How Much Does House Painting Cost in Melbourne 2026

House painting cost in Melbourne sits between roughly $6,600 and $11,000 inc. GST for a full interior repaint of a 3-bedroom home in 2026, and $6,300 to $10,500 for a single-storey brick exterior. Those are the two numbers most Melbourne homeowners are actually searching for, so we've put them first.

The spread is wide because painting is a labour job wearing a materials costume. Two houses of identical size in Northcote can quote $4,000 apart purely on the condition of the surfaces underneath. A tidy brick veneer in Point Cook and a 1910 weatherboard in Brunswick with flaking eaves are not the same job, even though both get "two coats".

This guide breaks the price down the way a painter actually builds a quote — per square metre of wall, per room, per surface type — using the real rate model behind Leadkit's painting calculator. If you want a personalised figure before you read on, browse our free painting cost calculators. It takes about 30 seconds.

Last updated: August 2026.

Key takeaways

• A 3-bedroom Melbourne interior repaint (walls and ceilings) costs about $6,600–$11,000 inc. GST in 2026, and a 2-bedroom unit runs $5,500–$9,300.
• Interior walls are priced around $29/m² inc. GST for undercoat plus two coats; ceilings cost more at roughly $33/m² because of cutting-in and access.
• Exterior painting cost in Melbourne starts near $38.50/m² inc. GST on brick and climbs to about $50/m² on weatherboard, which needs far more scraping and sanding.
• Surface condition is the single biggest swing factor. Heavy prep adds about 25% to the total; premium paint adds only about 15%.
• A double-storey exterior adds roughly 70% more wall area plus about $1,500 in scaffold or access hire, which is why two-storey quotes jump so sharply.
• All prices here are price indications only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

Table of contents

1. How much does house painting cost in Melbourne in 2026?
2. What is the painter cost per room in Melbourne?
3. What is the painting cost per square metre in Victoria?
4. How much does exterior painting cost in Melbourne?
5. What pushes interior house painting price up or down?
6. What do the extras cost - doors, skirting, gutters and eaves?
7. How do you compare Melbourne painting quotes properly?
8. Frequently asked questions

How much does house painting cost in Melbourne in 2026?

House painting in Melbourne costs between roughly $1,000 for a single bedroom and $21,500 for a full inside-and-out repaint of a 3-bedroom home, all inc. GST. The table below is the fastest way to place your own job on that scale.

Methodology and disclosure. These ranges are generated from the default Australian rate model inside Leadkit's own painting quote calculator — Leadkit is the tool a lot of Australian painters use to build their quotes, so this is our product data, not neutral third-party research. The low end assumes sound surfaces and budget trade paint; the high end assumes heavy preparation and premium paint. GST is applied at 10%. Every figure moves once a painter walks the job and plugs in their own rates.

This is a price indication only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

What is the painter cost per room in Melbourne?

Painter cost per room in Melbourne runs from about $480 for a bathroom to $1,720 for a large living area, walls and ceiling included, at standard prep and standard paint.

Painters don't really price "per room" — they price per square metre of surface and then convert it back into rooms for the customer. The table below shows the typical wall and ceiling areas used for each room type, so you can see exactly where the money goes.

These are price indications only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

Two things jump out of that table.

First, ceilings are close to half the cost of a room. On a standard bedroom, the ceiling is roughly a third of the total. That's why "walls only" is the single cheapest lever you have if the ceilings are still white and clean.

Second, small rooms are expensive per square metre. A bathroom at $480 looks cheap next to a lounge at $1,720, but the bathroom has a fraction of the paintable area. You're paying for setup, masking and cutting-in — the slow brushwork along cornices, architraves and edges where a roller can't reach — and those don't shrink with the room.

Most painters also carry a minimum job fee. The default in Leadkit's painting calculator is $350, which is on the low side: across the 53 quote calculators in Leadkit's library that carry a minimum job fee, the median is $800. Painting is one of the few trades where a genuinely small job is still worth taking.

What is the painting cost per square metre in Victoria?

Painting cost per square metre in Victoria ranges from about $29/m² inc. GST for interior walls to $50/m² for exterior weatherboard. These rates cover preparation, undercoat and two finish coats — not a single refresher coat.

A few terms worth knowing before you read a quote:

• Undercoat (or sealer) — the bonding coat that goes on bare, patched or previously glossy surfaces so the topcoats grip and the colour sits evenly. A quote that skips undercoat on new plaster is a quote to walk away from.
• Cutting-in — the hand-brushed border around cornices, skirtings, window frames and switch plates. It's the slowest part of any interior and it's why room count matters more than floor area.
• Efflorescence — the chalky white salt bloom that pushes through brick and render when moisture moves through the wall. It has to be treated before painting, or the new coat lifts within a year or two. Common on older Melbourne brick, especially south-facing walls.

Across the painting quotes generated through Leadkit, prep is the line homeowners consistently underestimate. It doesn't show up as a separate item on most quotes — it's buried in the per-square-metre rate, which is exactly why two quotes for the same house can differ by thousands and both be honest.

Want a Melbourne-specific number rather than a national average? Browse the full Leadkit calculator library and run your job through the painting tool — it's an indication only, and your painter confirms the final price on site.

How much does exterior painting cost in Melbourne?

Exterior painting cost in Melbourne runs from about $6,300 for a small single-storey brick home to $19,500 for a double-storey job with scaffold, inc. GST. Exterior work is priced off the building's external wall area rather than room count.

Typical wall areas used for quoting:

• Small home (1–2 bedroom, compact footprint) — around 130 m²
• Medium home (3-bedroom family home) — around 190 m²
• Large home (4+ bedroom or wide footprint) — around 250 m²

Three Melbourne-specific factors then push the number around.

Surface type. Brick is the baseline. Cement render and texture coat add about 5% — and if the render itself is cracked or blown rather than just tired, price the repair with the rendering cost calculator before you book a painter. Weatherboard and timber add about 30%, because every board needs scraping, sanding, filling and often a spot prime before a brush touches it. That matters here more than in most capitals — the weatherboard belt through Brunswick, Northcote, Preston, Coburg and Yarraville is a big chunk of Melbourne's housing stock.

Storeys. A second storey adds roughly 70% more wall area, then about $1,500 for scaffold or elevated work platform hire on top. Safe Work Australia's guidance on working at height means anything above single-storey eave level is not a ladder job, and reputable painters price it accordingly. If a two-storey quote has no access line in it, ask where the scaffold cost went.

Weather window. Melbourne's exterior painting season effectively runs September to April. Acrylic exteriors need surface temperatures above about 10°C and a dry overnight window to cure properly, and Melbourne winters deliver neither reliably. Booking a July exterior repaint usually means either a delayed job or a compromised finish. Quotes taken in spring tend to be more competitive than quotes taken in the January rush.

Every exterior figure above is a price indication only — your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job, and exterior jobs are the ones that move most on inspection.

Premium exterior systems — Dulux Weathershield, Taubmans Endure, Haymes and Wattyl equivalents — add about 15% over standard trade paint. On an exposed western wall in Werribee or a salt-affected home in Brighton, that 15% usually pays for itself in years of service life.

What pushes interior house painting price up or down?

Preparation is the biggest cost driver in any interior house painting price — it moves the total by up to 25%, more than paint quality, colour or brand. Here's how each factor moves the number.

The pattern is clear once you see it laid out: the cheap lever is scope, not quality. Dropping from premium to budget paint saves about 10%, and you'll be repainting years earlier. Dropping ceilings from the scope saves about 30% immediately with no durability penalty at all.

A few Melbourne-specific things that quietly add cost:

• Lead paint. Homes painted before 1970 can carry lead-based coatings. Sanding them back is regulated work with containment, PPE and waste-disposal requirements — see Safe Work Australia for the exposure guidance. Expect it on Victorian terraces and interwar homes in the inner north and inner west, and expect it to add to the prep line.
• High ceilings. Period homes in Fitzroy, Carlton and East Melbourne routinely run 3.3–3.6 m ceilings against a standard 2.4 m. That's 40% more wall area in the same footprint, plus trestles.
• Plaster repairs. Cracked cornices and damaged plaster are a plasterer's job, not a painter's. If your walls need patching beyond filler, price it separately with the plastering cost calculator before you book the painter.
• Furniture and occupancy. Painting around a fully furnished, occupied home is slower than painting an empty one. Some painters price it in; some charge it as an extra. Ask.

What do the extras cost - doors, skirting, gutters and eaves?

Detail work is quoted as fixed line items, not per square metre, and typically adds $200–$770 per item inc. GST. These are the lines that turn a $7,000 quote into a $9,000 quote, so it pays to know them before you're standing in your hallway deciding on the spot.

Two of these are worth thinking about carefully.

Gutters and fascia. If your gutters are Colorbond and in good condition, painting them is cosmetic and often skippable. If they're old painted steel and rusting, painting is a stopgap — replacement is the real fix, and you're better off pricing that properly than spending $660 to delay it a season.

Eaves. Skipping eaves on an exterior repaint is the classic false economy. Fresh walls against grey, chalky eaves is the one thing everyone notices from the footpath, and getting a painter back later means a second setup and second access charge.

Trim work is also where enamel versus acrylic matters. Water-based enamels have largely replaced solvent-based on Australian trim — they're lower odour and non-yellowing, but they need a longer cure before the door can be closed against the jamb without sticking. If your painter says don't shut that door until Thursday, they're right.

How do you compare Melbourne painting quotes properly?

Compare quotes on scope and preparation, not on the final number — the cheapest quote is usually the one with the least prep in it. Ask every painter the same five questions and the differences become obvious fast.

1. How many coats, and is undercoat included? "Two coats" can mean two finish coats over a proper undercoat, or two coats total on bare patched plaster. Those are different jobs at different prices.
2. What's included in preparation? Sugar-soap wash, filling, sanding, spot-priming stains, caulking gaps. Get it listed.
3. What paint, exactly? Brand, product line and sheen level. "Quality paint" is not an answer. Dulux Wash & Wear low sheen and a budget builder's white are not comparable products.
4. Are ceilings, trim and eaves in or out? These are the line items quotes quietly differ on.
5. Who covers access? Scaffold, EWP hire or trestles on a two-storey job is a real cost and it belongs on the quote, not in a phone call later.

On the paperwork side, Victoria has consumer protections worth knowing. Domestic building work above a set dollar threshold requires a written major domestic building contract, and there are caps on how large a deposit a tradie can ask for. The thresholds move, so check the current figures with Consumer Affairs Victoria and confirm registration status with the Victorian Building Authority before you sign anything or hand over money. The Master Painters Association is also worth a look if you want painters who work to an industry standard.

Two more habits that save money:

Get three quotes, but not five. Three gives you a genuine range. Five gives you decision paralysis and a temptation to chase the outlier, which is almost always the one with the thinnest prep.

Book off-peak. Melbourne painters are busiest from October to March. A February exterior booking will be priced tighter than the same job quoted in September for an October start.

Curious what a painter's own quoting tool spits out for your job? Compare the quotes you collect against the calculator figures in this guide and see whether they land in the same neighbourhood. Remember they're an indication only — your painter confirms the final price on site.

Frequently asked questions

Q: How much does it cost to paint a 3-bedroom house in Melbourne?

A: A full interior repaint of a 3-bedroom Melbourne home costs roughly $6,600–$11,000 inc. GST in 2026 for walls and ceilings, and a single-storey brick exterior adds about $6,300–$10,500. Doing both at once lands between $12,800 and $21,500. The spread comes almost entirely from surface condition and paint tier — the same house with sound walls and budget trade paint sits at the bottom of the range, while flaking plaster and premium paint pushes it to the top. Our national house painting cost guide shows how Melbourne compares with the rest of the country. It's a price indication only; your painter confirms the final price after assessing the job.

Q: How much does a painter charge per room in Melbourne?

A: Expect roughly $480 for a bathroom, $1,200 for a bedroom and $1,720 for a large living area inc. GST, with walls and ceiling included. Walls-only drops those to about $290, $800 and $1,060. Painters convert room counts back into square metres of wall and ceiling to build the price, so an unusually large bedroom will quote higher than the standard figure. Small rooms cost more per square metre than large ones because setup, masking and cutting-in don't shrink with the room.

Q: How much does it cost to paint the exterior of a house in Melbourne?

A: Exterior painting in Melbourne costs about $6,300–$10,500 inc. GST for a single-storey brick home, $8,100–$13,700 for weatherboard, and $12,300–$19,500 for a double-storey job once scaffold is included. Weatherboard costs roughly 30% more than brick because of the scraping and sanding involved, and a second storey adds about 70% more wall area plus around $1,500 in access hire. Melbourne's practical exterior painting season is September to April — acrylics need surface temperatures above roughly 10°C to cure properly.

Q: What is the painting cost per square metre in Victoria?

A: Around $29/m² inc. GST for interior walls and $33/m² for ceilings, rising to $38.50/m² on exterior brick, $40/m² on render and $50/m² on weatherboard. Those rates cover preparation, undercoat and two finish coats. If a quote comes in well under $25/m² for interiors, the difference is almost always in the prep or the number of coats rather than a better deal. Ceilings cost more than walls despite being simpler surfaces because of overhead work, access and cutting-in around cornices.

Q: Is it cheaper to paint just the walls and skip the ceilings?

A: Yes — skipping ceilings cuts a typical interior repaint by around 30%. On a standard bedroom, the ceiling is about a third of the cost. It's the single most effective way to reduce an interior quote without compromising durability, provided the ceilings are still clean and white. The catch is contrast: freshly painted walls make tired ceilings look worse than they did before. Kitchens and bathrooms are the exceptions, where steam and cooking residue usually mean the ceiling genuinely needs doing.

Q: Do painters in Victoria need to be registered or licensed?

A: Painters carrying out domestic building work above a set dollar threshold in Victoria need to be registered with the Victorian Building Authority, and work above a higher threshold requires domestic building insurance. Those thresholds change, so confirm the current figures with the VBA and check any painter's registration before you sign. At minimum, ask for an ABN, current public liability insurance and a written quote listing scope, preparation and products. For a broader look at how trade pricing works across Australia, our house painting cost guide for Sydney covers the same ground for the NSW market.

Q: How long does it take to paint a house in Melbourne?

A: A single room takes a day. A 3-bedroom interior repaint typically runs 4–7 working days with a two-person crew, and a single-storey exterior takes 5–8 days depending on prep and weather. Double-storey exteriors run 8–14 days once scaffold set-up and dismantling are counted. Heavy preparation is what stretches timelines, not the painting itself — stripping flaking paint off weatherboards can take longer than applying the coats. Melbourne weather adds genuine risk to exterior schedules between May and August.

Q: Does the quote include GST?

A: It should, but always check. Any painter registered for GST must charge 10% on top of their rate, and every figure in this guide is shown inc. GST unless labelled otherwise. A quote presented ex. GST looks about 9% cheaper than an inc. GST quote for identical work, which is an easy way to compare two quotes wrongly. Ask for the total payable, in writing, and check the ABN on the ABN Lookup register while you're at it.

Get a Melbourne painting price in 30 seconds

Want an instant price estimate for your place? Use the free painting quote calculator — takes 30 seconds, no signup.

Pick your rooms, your surface condition and your paint tier, and you'll get an indicative Melbourne range in well under a minute — no signup, no phone number, no sales call.

Then use it the way it's meant to be used: as a sanity check against the quotes you collect. If three painters land within 15% of each other and the calculator agrees, you've got a fair market price. If one is 40% below the rest, go back and ask what preparation is included.

All prices on this page are price indications only. Your tradie will confirm the final price after assessing the job.

Are you a painter, not a homeowner? The calculator behind these numbers is a Leadkit tool — you can embed your own quote calculator on your website in 60 seconds, set your own rates, and capture every enquiry as a lead with the customer's contact details and job details attached. Free plan, no credit card.