Most people who start a painting business can already paint. What they have not done before is price consistently, bill promptly, know whether last month made money and know which kind of work makes the most of it. Those are four numbers rather than four skills, and a business that watches them monthly makes decisions that a business relying on the feel of the bank balance cannot make at all.
Your fully loaded labour cost an hour
Wage plus payroll taxes, insurance, holiday, training and the paid hours that are not spent on a wall. This is the number every estimate is built on, and estimating against the payslip figure instead is the single commonest reason a busy painting business is not a profitable one. Work it out once a year from your actual payroll and use it in every quote until you work it out again.
Your production rate, measured and corrected
Square feet an hour a coat, for the kind of work you actually do. It starts as a guess and should become a measurement within a few months, by recording estimated hours against actual hours on every job. A business that corrects its rate quarterly prices better every quarter after, and this is the only routine measurement in painting that changes future revenue rather than describing past revenue.
What is out and unpaid, in days
An invoice sent and an invoice paid look the same in a sent-items folder, which is why unpaid work is discovered rather than watched. Keeping a list of what is out, with the date it was sent, converts a background worry into something you can act on at thirty days instead of ninety. Cash, not profit, is what closes small contracting businesses, and this is the number that sees it coming.
Which work actually earns, by type
Interiors, exteriors, cabinets, commercial and repeat customers do not earn the same per hour, and most owners are surprised by which one wins once they compare estimated against actual hours across a year. That comparison is the entire argument for keeping job records after the invoice is paid, and it is the difference between growing the business and growing the busiest part of it.
Questions people ask about how to run a painting business
What should I do first?
Work out your fully loaded labour cost an hour. Every other number depends on it, and most businesses that feel busy but poor find their answer in that one calculation.
How much should I mark up materials?
Decide it deliberately and apply it consistently, and be clear whether you are working in margin or markup. Cost divided by one minus the margin is a margin; cost times one plus the number is a markup, and confusing them costs real money on every job.
When should I hire?
When you are turning down work you would have made money on, and you know that because you have the estimated-against-actual figures to say which work that is. Hiring to relieve the feeling of being busy is how a business adds cost without adding profit.
What about licensing and insurance?
State and local rules decide what you need, and this site does not attempt to answer them; that is a question for your state and your own adviser. Whatever the answer is, it belongs in your cost per hour rather than as a surprise.