Preparation, not painting
On an older Ottawa home, prep is routinely half the labour: filling, sanding, caulking, deglossing, priming and repairing. It is invisible in the finished result and it is the single largest line in an honest quote.
2026 Ottawa price guide
How Much Does House Painting Cost in Ottawa?
Real ranges for interior, exterior and cabinet work in Ottawa — written by a painter who has been quoting jobs in this city for 27 years, not by a lead-generation site.
The short answer: interior painting in Ottawa costs about $2 to $6 per square foot of wall area including labour and materials, exterior painting about $3 to $8 per square foot of paintable surface, and kitchen cabinet refinishing $3,500 to $7,500 for a typical kitchen. A full interior repaint of a detached home usually lands between $6,500 and $14,000; a townhouse between $4,500 and $7,500.
Those ranges are wide for a reason, and the reason is prep. Two houses of identical size can differ by thousands because one has oil-based trim that needs deglossing and bonding primer, cracked plaster to repair, and a dark red feature wall that needs three coats to cover, while the other is a five-year-old build with clean drywall. Nobody can price your house accurately without walking it — anyone who quotes you a firm number over the phone is either guessing high to protect themselves or guessing low and planning to revise it later.
Interior painting costs by room
| Project | Typical range | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Single bedroom (10×12), walls only | $400 – $650 | Two coats, one colour, standard 8 ft ceiling |
| Bedroom, walls + ceiling + trim | $700 – $1,100 | Adds ceiling, baseboards, casings and door |
| Living or family room | $800 – $1,600 | Varies most with ceiling height and window count |
| Hallway and staircase | $600 – $1,400 | Two-storey open stairwells need staging, not ladders |
| Kitchen (walls and ceiling, not cabinets) | $500 – $900 | Cut-in around cabinets and backsplash is the work |
| Bathroom | $350 – $600 | Moisture-rated finish; small but detail-heavy |
| Finished basement level | $1,800 – $3,500 | Priced after drywall and taping are complete |
| Whole townhouse interior | $4,500 – $7,500 | Walls, ceilings, trim and doors, all levels |
| Whole detached home interior | $6,500 – $14,000 | 3–5 bedrooms; ceiling height drives the range |
Ranges assume two coats of quality paint on prepared surfaces with standard 8 ft ceilings. Nine- and ten-foot ceilings, open-to-above spaces and heavy trim packages all push toward the upper end. A colour change from dark to light usually adds a coat.
Cabinets, ceilings, exteriors and specialty work
| Service | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen cabinet refinishing | $3,500 – $7,500 | Doors sprayed off-site; 30–60% of replacement cost |
| Bathroom vanity refinishing | $450 – $900 | Usually added to a cabinet or interior project |
| Stipple / popcorn ceiling removal | $3.50 – $7.00 / sq ft | Previously painted texture costs more to strip |
| Converting oil trim to latex | +$3 – $6 / linear ft | Degloss and bonding primer; skipping this is why trim peels |
| Wallpaper removal | $2 – $5 / sq ft | Depends on layers and whether the wall was primed first |
| Drywall repair (per patch) | $120 – $400 | Nail pops, cracks and holes; large areas quoted separately |
| Exterior painting (paintable surface) | $3 – $8 / sq ft | Prep condition and access drive the range |
| Front door + garage door refinishing | $550 – $1,200 | The highest-visibility exterior job for the money |
| Deck or fence staining | $2.50 – $5 / sq ft | Wash, sand failed coating, then penetrating stain |
Stipple ceiling removal in homes built before roughly 1980 requires asbestos testing on the texture before any scraping begins. That testing is a separate, modest cost and it is not optional — it is the difference between a renovation and a contamination.
What actually drives your quote
Number of coats
Two coats is the professional standard. One coat over builder flat or a colour change will look thin and patchy within a year. If a quote seems unusually low, this is usually where the difference is hiding.
Ceiling height and access
Anything above a standard 8 ft ceiling needs staging rather than ladders. Two-storey foyers and open stairwells are the most commonly under-quoted spaces in Ottawa homes.
Trim, doors and detail
Trim work is priced by linear foot and by complexity. A room with crown moulding, wainscoting, deep casings and four doors can cost more to trim out than to paint the walls.
Surface condition
Plaster cracks, water damage, nail pops, previous bad patches and failing caulking all get repaired before painting. Skipping this saves money for about one season.
Paint quality
Premium lines from Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams cost more per gallon and cover better, wash better and last longer. On a whole-home project the paint itself is a small fraction of the total — this is a poor place to economise.
How our pricing works
We quote every project as a fixed written price after visiting your home. Not an hourly rate, not a range, and not a number subject to revision once we are halfway through. A small booking deposit holds your start date, and the balance is due only after we walk the finished work together and you are satisfied with it. Everything we do carries a two-year written workmanship guarantee.
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Cost questions
Ottawa painting costs, answered.
How much does it cost to paint a house in Ottawa?
A full interior repaint of a detached Ottawa home — walls, ceilings, trim and doors — typically runs $6,500 to $14,000, and a townhouse $4,500 to $7,500. Exterior painting generally falls between $3,000 and $8,500 depending on size, surface material and how much preparation the surfaces need. Per square foot, interior work runs about $2 to $6 and exterior about $3 to $8, including labour and materials.
How much does it cost to paint a single room in Ottawa?
A standard 10×12 bedroom costs roughly $400 to $650 for walls only, or $700 to $1,100 with the ceiling, trim and door included. Rooms with vaulted ceilings, extensive trim, or a dark colour being covered by a light one sit at the upper end because they need an extra coat.
Is it cheaper to paint kitchen cabinets or replace them?
Refinishing is dramatically cheaper. A professional cabinet refinishing job in Ottawa runs $3,500 to $7,500, while replacing the same kitchen typically starts around $15,000 and climbs from there. Refinishing takes about a week rather than several, and you keep your existing layout. It only stops making sense when the boxes themselves are water-damaged or falling apart.
Why do painting quotes in Ottawa vary so much?
Almost always because of preparation and coats, which are the two things a low quote quietly removes. One coat over a dark wall will not cover. Latex over unprimed oil trim will peel. Painting over unrepaired cracks means the cracks come back. When quotes differ by thousands, ask each painter how many coats they are including, what prep is in the price, and which products they are specifying — the cheap quote usually answers differently.
Do painters charge by the hour or by the job in Ottawa?
Both exist. Hourly rates of $25 to $75 are common for small repairs and touch-ups. For anything larger, a fixed price for the whole project is safer for the homeowner, because it puts the risk of the job taking longer on the painter rather than on you. We quote every project as a fixed written price after an on-site visit.
When is painting cheapest in Ottawa?
Interior work is easiest to book — and easiest to schedule around your calendar — from January through April, after the autumn rush and before exterior season starts. Exterior painting has no cheap season because the weather window is only April to October, but booking in February or March gets you the dates you want. An empty home before move-in is genuinely less expensive to paint than a furnished one, since there is nothing to mask or move.
Get a quote in your neighbourhood
Prices shift a little by housing stock rather than by postal code — an older Nepean bungalow needs different work than a new Riverside South build. Pick your area for specifics.
Stop guessing. Get a fixed price.
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