Ask three painters what it costs to paint your house and you'll likely get three different numbers. That's not because someone is wrong. It's because "paint my house" isn't one job. Painting a 1,200-square-foot interior, repainting a weathered two-story exterior on Mobile Bay, and refinishing kitchen cabinets are three separate projects with three separate price drivers.
So instead of throwing out a single number that won't fit your home, here's the honest version: the market ranges you'll see around Mobile and Baldwin County in 2026, what actually moves your price up or down, and how to read a quote so the lowest bid doesn't end up costing you the most. When you're ready for a real figure, we'll give you a free in-home estimate and a written quote within 24 hours.
The four projects hiding inside "paint my house"
Before any range means anything, get clear on which project you're pricing. Most homeowners are really asking about one of four:
- Interior — walls, ceilings, trim, doors inside the home.
- Exterior — siding, fascia, soffits, trim, sometimes a deck or fence.
- Cabinets — kitchen (and sometimes bath) doors, drawers, and boxes refinished.
- Whole-house — a combination of the above, usually interior plus exterior.
Each one prices differently because the work is different. Exterior painting involves ladders, washing, weather, and the Gulf Coast's hard sun and salt air. Cabinets are a fine-finish job measured by the door, not the square foot. Lumping them together is exactly why online "average cost" numbers are close to useless for your specific home.
What a house paint job actually costs by project type
Here's how the market generally breaks down across the Gulf Coast in 2026. Treat the low end as small, simple, sound-surface work and the high end as large, detailed, or heavy-prep jobs.
| Project type | Typical market range | What pushes it higher |
|---|---|---|
| Interior (per room) | $400 – $1,000+ per room | High ceilings, heavy patching, trim & doors, color changes |
| Interior (whole home) | $3,000 – $10,000+ | Square footage, ceilings, trim detail, repairs |
| Exterior (whole home) | $4,000 – $15,000+ | Two-plus stories, siding condition, wood rot, prep |
| Cabinets (Pro 1 range) | $3,500 – $9,000 | Door & drawer count, current finish, box repairs |
Notice how wide each band is. That width is the whole point — it's the room where the real drivers live. Two homes the same size can land at opposite ends of the same range depending on what's underneath the paint.
What actually drives your price
When we build an estimate, a handful of factors do most of the work. Understanding them tells you why one quote is higher than another, and whether the higher one is actually the better deal.
Size and surface area
This is the obvious one. More square footage means more paint and more labor hours. But it's square footage of surface, not just your home's footprint — vaulted ceilings, lots of trim, and detailed millwork all add surface even when the floor plan stays the same.
Condition and prep
Prep is the single biggest swing factor, and it's invisible in the finished result, which is exactly why it gets cut from cheap bids. As we tell folks all the time, prep is about 80% of a paint job that lasts. Sound, clean walls need little; surfaces that are dirty, chalky, mildewed, or peeling need washing, scraping, sanding, and priming before a drop of finish goes on.
On the Gulf Coast this matters more than almost anywhere. Salt air and humidity leave a film and feed mildew, so an exterior here that skips washing and priming is set up to fail. The prep line is where good and bad quotes really separate.
Height and number of stories
A single-story ranch and a two-story home with tall gables are different jobs even at the same square footage. Extra height means ladders, scaffolding, and slower, more careful work — especially on exteriors along the bay where wind and uneven ground come into play. Hard-to-reach areas add hours, and hours add cost.
Coating grade and number of coats
Paint isn't one product at one price. Better exterior coatings hold color and resist mildew and UV longer, which is what you want under our sun. The grade you choose, and whether the job calls for one coat or two (a deep color change over a light wall almost always needs two), both move the number.
Repairs and carpentry
Soft fascia, rotted trim, failed caulk, or cracked drywall don't paint over — they get fixed first. On older homes around Mobile and the Eastern Shore, a little wood repair or carpentry and drywall work is common and shows up as its own line. It's not padding; it's the difference between paint that sticks and paint that bubbles off the bad wood in a year.
Cabinets price differently — and here's our actual range
Kitchen cabinets aren't a square-footage job; they're a fine-finish job priced by the number of doors and drawers, the existing finish, and how much the boxes need repaired or prepped. That's why cabinets get their own number.
At Pro 1 Painters, cabinet painting typically runs $3,500 to $9,000. What sets that apart from a quick roll-on is how it's done: we set up climate-controlled drying and preparation booths right in your home, then spray and cure the doors and drawers onsite. The controlled space keeps dust and humidity off the finish while it cures — that's what gives you a smooth, factory-grade result instead of brushy, sticky doors — and it keeps the overspray contained in your home. Nothing leaves your house.
If a fresh kitchen is what you're really after, the full breakdown lives in our kitchen cabinet painting guide for Mobile and Baldwin County, and you can see the service itself on our cabinet painting page.
Why the lowest bid often costs the most
It's tempting to take the cheapest quote. But on a paint job, a low number usually means something got left out — and the thing that gets left out is almost always the prep.
The bid skips prep
No pressure-washing, no scraping to a sound edge, no priming. Less labor on paper means a lower price.Paint goes over a bad surface
Finish gets applied over salt film, mildew, chalk, or bare wood. It looks fine the day the crew leaves.Our climate goes to work
Gulf humidity, salt air, and hard sun attack the weak bond. Peeling, fading, or mildew shows up within a season or two.You pay again
The surface now needs more repair than before, so the redo costs more than doing it right the first time would have.
The lasting job is rarely the cheapest bid, but it's usually the cheapest per year of paint you actually get. That's the number worth comparing. When you're vetting painters, our guide to hiring a painter in Mobile and Baldwin County walks through the questions that separate a real quote from a lowball.
How we build an estimate
A good estimate isn't a guess scribbled in a driveway. Here's what happens when you book a free in-home estimate with us, so you know what you're getting before you commit a dollar.
Free in-home estimate
We come out, look at the actual surfaces, measure, and talk through what you want — interior, exterior, cabinets, or a combination.We assess condition & prep
We check for mildew, chalking, peeling, soft wood, caulk failure, and drywall cracks — the things that decide how much prep your job really needs.Color help if you want it
Not sure on color? We'll talk it through so you don't repaint a shade you regret. It's part of getting the job right, not an upsell.Written quote within 24 hours
You get it in writing: surfaces, prep, coats, products, and what's excluded — so the price is clear and comparable to any other bid.One accountable crew, then sign-off
One crew runs your project from the estimate through the work, and a manager signs off on a final inspection before final payment.
That written quote is the document that matters. It turns a fuzzy "how much to paint a house" into a real, specific number for your home — and it's the only number we'll stand behind. We accept payment by cash, check, or credit card.
Still deciding on color before you get a number? Try our free AI color visualizer — upload a photo of your room or your home's exterior and preview real paint colors on it, so you can see it on your own walls before you commit.
Putting it together for your home
If you take one thing from all of this: there's no single price to paint a house in Mobile or Baldwin County, because there's no single house and no single job. What there is is a clear set of drivers — size, condition, prep, height, coating grade, and repairs — that explain every quote you'll get. Once you can see those, you can tell a fair price from a too-good-to-be-true one.
When you want a real figure, dig into the project that fits you — our interior house painting guide or our exterior coastal painting guide — or just have us out. Whether it's interior, exterior, or a whole-house repaint, we'll give you a free in-home estimate and a written quote within 24 hours, backed by our 3-year workmanship warranty. Family-owned and serving the Gulf Coast since 2013.