04/27/2026
Ever wonder where your $5,500 paint job budget actually goes?
Here's the honest breakdown on a typical Garland TX interior job:
62% Labor — prep, priming, two coats, cleanup
14% Paint & supplies — quality interior paint, not contractor-grade
10% Insurance — liability + workers' comp
8% Overhead — trucks, fuel, office, scheduling
6% Profit — funds the warranty callback three years later
No yachts, no gold chains. Painting is a low-margin labor business.
The reason cheap painters quote 20–30% below us is they've cut one or more of these: they skip prep, use $25/gallon contractor paint, carry no insurance, or have no physical business address to reach them at when something fails.
Our new guide walks through every piece of this and shows the cost-per-year math that makes professional painters almost always cheaper than the cheap ones over time.
https://garlandpaintingpros.com/blog/why-are-house-painters-so-expensive-garland-tx/