Job takeoff
Exterior repaint of a house takeoff
Repaint the outside of a house, where preparation is most of the work: access (a scaffold, or ladders and a tower), protection, a lead check on old paint, a biocide wash, the walls and joinery prepared, filled, re-puttied and spot-primed, decayed joinery repaired, then masonry paint on the walls, gloss or trim enamel on the doors, windows and fascias, metal paint on any railings, and the clean-up.
A takeoff is the trade word for the shopping list a job produces — every material, and how much of each, worked out by its own cited calculator.
- 16Measurements in
- 810Trades out
Choose the build-up
Each layer changes the materials below; the dimensions stay the same.
Calculators behind the other choices:
Calculators behind the other choices:
Compare one layer at these dimensions, with the rest of the build-up held as you have it:
Give the job once
Every figure on the right follows these, in the units you choose.
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the exterior repaint quote check: each line is read against these same calculators — what it leaves out, what it adds, and what to ask.
Check the quoteEvery trade, from those dimensions
then change a dimension, and each line shows what moved.
| Trade | Quantity | |
|---|---|---|
Ground sheets, and tape round the windows and doorsMasking and Protection Materials CalculatorGround sheeting under every painted wall, a strip about 1 m (3 ft) wide covering paths, planting and gullies, and tape round each window and door holding masking film on the glass and the frame while the walls are painted. Each opening is taped at a window's round, which leaves a door a little short. The film is bought by the roll to the glass it covers.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Masking and Protection Materials Calculator | 6 items | |
Primer (spot prime) on bare timber, metal and fillerPaint Primer CalculatorSpot-priming what the preparation leaves bare, at the page's opening spread rate, in its half-gallon steps. The figure is only as good as the bare area you enter, which nobody knows until the joinery has been scraped: walk it then and put the number right. A different primer suits metal, and knotting goes on bare knots first.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 0.5 gallons | |
Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboardsWoodwork Paint CalculatorThe fascias, the soffits under them and the bargeboards as a run at the girth you give, carried on the page's frame run because the page measures all joinery as a run times its girth; its working calls it frames. Two coats at the page's spread rate, an undercoat and a gloss, painted first, from the top. On a quote it is one woodwork line with the doors and windows.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 0.9 gal | |
Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gablesExterior Paint CalculatorTwo coats over every painted wall, the gable triangles added and each window and door taken off, at the page's coverage for a rough outside wall, rounded up to the half gallon. Render (stucco) that has been patched, or a wall painted a strong colour over a pale one, can take a third; smooth siding takes less than rough masonry, which its page's coverage can be set to.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 12.5 gallons | |
Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their framesWoodwork Paint CalculatorThe outside face of each door painted, at the page's opening leaf, with its frame as a run up both jambs and across the head at the page's opening girth. Two coats at the page's spread rate: on sound old paint, an undercoat and a gloss; bare timber is spot-primed on its own row first.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 0.2666 gal | |
Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sillsWoodwork Paint CalculatorEvery timber window as a run round its outline at the girth you give, which stands for its frame, its sashes, any mullion or glazing bar and its sill, all spread over the outline; carried on the page's frame run, which its working calls frames. It is not a decorator's measure of the window's face, and a window with small panes takes a wider girth. Two coats at the page's spread rate, an undercoat and a gloss.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
| 0.65 gal | |
Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustradesMetalwork and Railing Paint CalculatorThe railings and gates by their length, with a bar every 125 mm (about 5 in) along it, at the page's opening rail and bar girths and height and its loss on open metalwork. Rust is wire-brushed back and primed with a metal primer first, which is not in this figure. Shown only where there are railings.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
The loss on open metalwork: the calculator's working figure, a trade convention. Change any other figure on the Metalwork and Railing Paint Calculator | 0.2556 gal | |
Skip (dumpster) or bags for the scrapings and maskingSkip & Dumpster Size CalculatorAn allowance rather than anything measured: scrapings, old putty, spent masking and sheeting and dry empty tins, taken as 2 litres loose for each square metre of wall painted (about 0.05 US gal a sq ft). Paint left liquid in a tin, and old lead paint, go for disposal as their local rules ask, not in a skip.
Why this quantity?
Resting on
Change any other figure on the Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator | 0.4409 yd³ | |
Ground sheets, and tape round the windows and doorsMasking and Protection Materials CalculatorGround sheeting under every painted wall, a strip about 1 m (3 ft) wide covering paths, planting and gullies, and tape round each window and door holding masking film on the glass and the frame while the walls are painted. Each opening is taped at a window's round, which leaves a door a little short. The film is bought by the roll to the glass it covers.
Why this quantity? | 6 items | |
Scaffold round the painted wallsScaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity CalculatorOne face along every painted wall, their lengths added together, up to the eaves: the platform the walls are washed, prepared and painted from, and the fascias reached from. It stands off the wall far enough to brush and roll behind the standards, and is struck a lift at a time as the painting comes down.
Why this quantity? | 170 m² of face | |
Scaffold lifts up the gablesScaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity CalculatorEach painted gable's triangle of wall, taken as its full width by its rise, reached by a lift or two on that end of the scaffold. Shown only where a gable is painted.
Why this quantity? | 37.5 m² of face | |
Primer (spot prime) on bare timber, metal and fillerPaint Primer CalculatorSpot-priming what the preparation leaves bare, at the page's opening spread rate, in its half-gallon steps. The figure is only as good as the bare area you enter, which nobody knows until the joinery has been scraped: walk it then and put the number right. A different primer suits metal, and knotting goes on bare knots first.
Why this quantity? | 1.89 L | |
Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboardsWoodwork Paint CalculatorThe fascias, the soffits under them and the bargeboards as a run at the girth you give, carried on the page's frame run because the page measures all joinery as a run times its girth; its working calls it frames. Two coats at the page's spread rate, an undercoat and a gloss, painted first, from the top. On a quote it is one woodwork line with the doors and windows.
Why this quantity? | 3.33 L | |
Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gablesExterior Paint CalculatorTwo coats over every painted wall, the gable triangles added and each window and door taken off, at the page's coverage for a rough outside wall, rounded up to the half gallon. Render (stucco) that has been patched, or a wall painted a strong colour over a pale one, can take a third; smooth siding takes less than rough masonry, which its page's coverage can be set to.
Why this quantity? | 47.32 L | |
Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their framesWoodwork Paint CalculatorThe outside face of each door painted, at the page's opening leaf, with its frame as a run up both jambs and across the head at the page's opening girth. Two coats at the page's spread rate: on sound old paint, an undercoat and a gloss; bare timber is spot-primed on its own row first.
Why this quantity? | 0.986 L | |
Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sillsWoodwork Paint CalculatorEvery timber window as a run round its outline at the girth you give, which stands for its frame, its sashes, any mullion or glazing bar and its sill, all spread over the outline; carried on the page's frame run, which its working calls frames. It is not a decorator's measure of the window's face, and a window with small panes takes a wider girth. Two coats at the page's spread rate, an undercoat and a gloss.
Why this quantity? | 2.4 L | |
Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustradesMetalwork and Railing Paint CalculatorThe railings and gates by their length, with a bar every 125 mm (about 5 in) along it, at the page's opening rail and bar girths and height and its loss on open metalwork. Rust is wire-brushed back and primed with a metal primer first, which is not in this figure. Shown only where there are railings.
Why this quantity? | 0.9568 L | |
Skip (dumpster) or bags for the scrapings and maskingSkip & Dumpster Size CalculatorAn allowance rather than anything measured: scrapings, old putty, spent masking and sheeting and dry empty tins, taken as 2 litres loose for each square metre of wall painted (about 0.05 US gal a sq ft). Paint left liquid in a tin, and old lead paint, go for disposal as their local rules ask, not in a skip.
Why this quantity? | 0.3411 m³ |
Estimates, not a quote. Each row gives its base, the allowance on top, the adjusted figure and what to order; change an allowance on the row, or open its reasoning to see every figure it rests on. A trade's own page carries what it does not cover — open the one you are about to order against.
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Ground sheets, and tape round the windows and doors1.3 h (0.7–2.7)
- Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboards3.0 h (1.7–6.7)
- Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gables30 h (17–67)
- Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their frames0.9 h (0.5–2.0)
- Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sills2.2 h (1.2–4.8)
- Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustrades0.8 h (0.5–1.8)
- Skip (dumpster) or bags for the scrapings and masking0.3 h (0.2–1.0)
About 39 person-hours in all, between 22 and 86.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourerunder a quarter of a day
- Painter1 painter4½ days
About 5 days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
1 row carries no hours of its own
- Primer (spot prime) on bare timber, metal and filler: counted with Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboards and Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gables and Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their frames and Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sills and Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustrades
Labour and programme
Person-hours for the rows going in, from trade rules of thumb: a range for each piece of work, never a price.
- Ground sheets, and tape round the windows and doors1.4 h (0.7–2.7)
- Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboards3.0 h (1.7–6.7)
- Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gables31 h (17–68)
- Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their frames0.9 h (0.5–2.0)
- Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sills2.2 h (1.2–4.8)
- Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustrades0.8 h (0.4–1.8)
- Skip (dumpster) or bags for the scrapings and masking0.3 h (0.2–1.0)
About 39 person-hours in the rows that carry them, between 22 and 87.
Trade by trade
- Labourer1 labourerunder a quarter of a day
- Painter1 painter4½ days
About 5 days, one trade after another at eight hours a day. Left out: drying and curing, deliveries, inspections, trades overlapping.
3 rows carry no hours of their own
- Scaffold round the painted walls: Scaffolding is not rated here: it is usually erected by a scaffolding firm and priced as hire, and where your own crew puts it up, the system and the height set the time.
- Scaffold lifts up the gables: Scaffolding is not rated here: it is usually erected by a scaffolding firm and priced as hire, and where your own crew puts it up, the system and the height set the time.
- Primer (spot prime) on bare timber, metal and filler: counted with Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboards and Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gables and Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their frames and Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sills and Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustrades
Setups you have saved
The build-up, the dimensions and any allowance you changed — kept on this device, and reusable on any job. Your prices are not copied in: they stay in your price book, so a setup never holds a stale one.
How far does a budget go?
At your own prices, with this build-up unchanged.
About this job
Paint on the outside of a house lasts as long as the surface under it, which is why a repaint is mostly preparation. The walls are washed down with a biocide to kill the moss and algae, hollow render is tapped out and patched, and a chalky face gets a stabilising solution so the new coat has something to hold. The joinery is scraped back to sound paint, taken to bare timber where the old coating has failed, filled, sanded and caulked, and loose putty round the glass is cut out and renewed; soft timber in a sill, a frame or a fascia is cut out and spliced or filled with resin. Only then does anything get painted, top down, on dry surfaces, in weather the paint maker allows.
The rows measure what gets coated. The masonry paint (exterior wall paint, a latex or acrylic over siding in North America) covers the walls all round, the gable triangles above the eaves included, less the windows and doors. The woodwork's undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) is measured as runs times a painted girth: each door by its face with its frame as a run round it, each window as a run round its outline at a girth wide enough to take in the sashes, the glazing bars and any mullion as well as the frame, and the fascias and bargeboards as a run at a girth that takes in the soffit under them, all read as one woodwork line on a quote. Bare patches after scraping are spot-primed, railings and gates take a metal paint, and a wall of open blockwork painted for the first time takes a block filler before its two coats.
The units pick the access. With metric showing, the walls are painted from a scaffold round the house, the usual British way for a two-storey house, with a lift up each gable to its apex; with imperial showing, from ladders and a tower or a lift, the usual North American way, which is listed as work rather than measured. Either is one choice away in either system.
Old paint can hide lead. In the US, paid work that disturbs paint in a home built before 1978 falls under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, with a certified firm and lead-safe work practices; in Britain, paint from before the 1990s is tested before it is sanded or burnt off. The test is a provisional item because nobody knows what it finds until the samples are taken, and the repair of decayed joinery is provisional for the same reason: how much of a sill is soft is found with a bradawl, not from the ground.
How each line reads
- Base
- What the calculator gives for these dimensions, before anything is added.
- Allowance
- Cutting waste, a lap or spare stock — named, with where it comes from, and changeable on the row.
- Adjusted
- The base with its allowance on top.
- Order
- What to buy: the adjusted figure in whole boards, bags, rolls or lengths.
The order this happens in
Quantities do not tell you the sequence, and on this job the sequence is where the money goes wrong.
- Have any old paint tested for lead before it is disturbed, and any textured coating or soffit board old enough to contain asbestos checked; agree the colours and the products, and when the weather allows the work.
- Put up the scaffold, or set out the ladders and the tower, and spread ground sheeting under every painted wall over the paths and planting; film over the windows, the doors and anything fixed to the wall.
- Switch off the circuit to the outside lights before they come down, and unscrew them with the downpipes (downspouts), dishes and signs that are painted behind; brush on the biocide, leave it the time its maker gives, then wash the walls and joinery down and let them dry.
- Prepare the walls: tap out and patch hollow render, rake out and fill cracks, and brush a stabilising solution onto any chalky face; on open blockwork, fill the pores with the block filler.
- Prepare the joinery: scrape and sand back to sound paint, strip what has failed to bare timber, cut out rot and splice or resin-fill it, cut out loose putty and re-putty, fill and caulk the joints, and spot-prime every bare patch of timber, metal and filler.
- Paint from the top down: the fascias, bargeboards and soffits first, then the walls in two coats of masonry paint, each wall finished corner to corner in one session so no lap marks show, sprayed or rolled.
- Paint the window frames, doors and sills with their undercoat and gloss (trim enamel), and the railings and gates with a metal paint, then refix the downpipes, lights and signs.
- Take down the sheets and masking, clear the scrapings and old putty, walk every face from the ground and the scaffold while it is still up, and give the owner a note of the colours and products used, with the lead test's result.
What this takeoff does not cover
- Replace a sill, frame, door, fascia board, bargeboard or length of trim too far gone to splice: that is replacement work, and none of it is listed here.
- Re-render a wall, or patch it beyond the hollow areas tapped out: the new coat, and the damp or movement that made the old one fail.
- Roofline replacement: new fascias, soffits, bargeboards or gutters in uPVC or aluminium, and the scaffold or access they need beyond this job's.
- The lead test's method and its result, and the lead abatement itself where the test finds lead: removal, encapsulation or specialist cleaning is a licensed or certified trade's work, and none of it is listed.
- Paint on the gutters, downpipes (downspouts) and hoppers, cast iron or not, and on shutters, the porch ceiling, the chimney stack, the roof, fences, sheds, decks and paths: none is measured here, and each is priced as an item of its own.
- Reglazing: a cracked pane or a failed sealed unit is replaced by a glazier. Loose putty round sound glass is cut out and renewed, which is not reglazing.
- The colour itself, and any permission a new colour needs where the house is listed, where the area's planning rules control it, or where a homeowners' association sets the colours.
Quote check
Been given a quote for this job?
Paste it into the exterior repaint quote check. Every line of it is read against these same calculators and your measurements. Quantities only, never prices.
What it leaves out
Every line this takeoff has that nothing on the quote reads as.
What it adds
Labour, removal, hire, fees — each named for what it is.
What to ask
One list of questions, ready to copy. Never a verdict.
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the exterior repaint takeoff give for a typical job?
- Opened at Length of wall painted, all round 34 m · Height painted, ground to eaves 5 m · Gable walls painted to the apex 2 · Gable width, each 7.5 m · Gable's rise from the eaves to its peak 2.5 m · Windows in the painted walls 10 · Window width, average 1.2 m · Window height, average 1.2 m · Outside doors in the painted walls 2 · Timber windows painted 10 · Painted girth of a window, per length of outline 0.25 m · Doors painted 2 · Fascias and bargeboards painted 37 m · Fascia and soffit girth painted 0.45 m · Bare patches to spot-prime 3 m² · Railings and gates painted 6 m, it orders: Ground sheets, and tape round the windows and doors, 6 items; Scaffold round the painted walls, 170 m² of face; Scaffold lifts up the gables, 37.5 m² of face; Primer (spot prime) on bare timber, metal and filler, 1.89 L; Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboards, 3.33 L; Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gables, 47.3 L; Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their frames, 0.99 L; Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sills, 2.4 L; Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustrades, 0.96 L; Skip (dumpster) or bags for the scrapings and masking, 0.34 m³. Opened at Length of wall painted, all round 110 ft · Height painted, ground to eaves 16.5 ft · Gable walls painted to the apex 2 · Gable width, each 25 ft · Gable's rise from the eaves to its peak 8 ft · Windows in the painted walls 10 · Window width, average 4 ft · Window height, average 4 ft · Outside doors in the painted walls 2 · Timber windows painted 10 · Painted girth of a window, per length of outline 9.75 in · Doors painted 2 · Fascias and bargeboards painted 120 ft · Fascia and soffit girth painted 18 in · Bare patches to spot-prime 32 sq ft · Railings and gates painted 19.5 ft: Ground sheets, and tape round the windows and doors, 6 items; Primer (spot prime) on bare timber, metal and filler, 0.5 gallons; Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the fascias, soffits and bargeboards, 0.9 gal; Masonry or siding paint on the walls and gables, 12.5 gallons; Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the doors and their frames, 0.27 gal; Undercoat and gloss (trim enamel) on the windows and their sills, 0.65 gal; Metal paint on the railings, gates and balustrades, 0.26 gal; Skip (dumpster) or bags for the scrapings and masking, 0.44 yd³. Every figure follows the dimensions you give it.
- Which calculators does the exterior repaint takeoff run?
- 6 calculators, for 8 lines: Masking and Protection Materials Calculator, Paint Primer Calculator, Woodwork Paint Calculator, Exterior Paint Calculator, Metalwork and Railing Paint Calculator, Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.7 calculators, for 10 lines: Masking and Protection Materials Calculator, Scaffold Face Area and Hire Quantity Calculator, Paint Primer Calculator, Woodwork Paint Calculator, Exterior Paint Calculator, Metalwork and Railing Paint Calculator, Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator. Each has a page of its own with its formula and its sources; the takeoff runs them all on one set of dimensions.
- What does the exterior repaint takeoff leave out?
- 7 things, each named on this page: Replace a sill, frame, door, fascia board, bargeboard or length of trim too far gone to splice; Re-render a wall, or patch it beyond the hollow areas tapped out; Roofline replacement; The lead test's method and its result, and the lead abatement itself where the test finds lead; Paint on the gutters, downpipes (downspouts) and hoppers, cast iron or not, and on shutters, the porch ceiling, the chimney stack, the roof, fences, sheds, decks and paths; Reglazing; The colour itself, and any permission a new colour needs where the house is listed, where the area's planning rules control it, or where a homeowners' association sets the colours.
- Can I check a quote for this job against the takeoff?
- Yes. The exterior repaint quote check reads a quote's lines against these same calculators and your measurements, and reports what it leaves out, what it adds and what to ask. It reads quantities, never prices.