Fences and Gates - Fence Painting time and labor costs

How long should painting a fence take? Brush or roller. No sprayer.

Posts are spaced 12 feet apart. Three boards per span.

Total fence length is 2,500.

With sapling removal along 2,000 feet.

Someone said three days. I don't believe someone could do that.

Thanks

Blaze69,

Welcome to the forums.

2500' of 3 rail fence. Brush and roller. No spraying allowed. What's this thing about removing staples??

Marksr is the one who can give you a pretty fair answer. Wait for him. (I'll PM him and get him in here.)

3 days?? Which leg was that guy standing on when he told you that?? What had he been smokin'??

Removing saplings aka small trees that are growing along the fence line by cutting them off at the ground. It just doesn't add up! I can't see someone being able to complete the job in three days.

Thanks for the reply!

"Sapling removal" vs. "staple removal" -- I'll learn how to read any day now!!

No, I can't see it getting done in 3 days either.

It would be difficult to estimate how much labor would be envolved without being there to see the job. Some painters are a lot faster than others. While some painters have speed without quality, there are others that are fast and can do a good job. Fast quality work is the best way to make a decent wage :D

Material costs can be figured by adding up the sq footage of the fence wood [all sides]. While paint usually gets 400 sq ft per gallon, it would be safer to figure 300.

Has the fence been painted before? does it need primer? scraping? cleaning? Would a solid stain be a better choice? Removing the growth around the fence and the terrain would be the 2 biggest factors concerning the time needed to do the job.

As always when hiring a job out - check references!! and get multiple estimates. IMO it's better to get a price per complete job, not by the hour.

I placed a bid on the job. I'm doing what every I can earn some money in this economy.

I estimated seven days of painting and three days of clearing stuff that's growing at the fence. The fence was stained in 2003 at the time of installation. Some cleaning of dirt on the posts. Terrain is flat.

Materials were purchased by the owner.

The owner said that a guy said three days at $250. He didn't specify if that was total or per day. (I did say that maybe he should go with that guy then.)

I just wanted to make sure I was pricing this at a reasonable rate and appreciate all the input!!

Blaze,

You've looked at the job. Marksr and I haven't. You know how much clearing of brush and saplings is involved. You know how fast you can paint.

Sight unseen, I think that your time estimate is probably more realistic than whoever said he could do it in 3 days. If anything, you could probably get it finished a little faster than what you are estimating. I seriously doubt that one person could do it in 3 days. But, that's sight unseen.

You'd be suprised at how fast a motivated skilled painter can go:D

I'm having a hard time visualizing just how long 2500' of fence is [brain too old/tired:p] but I suspect in my younger years I could paint that in less than 3 days. But the tree/brush removal is another matter and personally I wouldn't bid that part of the job unless I had someone in mind that I was certain could do that for a specfic price.

The bottom line is you don't want to take any job that you can't turn a profit at. You are better off looking for the next job than to take a job at someone elses price [that your leary of]

Marksr -- let me think about this. The lots in my subdivision are 70' wide. 10 of them become 700'. So it would take about 35 of these lots to get to 2500'. Hmm... To put it another way, a mile is 5280'. Blaze is talking 2500'. That's just a touch under a 1/2 mile. A motivated, skilled, young painter, could PROBABLY do it in 3 days.

Motivated -- $250 for 3 days of hard work really isn't much motivation, at least in my book. (Now, $750 for that certainly WOULD be motivation.)

Skilled -- I doubt that I've gone through 100 gallons of paint applied by brush and roller in my life, so I AM NOT A SKILLED PAINTER!!

Young -- i haven't been accused of being THAT for about 40 years!!!

"Motivated -- $250 for 3 days of hard work really isn't much motivation, at least in my book. (Now, $750 for that certainly WOULD be motivation.)"

I probably should have done a better job of explaining :o I sure didn't mean at that [$250] price. I doubt that would have motivated me 20 yrs ago. I meant there is a big difference between a skilled painter and someone who just thinks he knows how to paint.

But all of this is a moot point since none of us would be willing to work really hard for just $83 a day - assuming it can be done in 3 days. IMO the tree/brush removal is the biggest variable.

for what it's worth, I've painted a mile or more [single jobs] of both wood [stockade or shadow box] and block fencing before but not without the use of an airless :D

Oh, and I've not been accused of being young in a long time either. Sadly, it's also been a long time since I felt young :(:wall:

UPDATE:
I started painting with a roller. I am averaging 100 feet per hour - one side, not the whole section. Which makes my estimate close. (I'm out of shape and construction related work is not what I normally do for a living....And I'm only someone who just thinks she knows how to paint! LOL)

The owner bought asphalt black fence paint. Coverage is 100-200 per gallon per the label. After the owner realize that it will take more than just a few cans, he now just wants me to finish the current line of fence and paint the new repair on the remainder of fence.

I am paid up to date, so I don't really care.

Thanks for the replies. I have learned a lot from this.