Paint Types and What They Cost
The paint your painter uses affects both the upfront cost and how long the job lasts. Understanding the tiers helps you evaluate quotes.
Choosing the Right Finish
Each paint finish has a practical purpose. The standard Australian interior combination is flat on ceilings, low sheen on walls, and semi-gloss on trim.
Flat / matt (0–5% gloss). Hides surface imperfections and reduces ceiling glare. Harder to clean, so only suited to ceilings and very low-traffic rooms.
Low sheen (10–25% gloss). The most popular wall finish in Australia. Subtle sheen, good washability, forgiving on minor surface defects. Dulux Wash & Wear Low Sheen and Taubmans Endure Low Sheen are the two dominant products.
Semi-gloss (35–70% gloss). Moisture-resistant and easy to wipe clean. Standard for bathrooms, kitchens, laundries, skirting boards, architraves, and door frames. Shows surface imperfections more than low sheen.
High gloss (70–90% gloss). Maximum durability. Suited to front doors and highlight trim on period homes. Shows every bump and imperfection, so surfaces must be well-prepared.
What Affects the Cost
Number of rooms. A standard 3x4m bedroom repaint (walls only) runs $500–$900. Including ceiling and trim pushes to $900–$1,400 per room. Whole-house repaints attract better per-room rates: a 3-bedroom house typically runs $4,000–$8,000; a 4-bedroom house $7,500–$12,000+. Per-square-metre rates sit at $25–$35/m2 for walls in good condition, rising to $35–$45/m2 for walls needing above-average prep.
Wall and ceiling condition. Walls with cracks, holes, peeling paint, or water damage need extensive prep, and may need separate
plaster repair at $200–$1,600 per job before painting can begin. This can double the cost of a single room compared to walls in good condition. Gap filler runs $5–$19 per tube (Selleys No More Gaps ~$6, Selleys Spakfilla Rapid ~$15). For homes with mould (common in Melbourne and Brisbane), the mould must be killed and the surface primed before any paint goes on.
Ceiling height. Standard 2.4m ceilings are straightforward. Anything above 2.7m requires scaffolding or baker's scaffolds, adding cost per room. Period homes with 3m+ ceilings and warehouse conversions with 4m+ ceilings are significantly more expensive.
Colour change. Going from dark walls to white (or the reverse) means 3–4 coats instead of 2. Each additional coat adds both labour time and paint cost.
Trim and woodwork. Skirting boards, architraves, door frames, and window frames are labour-intensive to paint. Including trim can add 30–40% to a room's cost. Trim requires a separate enamel paint ($28–$35/L) applied with a brush, not a roller. If you are replacing
cornices, allow $150–$1,600 per job for supply and installation, with old cornice removal extra, and have them installed and filled before the painter arrives.
Paint quality. The difference between builder's grade ($10–$14/L) and mid-range washable ($16–$23/L) is roughly $100–$200 in materials for a 3-bedroom house. Most painters recommend mid-range for owner-occupied homes, where the better durability and washability justify the small uplift.
Furniture movement. If the painter needs to move heavy furniture rather than working in a cleared room, some charge extra. Clearing rooms yourself keeps the quote lower.
A single bedroom repaint in a modern home with good walls and standard ceilings sits toward $400. A full interior repaint of a 3-bedroom house with high ceilings, colour changes, extensive wall repairs, and all trim included pushes toward $1,600.
Lead Paint: Know Before You Sand
Any Australian home built before 1970 very likely has lead paint under the current layers. Pre-1950s paint could contain up to 50% lead by weight. Even homes built between 1970 and 1997 may contain lead paint, though at lower concentrations (the maximum was progressively reduced from 50% to 1% to 0.25% to the current limit of 0.1%).
If walls need sanding or scraping before repainting, test first. DIY lead test kits (3M LeadCheck Swabs) cost $10–$15 from Bunnings but have limited sensitivity. Professional XRF (X-ray fluorescence) testing gives more reliable results: a full assessment for a 3-bedroom home costs $550–$850. Laboratory analysis of paint chip samples runs $200–$600 depending on the number of samples.
Under AS/NZS 4361.2:2017, lead paint must never be dry-sanded, dry-scraped, or burned off. Safe methods include wet sanding, chemical strippers, or encapsulation (painting over intact lead paint with a suitable primer). Projects disturbing more than 10 m2 of lead paint in 12 months require a qualified lead abatement contractor.
If the existing lead paint is intact and in sound condition, painting over it with a bonding primer and two topcoats is the safest and most cost-effective approach. Disturbance is where the risk lies.
City and Regional Price Comparison
Prices vary across Australia based on labour rates, housing stock, and the condition issues common to each region.
At the city level, Sydney and Melbourne are closely matched, with painter day rates of $400–$680. Brisbane tends to sit slightly below the eastern seaboard average. Smaller painter pools and travel distances between jobs influence quotes in Perth and Adelaide; see the Pricing by City table for local ranges. Licensing thresholds vary significantly by state: WA requires painter registration for work over just $1,000, QLD over $3,300, NSW over $5,000, while VIC has a single-trade exemption for painting-only work and SA's threshold is $12,000.
Within any city, the biggest variable is property age and condition. Period homes in suburbs like Paddington (Sydney), Carlton (Melbourne), or Norwood (Adelaide) often have ornate cornices, plaster walls with hairline cracks, and layers of old paint that demand careful prep. New-build estates in outer suburbs with flat plasterboard walls and standard ceilings sit at the lower end. Pre-1970 homes in any city carry a lead paint risk. Brisbane's Queenslander homes with VJ board walls need flexible fillers for timber gaps. Adelaide's sandstone and bluestone cottages face salt damp issues that cause paint failure if not addressed before repainting.
How We Calculate
Estimates are based on surveyed trade rates for licensed painters, adjusted for each state and property age bracket. All prices include GST. Figures cover standard residential interior painting. Commercial fitouts, wallpaper removal, lead paint remediation, and specialty finishes are not included.