What painting costs on the Front Range
The published per-square-foot ranges, a calculator that shows its math, and the handful of things that push a real quote up or down.
Deciding whether to paint this year or next? Our Denver team built a paint-now-or-wait calculator that uses federal price data and Denver repair costs.
On Colorado's Front Range, published 2026 cost data puts exterior painting at about $1.55 to $4.10 per square foot of paintable surface, interior painting at about $2 to $6 per square foot, and kitchen cabinet painting at $30 to $60 per linear foot (about $2,000 to $8,000 for a 20 to 32 piece kitchen at Angi’s national $100 to $250 per door) (against $15,000 to $30,000 or more to replace the cabinets). Where a project lands inside those ranges depends mostly on the condition of what is there now.
Sanity-check a number
This multiplies your area by the published per-square-foot range. It is a market range, not our quote, and it assumes nothing about condition.
1,800 sq ft × $1.55 to $4.10 per sq ft, Angi’s 2026 Denver exterior range.
Seven things that decide where your quote lands
| Factor | How much it matters | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Old paint condition | Most of all | A faded but tight coat needs washing. Flaking paint means hours of scraping, sanding and spot-priming before color goes on. |
| Repairs underneath | Can exceed the paint | Soft trim, swollen hardboard and cracked stucco are fixed first, and that is carpentry time. |
| Detail | High on old houses | Brackets, spindles and divided windows take far longer per square foot than flat siding. |
| Height and access | Noticeable | Walkout rear walls, steep lots and tall stairwells need more ladder work or staging. |
| Built before 1978 | Adds time | Lead-safe containment and cleanup under the federal rule. |
| Altitude and travel | Moderate | Mountain sun justifies a better product line, and the drive and short season are planned in. |
| Big color change | Moderate | Going dark to light, or to a deep red or blue, can take an extra coat or a tinted primer. |
Paying for a paint job twice
Here is an illustration, not a quote. A cheap bid skips washing, scraping and primer and looks fine for a season or two. Then it starts to peel, because it was never really stuck to anything. The next painter has to take that failed coat off before doing the job properly. You end up paying for the cheap job, the removal and the proper job, which is why our estimates list the preparation surface by surface instead of saying "prep as needed."
Ways to spend less without cutting prep
- Schedule interiors in winter. November through March is the easiest time to get the dates you want.
- Split the exterior by side. South and west walls fail first; do them now and the rest next year.
- Keep it to one trip. Doing the whole exterior at once avoids paying for setup twice.
- Book the shoulder months. September often has fewer rain days than early summer; see what a painting week really looks like.
- Buy the right amount of paint. If you supply your own, work it out first with the exterior gallons calculator.
- Move furniture and clear shelves before an interior crew arrives.
- Re-aim the sprinklers. Water hitting the bottom of a wall ruins paint there every year.
- Team up with a neighbor. Two houses on one street in one trip saves on both.
25% off labor, booked by November 15, 2026
Projects booked by November 15, 2026 get 25% off the labor portion of the estimate. Paint and materials are not discounted. The reduction is shown on the written estimate itself, so the number you approve is the number you pay.
Ask about dates when you call; the offer is about when the project is booked, and we will confirm what that means for your start date in writing.
Comparing our number with someone else's
Put the estimates side by side and check four lines: the preparation listed for each surface, the product and sheen, the number of coats and the written warranty. Ours carries a 5-year workmanship warranty.
Cost questions
What does it cost to paint the outside of a house in Colorado?
Angi’s 2026 Denver cost data puts exterior painting at about $1.55 to $4.10 per square foot of paintable wall surface. A ranch with 1,800 square feet of siding and trim would fall somewhere between roughly $2,800 and $7,400 on those numbers; the condition of the old paint decides where in that span it lands.
Is paintable surface the same as the size of my house?
No. Floor area tells you little about an exterior. Walk the outside: the perimeter in feet times the wall height (about 9 feet per story) gives a rough wall area, and gables add more. Interiors are usually priced from the floor area of the rooms being painted.
Why do two painting bids differ by thousands?
Line them up on four things: the preparation listed, the exact product and sheen, how many coats, and the written warranty. The lower number is almost always smaller on one of those four.
Are estimates free?
Yes, in person or from photos, with no obligation. We do not follow up with a sales sequence.
How does payment work?
A deposit holds your start date and the balance is due when the work is finished and you have walked it with us. The terms are printed on the estimate.
Does the 25% October discount apply to materials?
No. It applies to labor on projects booked by November 15, 2026. Paint and materials are billed at the normal rate.
Get your actual number
Photos of each surface plus the year built is usually enough for a written estimate, without a site visit.
Prefer to talk it through? 720-208-5645