Home โบ Cities โบ Baltimore, MD โบ Painting
๐จ Painting ยท BaltimoreA house painter in Baltimore charges roughly $69/hour โ driven by the BLS OEWS national mean hourly wage of $24.54 for SOC 47-2141, the MD cost-of-living index of 116.5, and the standard 2.4ร contractor markup. Below: project-by-project pricing.
| Project | Time | Typical cost | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single room paint (10ร12, walls only, 2 coats) | 1 day | $608 | $499 โ $730 |
| Whole interior repaint (1700 sq ft, walls + ceilings) | 4โ6 days | $5,224 | $4,283 โ $6,268 |
| Exterior repaint (1700 sq ft, prep + 2 coats) | 4โ7 days | $6,091 | $4,995 โ $7,309 |
| Kitchen cabinet refinish (sand, prime, sprayed enamel) | 3โ5 days | $2,364 | $1,938 โ $2,837 |
| All trim + 6 interior doors (whole house) | 2 days | $1,491 | $1,223 โ $1,790 |
| Ceiling paint refresh (avg 1500 sq ft) | 1 day | $849 | $696 โ $1,019 |
| Deck stripping + restain (300 sq ft) | 2 days | $1,033 | $847 โ $1,240 |
| Pre-paint pressure wash (whole exterior) | half day | $309 | $254 โ $371 |
| Wallpaper removal + skim coat (one room) | 1โ2 days | $687 | $564 โ $825 |
Local rate = BLS national mean ร 2.4 markup ร (MD COL 116.5/100). Materials adjusted by the same factor.
A pro painter's job is mostly prep, not paint: washing, sanding glossy/peeling areas, scraping, patching nail holes and drywall damage, caulking trim seams, masking floors and fixtures, priming bare or stain-prone areas, then finally rolling, brushing, or spraying two coats of finish. On exteriors, that prep includes a full pressure wash, scraping any peeling sections to bare wood, spot-priming with a bonding primer, and re-caulking every trim seam โ typical exterior jobs are 3โ5 days for a 1,700 sq ft home. The most common scope inflation is "spraying" cabinets without sanding/de-glossing first; it looks great for six months and then peels. Lead-paint disclosures are required for any pre-1978 home (EPA RRP rule) and a properly-trained painter will follow a containment protocol.
A bid that's 40% lower than competitors almost always means thinned paint, one coat instead of two, or skipping primer on patched areas โ and it shows within a year.