How Much Does Painting a House Cost in Ballarat? (2026 guide)

The short answer

Most three-bedroom interior repaints we quote land between $2,500 and $8,000, a full exterior between $5,000 and $15,000, and both together between $8,000 and $15,000. Weatherboard, two storeys and heavy prep sit at the top of those ranges. A written quote for your house is the only firm number.

The numbers below come from the jobs we quote and paint around Ballarat, priced for 2026. Ballarat sits close to Melbourne regional rates. Every house is different, so treat these as brackets for planning rather than a price list.

What painters charge per hour in Victoria

Hourly rates around Ballarat and Melbourne run from about $40 to $110 an hour. The low end is sole traders and small odd jobs. Established crews, us included, mostly work out at $65 to $95 an hour plus GST. Exterior work, which needs ladders, scaffold and more setup, sits closer to $70 to $100 an hour.

In practice, few house jobs are billed by the hour. You get a fixed price for the whole job. That is better for you because prep time is the hard thing to predict, and a fixed quote puts that risk on the painter, not on you. Hourly rates matter mainly for small repairs, touch-ups and work where the scope is not known until the painter starts.

Cost per square metre

Per-square-metre pricing is the easiest way to compare quotes, as long as you check whether the figure includes ceilings, trims and prep. Here is what we see in 2026:

• Interior walls: $15 to $45 per m2, usually one undercoat and two top coats. Most quotes land between $20 and $35 per m2.
• Ceilings: $5 to $15 per m2 on top of the walls.
• Exterior: $15 to $60 per m2, with weatherboard and rendered walls needing more prep at the upper end. Most of our exterior work falls between $35 and $60 per m2.
• Doors: $70 to $200 each. Window frames: $20 to $50 each.

Cost per room

A standard bedroom (around 3 by 3.5 metres, walls and ceiling, two coats) costs $200 to $750 depending on condition and paint grade. Add the trims and doors and a single room is more like $400 to $900. A bathroom is cheaper at $150 to $350 because there is little wall area. Open-plan living and hallway spaces run $900 to $2,000, and a kitchen is typically around $1,000 once cabinetry is taped off and the splashback area is handled.

Stacking several rooms into one booking is cheaper per room than doing them one at a time. Setup, covering, travel and clean-up get spread across the job.

Cost to paint a 100 square metre house

For a small single-storey house of about 100 m2, we quote $2,500 to $6,000 for the exterior. The interior depends on how much wall area it has, but at $20 to $35 per m2 of wall and ceiling a compact three-bedroom interior usually lands between $2,500 and $4,500. It can reach $8,000 where ceilings are high or the walls need a lot of filling.

Cost to paint a 3-bedroom house: interior and exterior

Interior: $2,500 to $8,000, with a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house including kitchen and laundry usually around $4,500 to $6,000. The spread comes down to ceiling height, trim work, number of coats and whether the quote includes doors and windows.

Exterior: $5,000 to $15,000 for a single-storey home, and most three-bedroom exteriors land between $5,000 and $10,000. Brick homes with only trims and eaves to paint sit at the bottom. A full weatherboard repaint sits higher, and a two-storey weatherboard runs $10,000 to $20,000 because of scaffold and the amount of timber to prepare. Very large or complex exteriors can reach $35,000.

Both together: $8,000 to $15,000 for a typical three-bedroom house, more for weatherboard or heritage detail. Booking interior and exterior as one job usually costs less than two separate bookings.

How long a 4-bedroom house takes, and what it costs

A four-bedroom interior takes five to ten working days for a crew of two or three, depending on ceiling height, how much filling and sanding the walls need, and whether doors and trims are included. Three to four days is realistic for walls only in good condition. Add three to six days for the exterior, weather permitting.

On price, we quote a four-bedroom interior at $6,500 to $14,000 and the exterior at $4,000 to $20,000, with $10,000 to $20,000 applying to large or two-storey exteriors. Full inside and out: $10,000 to $20,000 plus.

What drives the price

Two houses the same size can get quotes thousands of dollars apart, and it is usually one of these:

• Preparation. Flaking paint, cracked render, rotten weatherboards, water-stained ceilings and old wallpaper all take time before any paint goes on. Prep is commonly half the labour on an exterior.
• Height and access. Two storeys, steep sites, high gables and narrow side paths mean scaffold or a boom lift. Scaffold hire alone is quoted at $1,500 to $4,000.
• Weatherboard versus render versus brick. Weatherboards have the most surface area and the most joints to caulk. Render needs a wash, crack repair and often a sealer. Face brick is usually just trims, eaves and gutters.
• Heritage detail. Fretwork, turned posts, multiple trim colours and sash windows are slow, careful work. Some heritage properties also need council sign-off for colour changes.
• Number of coats. Going from a dark colour to a light one, or painting over bare or patched surfaces, can mean three coats instead of two.
• Paint grade. A 4 litre tin of standard interior paint is $40 to $60; premium lines are $70 to $100. Upgrading paint adds roughly $500 to $1,500 on a whole-house job, and exterior top lines last longer in Ballarat frost and UV.
• Roof and extras. Roof painting is quoted separately at around $2,000 to $10,000 depending on size and condition. Fences, decks, gutters and garages are usually line items too.

Is paying a painter worth it, or should you DIY?

For one room with sound walls, DIY is fine if you have the time. Materials for a four-bedroom interior run $2,500 to $4,000 once you include decent paint, rollers, brushes, filler, tape and drop sheets, and a DIY job of that size usually takes two to four weeks of evenings and weekends against five to ten days for a crew.

Exteriors are where DIY goes wrong. Ladders and roof edges, lead paint in pre-1970s homes, stripping weatherboards and getting the timing right around Ballarat weather all carry risk. A professional job done with proper prep and good exterior paint should last seven to ten years; a rushed one can peel in two. Most people who price both end up hiring for exteriors and either hiring or DIYing interiors depending on the size.

How to compare quotes

Get at least two written quotes and make sure they are for the same job. The cheapest number is often the one that left out ceilings, doors, a second coat or the prep. Check each of these before you compare the totals:

• Which surfaces are included: walls, ceilings, trims, doors, windows, eaves, gutters, fascias.
• What prep is listed: washing, scraping, sanding, filling, caulking, priming, any rot or plaster repair.
• Number of coats, and whether an undercoat is separate.
• Paint brand and product line, not just "premium paint".
• Who moves furniture and covers floors and gardens.
• Scaffold or access equipment, and whether it is included.
• Start date, expected duration and what happens if weather delays exterior work.
• Payment terms, GST, and what the painter does about touch-ups at the walkthrough.

What a written quote should include

A proper quote is a short document, not a number texted to you. It names the property, lists each area and surface, describes the prep, states the number of coats and the paint line, gives a fixed price with GST shown, and sets out the start date and how long the job will take. It should also say what is excluded, so there is no argument later about the garage or the back fence.

If a quote does not cover those points, ask for them in writing before you accept. A painter who will not put it in writing is telling you something.

Get a price for your house

Ranges only get you so far. Painters Ballarat quotes in writing soon after the site visit, and the quote is free with no obligation. Tell us the suburb, what you want painted and roughly what condition it is in, and we will come and measure up.