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Exterior paint costs in Columbus

Here’s the ballpark for common exterior paint jobs around Columbus, OH. Want one for your own project? A photo is all it takes.

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Columbus

What it usually costs

  • Repaint the whole house$1.00 – $4.00 per sq ft
  • Paint just the trim and shutters$1.43 – $5.73 per sq ft

A ballpark, not a quote. Some of these are national averages adjusted for Columbus prices, so your job could land outside them.

Exterior paint in Columbus

A lot of the Columbus area was built recently enough that lead isn't the first question. About three in ten homes around Columbus have gone up since 2000. Vinyl is the Midwest's default wall now: it covered close to six in ten new single-family houses finished there in 2024. If your house is one of those, a paint job may be mostly trim, doors, shutters and the garage door rather than the siding.

Older neighborhoods are a different job. More than four in ten of the metro's houses are from before 1980. The city's Lead Safe Columbus program removes lead paint hazards for homeowners and landlords who meet income limits. Columbus also covers training costs for lead workers and supervisors.

Central Ohio's paint season runs from about mid-April, when frost usually quits at the John Glenn airport, to the last week of October, when it tends to come back. That's a good six months, and the dry weeks in late spring and early fall are the ones to aim for.

Sources

Questions homeowners ask

How accurate is a photo estimate?
It’s a ballpark, not a quote. One photo rarely shows the whole house, so a local painter who walks the property will always be more precise. Use our number as the range to expect before you start calling around.
What changes the price of an exterior paint job?
Square footage is the biggest factor, then how much prep the old paint needs — bare wood or peeling paint takes far more work than a clean recoat. Trim, multiple stories, and a color change add to it too.
Do I need to measure my house?
A rough guess at the wall square footage helps a lot, but if you don’t know it, just skip the question and we’ll estimate from your photo.
Is this really free?
Yes. No signup, no credit card, no spam. We only make money if you choose to connect with a local pro — and that’s up to you.
What photo works best?
A shot of the front of the house, plus any sides showing wear like peeling or bare spots, gives us the best read.

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Nearby

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