Pricing is the hardest thing to do. It varies greatly from area to area, your skill level, equipment, insurances, etc. etc. etc.

Figure out how much you want/are worth an hour or a day. Then figure out how long it takes you to do certain tasks. You must keep records for a while to find out your 'production rate'. Bring a notebook to the job and keep notes on how long it took you to cut in a 10' x 8' wall, then how long to roll it. Keep track of everything, historical data is the best way to figure your pricing. Make notation if its a high wall, or more dificult than usual for whatever reason.

Hypothetically:
So you need $30 an hour, and you have 2500 sq. ft of wall space to paint. If your production rates show you can paint 100 sq. ft. in an hour, then this job, labor alone would be $750 and take you 25 hours to complete. But then you figure how long to prep it, add on overhead, profit, materials, (and only you can figure what your overhead is, profit is usally between 6%-15%) and so forth to arrive at your final price.

For a ton of info on the painting trade:
The Painter's Chatroom
The NAPP

Hope that helps.