Painting takeoff services
We measure every painted surface by substrate and finish system — walls, ceilings, exposed structure, doors, frames and the specialty coatings that hide in the spec — with coats and preparation stated against each one. For painting and coating subcontractors across Canada: from $450, next business day, on time or 50% off.
What we count on a
painting takeoff
Every surface with a coating on it, split by substrate and by the system the spec applies to it. Substrate drives preparation and coats, which drive labour — so a gypsum wall and a CMU wall of identical area never share a line.
- Wall areas by substrate and finish systemSF / m²Gypsum board, CMU, concrete, plaster and wood kept apart — block fill and primer requirements differ, and so does the rate.
- Ceiling areas by substrateSF / m²Gypsum ceilings and bulkheads separated from exposed deck.
- Exposed structure and deckSF / m²Spray-painted deck, joists, beams and hangers, taken off the reflected ceiling plans where the finish is called up.
- Doors and framesEACounted by leaf and by side, with site-painted separated from factory- or pre-finished per the Division 08 schedule.
- Hollow metal frames, borrowed lights and relitesEA
- Millwork and architectural woodwork finishingLF / SF / EAOnly where the spec puts it in your division — flagged where it sits with the millwork supplier instead.
- Handrails, guards and exposed metalsLF / EA
- Mechanical and electrical items scheduled to be paintedEA / LFGrilles, diffusers, exposed conduit, bollards and equipment — quantified from the schedules even though the equipment isn't your scope.
- High-performance and specialty coatingsSF / m²Epoxy, urethane, intumescent, anti-graffiti, elastomeric and dry-fall, each as its own system.
- Parking structure and traffic coatings where in scopeSF / m²
- Exterior coatings by elevationSF / m²Split by elevation so access and staging can be priced against real areas.
- Line striping and pavement markingsLF / EA
- Sealers and block fillerSF / m²
- Coats and surface preparation per systemstatedWritten against every line so the labour side of your rate has something to sit on.
- Wall protection and coverings where they fall to youSF / LF
How we measure
painting and coatings
We measure from the painting schedule in the specification, not the room finish schedule. The room finish schedule tells you a wall is painted; the spec tells you which system, how many coats and what preparation — and that is what your rate is actually built on.
The spec's coating schedule drives the workbook
Each surface is matched to its system — substrate, primer, number of finish coats, sheen and preparation. Areas are then measured against that list. Two walls with the same square footage and different systems are two lines, because they're two different costs.
Substrate is never averaged
CMU takes block filler and soaks up material at a completely different rate from gypsum board. Concrete, plaster and wood each behave differently again. Substrate is recorded per area so material and labour both track what's actually being coated.
Wall height and access come off the sections
Painted height follows the wall, not the ceiling — a wall carried to underside of deck above an open ceiling is painted well past the visible line. High work, atriums, stairwells and exterior elevations are separated so staging and access can be priced against real areas instead of an average.
Doors and frames counted from the door schedule
Whether a door is site-painted or pre-finished is decided in the Division 08 door schedule, not in the Division 09 finish plan. We count leaves and sides from the door schedule and mark which ones the spec hands to the factory, so you don't price a finish that was never yours.
Exposed deck is a reflected ceiling plan item
Spray-painted exposed structure almost never appears on the room finish schedule. It's called up on the reflected ceiling plans and in the spec, and it is one of the largest single areas on an open-ceiling project. We take it off the RCPs level by level.
Openings and unpainted surfaces follow one stated rule
Glazing, millwork faces, wall protection and anything factory-finished are deducted or not according to a rule written on the assumptions page and applied identically everywhere. Consistency is what lets your unit rate mean the same thing on every line.
High-performance systems stay in their own sections
Epoxy, urethane, intumescent and traffic coatings carry different material costs, different applicators and often different warranty obligations. Folding them into a general wall area is the fastest way to lose money on a job you won.
Metric or imperial, whichever you bid in
Commercial and institutional sets in Canada are commonly metric; residential work is often imperial. The workbook arrives in the units you price with, or both columns, with the spec's own system codes carried through unchanged.
Scope gaps we flag
on painting packages
The six that cost painting subs money most often. Each one lands on the assumptions and exclusions page with the sheet it came from, so you can qualify it in your bid instead of meeting it in a change order.
Site-painted versus pre-finished doors
That decision is made in the Division 08 door schedule and never repeated in Division 09. Count doors off the finish plan and you'll either price factory-finished leaves you were never supplying, or miss a few hundred sides that were always yours.
Exposed deck spray that's on no finish schedule
On an open-ceiling project the deck, joists and hangers can be the largest painted area in the building, and it appears only on the reflected ceiling plans. Miss it and you've missed a level's worth of work in a single line.
Block filler treated as primer
CMU needs block filler before anything else goes on, and it consumes material at a rate nothing like a sealer on drywall. Priced as a coat of primer over the same square footage, a large block wall quietly eats the margin on the whole package.
Mechanical and electrical items scheduled to be painted
Exposed conduit, ductwork, grilles, diffusers and bollards routinely carry a "paint to match" note in a schedule that isn't yours to read. The equipment belongs to another trade; the coating on it belongs to you.
Surface preparation written only in the spec
Level of finish on the drywall, patching of existing surfaces, and the cleaning or profiling a high-performance system demands are all Division 09 spec items. None of it shows on a plan, and all of it is labour. It pairs directly with the drywall takeoff on the same job.
High work averaged in with the rest
Stairwells, atriums, high lobbies and exterior elevations need lifts, swing stages or scaffold. Rolled into one blended wall area, the access cost disappears — and it doesn't disappear on site.
More of these by trade in the bid traps list, and the cost side in what a construction takeoff costs in Canada.
Workbook +
marked plans
Everything is checkable. Every quantity traces back to a sheet, a system code and a coloured area on the marked-up plans — spot-check any line in a couple of minutes instead of taking a number on faith.
Download the sample workbook (.xlsx) — a fictitious office TI, in the real format.
- Excel quantity workbookCSI MasterFormat or your own cost codes, by system and substrate.
- Colour-coded plan markups (PDF)Straight from On-Screen Takeoff / Bluebeam Revu.
- Assumptions & exclusions pageCoats, preparation, deduction rule and drawing conflicts, all in writing.
- One revision round and bid-period addendaIncluded, not billed as an extra.
- Optional: price placeholders (+15%) and quote template (+$150)Bid-ready workbook and a clean proposal format.
Project types we
take off most
The set types where senior counting changes the number most.
- Commercial tenant improvementsOpen ceilings with sprayed deck, dense door counts, and feature walls that carry their own system.
- Wood-frame and concrete multifamilySuites, corridors and amenity separated, with typical-floor repetition you can audit and parkade coatings priced apart.
- Mixed-use podiumRetail and lobby systems at grade over residential above, with exterior elevations split for access.
- InstitutionalCMU everywhere, epoxy in wet and clinical areas, and long corridors of high-traffic finishes.
- Industrial and parking structuresHigh-performance and traffic coatings, exposed structure, and access that has to be priced honestly.
Painting takeoff FAQs
How much does a painting takeoff cost?
How fast is it delivered?
Do you separate substrates and coating systems?
Do you count doors and frames?
What do you need besides the drawings?
Can the workbook use our own cost codes?
What's excluded?
Send the drawings.
Fixed quote in 4 hours.
Drop a link through the quote form or email info@sharpbid.ca. A fixed price and a guaranteed delivery date come back within 4 business hours.
Trades that usually come with it
Where we work
…and anywhere else in Canada — everything is digital.