Young Painting
✓ Licensed ✓ Insured 24/7 Emergency 20 yrs
Specialties: Cabinet refinishing, Interior repaint, Trim & doors
Home › Cities › Rockford, IL › Painting
🎨 Painting · RockfordA house painter in Rockford charges roughly $54/hour — driven by the BLS OEWS national mean hourly wage of $24.54 for SOC 47-2141, the IL cost-of-living index of 92.1, and the standard 2.4× contractor markup. Below: project-by-project pricing, then 4 licensed local pros.
| Project | Time | Typical cost | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single room paint (10×12, walls only, 2 coats) | 1 day | $481 | $394 – $577 |
| Whole interior repaint (1700 sq ft, walls + ceilings) | 4–6 days | $4,130 | $3,386 – $4,955 |
| Exterior repaint (1700 sq ft, prep + 2 coats) | 4–7 days | $4,815 | $3,948 – $5,778 |
| Kitchen cabinet refinish (sand, prime, sprayed enamel) | 3–5 days | $1,869 | $1,532 – $2,243 |
| All trim + 6 interior doors (whole house) | 2 days | $1,179 | $967 – $1,415 |
| Ceiling paint refresh (avg 1500 sq ft) | 1 day | $671 | $551 – $806 |
| Deck stripping + restain (300 sq ft) | 2 days | $817 | $670 – $980 |
| Pre-paint pressure wash (whole exterior) | half day | $245 | $201 – $294 |
| Wallpaper removal + skim coat (one room) | 1–2 days | $543 | $446 – $652 |
Local rate = BLS national mean × 2.4 markup × (IL COL 92.1/100). 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 — typical exterior jobs are 3–5 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 — and it shows within a year.