These are your 5 surprise expenses that can arise when trying to paint your own house. Let an experienced house painter help you avoid these costly mishaps.
You look around your living room and think, “This needs a fresh coat of paint.” The idea feels simple enough: watch a few videos, clear a weekend, and save money. But what starts as an exciting refresh can quickly turn into a project you regret.
What seems like a simple weekend project often turns into weeks of interrupted living space when done yourself. DIY painting includes hidden costs that go far beyond the price of a few paint cans. Here are five expenses most people don’t see coming—and why calling a house painter is often the smarter financial choice.
Hidden Cost #1: The Unexpected Price Tag of Painting Supplies
You head to the store thinking you’ll grab a gallon and be done, but reality hits quickly. Paint alone typically costs $40–$90 per gallon, excluding primer, which can run another $40–$60 per gallon for quality products.
For a standard 12×12 room, you’re looking at a total DIY materials cost of $160–$290. That covers paint, primer, brushes, rollers, trays, and tape. However, you also need patching compound, sandpaper, and extra supplies for inevitable mistakes.
Many DIYers end up with excess paint they’ll never use. Others buy cheap materials to save money, only to discover that poor-quality paint requires extra coats. That “bargain” paint often costs more in time and frustration than buying professional-grade products from the start. A professional house painter can avoid this by leveraging supplier relationships for better pricing and knowing exactly how much material the job requires.
Hidden Cost #2: Extra Tools You Didn’t Think You’d Need
Think your paint and brushes are enough? Not quite. A complete painting supplies list includes items most people forget: extension poles, multiple brush sizes for trim, roller frames, drop cloths, and high-quality tape.
For the interior, renting a paint sprayer runs $80–$120 per day, a drywall sander is another $60–$80 daily, and scaffolding costs $40–$60 to rent, assuming you can transport them.
Then there is the prep work. If you miss a step or get lazy, you might have paint leak through your barriers, and that’s a big problem. Proper preparation requires extensive taping, sanding, and protection. Skipping these steps risks ruining your floors. A professional house painter can bring all necessary equipment, meaning materials, tools, labor, and cleanup come in one package.
Hidden Cost #3: The Toll on Your Time and Disruption to Daily Life
This is where DIY truly gets expensive. For a standard 12×12 bedroom with 8-foot ceilings, the painting process typically takes 10-16 hours for a DIY painter, not counting prep, shopping, or cleanup.
Painting takes up a good deal of time, and amateurs inevitably work slower. What you thought was a weekend project stretches into multiple weekends of furniture covered in plastic and disrupted family life.
Consider the opportunity cost: if you value your time at $25 per hour, a 20-hour project is a $500 loss of personal time. A professional team can complete in days what might take you weeks, with minimal disruption to your daily life.
Hidden Cost #4: The Physical and Mental Strain
Painting is physically demanding. It involves standing at awkward positions and sore arms are sure to follow. You will be reaching overhead, bending for baseboards, and dealing with aching backs and cramping hands.
The mental load is equally taxing. Painting does seem like an easy task until you have paint streaks and botched layers. Every visible brush mark feels like a failure, and safety concerns—like paint fumes affecting your health or the risks of ladder work—add stress.
When the project drags on, burnout sets in—a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that occurs when you experience long-term stress. A professional house painter can handle the physical demands daily, have safety training, and ensure there is no added pressure on you.
Hidden Cost #5: The Price of Mistakes and Touch-Ups
Even with care, mistakes happen. If the first coat is not dry, the second coat can pull at the wet paint beneath, causing drips and streaks. Common DIY pitfalls include drips, roller marks, and patchy coverage—all affecting your final result.
These errors are expensive to fix. Complete removal of failed paint costs $2,000-4,000, and substrate repair from moisture damage runs $1,500-5,000.
Plus, the logistics of cleanup are a headache. What’s the plan with the leftover paint? Did you buy drop cloths… where do they go now? Where do you dispose of the paint? … Now you will have to pull all this stuff out again to do those touch-ups.
Research shows that 63% of DIY home improvement participants regretted at least one project, with 1 in 3 requiring professional intervention to redo failed work. When you sum the costs, DIY expenses approach professional quotes while delivering inferior results.
Why Hiring a House Painter Could Save You More
A professional house painter brings speed and efficiency that DIYers can’t match. Professional painters generally paint 2-3x faster than a homeowner with some experience.
When you hire a professional painter you are guaranteed a quality and professional finish. They are trained in chemical handling, safety, skin coating, and sanding. Professional painters invest in top-notch brushes, rollers, paints, and primers to ensure their work stands the test of time.
At Harding’s Painting, we’ve helped homeowners avoid DIY disasters since 1996. Serving Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, and Hamilton, we understand how different Canadian climates affect paint performance and durability. Our approach includes proper preparation and cleanup, meaning a professional painter will take care of all of that so you don’t have to.
When you factor in supplies, tools, time, and stress, hiring a professional painter can be more cost-effective in the long run.
Ready to Let a House Painter Refresh Your Home?
DIY painting costs accumulate fast: expensive supplies, multiplying tools, lost time, physical strain, and costly mistakes.
Save your time for the things you’d rather be doing and hire Harding’s for those projects on your Honey Do List. We provide a detailed quote and a professional finish backed by our warranty.
Contact Harding’s Painting today to discuss your interior or exterior painting needs, and we’ll provide you with a free quote for your painting project.
