Field guide

An Exterior Painting Estimate App for Bids You Can Defend

Exterior repaints have more ways to lose money than any other painting work: hidden prep, access surprises, weather, and scope edges ("does the detached garage count?"). The fix isn't caution — it's writing the job down properly at the walkthrough, while every elevation is in front of you.

Walk the elevations, talk the scope

Circle the house once with your phone: "south elevation — lap siding, chalking, two windows peeling to bare wood; west — gable trim needs scraping, second-story access over the sunroom roof; front door and shutters in the accent color." Speak it, shoot the problem areas, and FieldSquire drafts the lines: wash, scrape and prime, siding by coats, trim by linear foot, doors and shutters by count.

Price prep like the separate job it is

On sound surfaces, exterior painting is pleasant, predictable production. On failing paint it's a restoration project with a paint job at the end. Separate lines for pressure washing, scraping, priming bare wood, caulking, and carpentry allowances tell the customer what their house actually needs — and when the low bidder skipped those lines, your quote explains the difference for you.

Access is a line item too

A walk-out ranch and a three-story Victorian can carry the same square footage and wildly different hours. Note stories, steep grades, decks and roofs you'll work over, and anything needing staging or a lift. Naming access in the estimate keeps the hours defensible and flags the rental cost before it eats the margin.

The exterior walkthrough checklist

Ten items, one lap of the house. Photograph anything you hesitate on:

• Siding type and footage per elevation (lap, board-and-batten, stucco, brick to be painted?)
• Paint condition tier: sound / chalking / peeling to bare wood
• Linear feet of fascia, soffit, and gable trim — and how much is reachable from a ladder
• Window and door counts, shutters on or off
• Carpentry allowances: rotten sills, failed caulk joints, popped nails
• Stories per elevation and what you'll work over (roofs, decks, plantings)
• Pressure-wash scope and water access
• Surfaces excluded — detached structures, fences, railings — named as exclusions
• Color count (each additional color is cut time)
• Staging: lift rental, plank work, or long-ladder only

Every hesitation you photograph becomes either a priced line or a written exclusion. Both protect the job.

Send it while they're still standing in the yard

Review the drafted lines against your production rates — corrections become your private prices for next time — set the deposit, and send the branded PDF for e-signature from the driveway. Exterior season is short; the painter who quotes same-day books the calendar first. The painting estimating app is free for 14 days. Pricing the job's margin? Check it with the free margin calculator.