How much does it cost to paint a house in NZ?

Typical costs to paint a house in Auckland

The cost to paint a house comes down to how much of it you are painting and how big it is. For a single-storey, three-bedroom Auckland home of about 150 m², typical prices including GST are $8,500 to $15,000 for the exterior, $8,000 to $12,500 for the interior and $5,000 to $11,000 for the roof. Doing all three usually comes to $25,000 to $38,000.

A two-storey home costs more, because there is more wall to paint and the outside needs scaffolding.

These are typical Auckland ranges, not IDW's price list. We price every job in writing after seeing it, because the condition of the surfaces matters more than the floor area.

Preparation is where the money goes

Paint is rarely the expensive part of a repaint. On an older house, a painter typically spends 60–70% of the time on preparation: washing, scraping, sanding, filling, priming and repairs. Skip it and the paint will not hold. A finish that should last 10 to 15 years can start failing in 3 to 5.

If the house has not been painted for ten years or more, allow $2,000 to $5,000 for preparation on top of the base cost. These are the items that most often push the price up:

• Peeling or flaking paint. Scraping back, sanding and spot priming can add $1,000 to $3,000 on a full exterior.
• Mould, moss and lichen, common on shaded, south-facing walls. Washing, water blasting and treating them typically adds $500 to $1,500.
• Rotten weatherboards, fascias or sills. These need a builder before painting, typically $500 to $2,000 or more, and should be a separate line on the quote.
• Lead-based paint, common on homes built before 1980. It should be tested before anything is sanded and then removed safely, which typically adds $1,000 to $2,000.
• Cracks, dents and popped screws inside. These need plaster or GIB stopping repairs first, or they show through the new paint.

Other things that set the price

• Storeys. A two-storey house has far more wall than a single-storey house on the same footprint.
• Scaffolding. Usually little or none on a single-storey house (up to about $1,500), $2,000 to $5,000 on a standard two-storey house, and $3,000 to $7,000 or more on a steep or awkward site.
• Cladding. Timber weatherboards are the most straightforward. Fibre cement edges soak up paint and need sealing. Brick and concrete block are porous and need a masonry primer. Steel cladding and roofing need any rust treated first.
• Plaster-clad homes from the 1990s and 2000s. Some have weathertightness problems, so cracks and soft spots should be checked before painting. We paint plaster-clad homes, but we plaster interiors only, so an exterior plaster repair is a job for a cladding specialist.
• Paint quality. A premium paint typically costs 10–20% more than a budget one, and in Auckland's sun, salt air and rain it is usually worth it.
• Exposure and access. Homes near the coast need coatings suited to salt air, character homes have more trim and more layers of old paint, and steep sites take longer to set up.
• Ceiling height and trim, inside. High ceilings and a lot of skirting, architraves and doors add time.

Interior painting costs by room

Interior work is not held up by the weather, so it can be done any time of year. These are typical Auckland ranges including GST. Ceilings and trim are listed separately, so check whether a room price you are given includes them.

Wall condition moves an interior price the most. Plaster and crack repairs typically add $200 to $1,000 a room and removing old wallpaper $300 to $800 a room. Going from a dark colour to a light one needs an extra undercoat, typically $200 to $500 a room.

Roofs, timing and scaffolding

Older steel roofs may need rust treated and primed before painting, and shaded tile roofs need moss and lichen treated first. If the walls and the roof both need doing, do them together: one scaffold serves both jobs, so you pay for it once rather than twice.

Exterior paint needs dry weather and temperatures above 10°C while it goes on and dries, so most exterior work happens in the warmer months. Book early if you want a summer start.

What a good painting quote includes

Two quotes for the same house can be thousands of dollars apart, and usually the cheaper one has left something out: preparation, a coat of paint or the scaffolding. Be wary of a single figure with no breakdown. A quote you can compare should set out:

• The paint product and the number of coats on each surface, not just “premium paint”.
• Preparation line by line: washing, sanding, filling, priming and repairs.
• Scaffolding as its own line.
• What is excluded, such as carpentry, asbestos or lead paint removal.
• A start date, how long the job should take, and what happens if it rains.
• Payment terms. Being asked for the full amount up front is a warning sign.

How IDW prices a painting job

Hadi Haidary, who owns IDW, sees every job before he quotes it, and he oversees the work. The free quote includes a wall health check, valued at $397: we look over the job, tell you what actually needs doing, and put the price in writing. The price we quote is the price you pay.

One crew does the plaster repairs, GIB stopping and painting, so the preparation is part of the job rather than a second trade to line up, and there is no other trade to blame if the finish is not right. Outside, the same crew washes and water blasts the house before painting. Every job is covered by one 5-year workmanship guarantee, and IDW is rated 5.0 on Google.

Fay Lilian, Google review: “Hadi and colleague did an excellent job plastering as needed, then painting the frames of my new aluminum door and windows. They worked efficiently all day, and the cost was very reasonable indeed. I will use them again.”

We work across Auckland City, East Auckland, South Auckland, West Auckland and the North Shore. Call 027 521 7411 or 0800 33 1371 for a free quote.