Commercial Painting

How much would you guys charge to paint a building. I am talking about commerical painting, not residential. If I am correct commercial painting is harder cause it takes different paints and more details. anyone wanna tell me how much they would charge or whats the market like?
also would you charge extra if they want wallcoverings in certain areas? how would you price that? thanks.

Your question is way too general to get any kind of serious answer.

Is commercial work priced differently? Yes
How is the market? Brutal
Charge extra for wallcovering? Obviously
How would you price that? Like most any other w/c jobs

See what I mean?

How much do you charge to paint a residential house?

I charge between $1.25 to $1.30 per square foot to paint residential. This depends of course on the job type and amount of units.
For commercial I am not sure what to charge per square foot.
as far as wall coverings, we know how to do it, but I don't know how much I should charge extra per foot or something.

What included in the $1.25-$1.30 sq.? 1 coat or 2? Is that wall surface footage or "footprint" footage?, door and windows included? what extent of prep is included?..interior or exterior?...anyway, you see where I'm going with this. Need more info.

Most commercial wallcovering jobs are bid by the lin. ft. Prices range between $4 a yd. ( for gypsy vinyl jockeys) to $15 a yd. ( for smaller, specialized jobs).

$8-$10 is the norm for vinyl, depends on how much can be hung per man-day.

everything is included, no exterior painting, only interior. Prepped, windows, and doors. 3 coats of paint. for that price.
so for wallcoverings, does that price include the painting too?

No. That is just installation/materials (adhesive, blades, etc.). Some will throw in priming with that, but I don't, that is extra in my book.

Is this new construction? Why 3 coats? primer 2 tops?
How many different products and colors? how much trim and what kind of doors and windows? how high are the ceilings? is the building occupied? You're paying for materials? Is it clearly understood which "sq. ft." the bid is based on..floor or surface?

the square foot I take is just the who area. Like I just multiply the length by the width of the room.
Everything is included. The trim is not major, just a couple of moldings and doors.
This is for new construction, so the building is not occupied. Of course if the ceiling is high then I charge a lil more. Just wondering what a BASE price for commeical construction is. Like for Drywall the market is like $42 to $45 a sheet, I was wondering what the paint was. Please someone that worked with big commercial contracts tell me what the market price is. I know everything abour residential but I am expanding.

NSolano,
I guess you can figure sq.ft. like that if you can but you still have to figure actual sq.ft. in order to estimate how much materials to buy.

If you go by the length x width of a room you have a total of how many sq.ft. in the floor or ceiling.

A room 15x20' has 300 sq.ft. using your method. If you figure 3 coats and buy materials to cover 900 sq/ft. you're way short.

A room 15x20' has 70 lineal ft. if the walls are 8' tall you have 560 sq.ft. of surface x 3 coats = 1680 sq.ft. of surface to paint. Add the ceiling area of 300 sq.ft x 3 coats and you have 2580 sq.ft. to paint and buy materials for.

The "little" things can be real time eaters...doors, windows. trim, moldings etc.
If you mean all this is included in a price of $1.30 sq.ft. of floor space you're going to come up real short. That 15x20 foot room bid at $1.30 sq.ft. is a total of $390.
If you mean by "everythings included in that price" that you're buying the paint You'll spend $250. on paint...4 different kinds...primer..ceiling, wall, trim/window/door paint.

Maybe I'm not figureing it right..How big is the whole project you're looking at and what is your ball park guess to bid?

well i have never bid on commericial work, but i worked for a commercial contracting buisness called C&J Contracting out of Campbell Ca.

In terms of job quality, its seemed to me like commercial was just a cosmetic job to the buildings to make it look pretty a certain amount of time. We would go in and just water blast the building( concentrating more on the lower half of the building) and then let it dry for a day, then we would just go in and start painting, and i mean painting over peeling paint and rust and unprimered spots. we would only cover windows and bushes. So in terms of detail, this company made it seem to me that detail wasn't a priority, production was the priority.

Hi all, I need some information on union jobs. How can a nonunion painting company paint a union company building?

Ps. I live in St.Louis,MO

Wow, all the painters from StL are popping up in one day.
Work nights and weekends, make sure to park your trucks at least a block away.

LOL, thanks we had to hide out in 1997. Just starting back up the business this year. First year fully insured.

No, that was me: teewee I had to see if I liked the site.

i am non union and do alot of union work . i explain to who i am doing work for that being non union is why i am a little more affordable then they are and that the union may picket or raise a little stink over me doing the work. i have yet to lose any job over the union picketing me and they have many times. :Thumbs:

Or join the union! We are a non-union company, but I am a card carrier, mainly cause I sometimes get called on jobs that are union and a card is needed. From my experience, if the job is "run" by a union GC , or builder, only union shops will be invited to bid. Normally I am goldleafing on site and before I joined, the unions didnt have leafers in the locals so I didnt get really harrased. But on a job in MI they were strict so that for me to work, I had to join. There are some citys that are strong and if a non union painter came in, the job shuts down, elect, plumb, plasters all go home so what happens is they cant afford that so they dump the painter. Good luck! IUPAT..