What interior painting costs in Melbourne

What drives the price

Rooms, and what’s in them. Guides put the walls of a standard room, two coats, at about $300 to $750, a ceiling at $210 to $525, an open-plan living and kitchen area at $700 to $1,600, a door and frame painted both sides at $84 to $280, and skirting boards and architraves at $150 to $450 a room. For a whole house those add up the way the Melbourne guides do: around $4,200 to $10,000 for a three-bedroom interior, with most near the middle.

Preparation is where quotes differ most. Cleaning, filling holes and cracks, sanding, sealing stains and masking take longer than the painting, so say what the walls are like: nail holes and hairline cracks are a filling job, while damaged plaster, water stains, peeling paint or wallpaper are open-ended until the painter has seen them. A water stain is a symptom; fix the leak first or it comes back. High ceilings add 10% to 25% to walls and ceilings, and dark colours can need a third coat.

• Rooms, and whether ceilings are included
• Doors both sides, and skirting boards and architraves
• Preparation: sound, holes to fill, or repairs
• Ceiling height, and colour changes
• Whether you’re living there during the work, and who moves the furniture

No licence, so the quote does the work

Painting on its own doesn’t need builder registration in Victoria, even above $10,000, so there’s no painting licence to look up. That makes the other checks matter more: an active ABN in the name on the quote, insurance, references from more than one source, and a written quote that says what’s included. Over $10,000, Consumer Affairs Victoria says to use a major domestic building contract; the deposit is capped at 10% under $20,000 and 5% from $20,000, and if one contract combines painting with another trade, such as plastering, and is over $10,000, it needs a registered builder. See paying a tradie and the interior painting guide.

Before 1970, house paints often contained lead, most often on window frames, doors and skirting boards; dry sanding and scraping make the dust. Ask how the painter tests for it and contains it. In homes built or renovated before 1990, textured ceilings and patching compounds can contain asbestos and shouldn’t be sanded until a sample has been tested.

What the quote should list

• Rooms and surfaces included, and any excluded
• Preparation: cleaning, filling, sanding, sealing and priming
• The paint: brand, product and finish for each surface, and the number of coats
• Colours, and who chooses and buys them
• Furniture moving, floor protection and clean-up
• Lead or asbestos testing in an older home
• How many days, and drying time before rooms can be used

Example brief

“Repaint the walls and ceilings of three bedrooms and a hallway in a 1960s brick-veneer house in Clayton, six doors and frames, and the skirting boards. A few nail holes and one hairline ceiling crack, no water stains. Please advise on lead testing for the original woodwork, then quote preparation, two coats, the products you’d use, furniture protection and how many days it would take.”

Before you ask for quotes

• List the rooms and what’s in each: walls, ceiling, doors, trims
• Be honest about the walls, because preparation is the price
• Note the home’s age for lead and asbestos
• Ask for the product and the number of coats in writing
• Compare quotes on the same rooms and the same preparation

The estimator’s Get quotes button carries your details into the job form as a draft. You can also start a job request from scratch, read the interior painting guide, or compare the written quotes once they arrive. Availability depends on real postings, and registration must be enabled to submit.

How this estimate is built

Each line multiplies a per-unit range from the named sources by the quantity you entered, fixed items are added as their own lines, and the total is widened to round numbers. The sources were checked on 2 November 2026. It is an indicative range for comparing written quotes from a painter who has seen the job, not a quote. See all cost guides for how the ranges are made.