Door Painting and Refinishing Pricing Guide
Interior door painting costs $75–$175 per door (both sides) for standard hollow-core or panel doors. Exterior front doors cost $200–$500 for complete refinishing including stripping, sanding, staining or painting, and clear coating. Garage doors run $250–$500 per door. Use waterborne alkyd enamel for painted doors and marine-grade varnish for stained exterior doors. Target 50–60% gross margin.
Door painting and refinishing is a profitable specialty within the painting trade. Doors are high-touch surfaces that show wear quickly, creating steady demand for refinishing services. Front door refinishing in particular is a high-margin service — homeowners will spend $300–$500 on a single door because it is the focal point of their home entrance. Pricing door work correctly requires understanding the differences between door types, surfaces, and finishing methods.
Interior Door Painting Prices
Interior doors are typically priced per door (both sides, including the edge). Flat (flush) hollow-core doors: $75–$125 per door. These are the simplest doors to paint — two flat surfaces with no detail work. A skilled painter can complete 8–12 flush doors per day including prep. Panel doors (2-panel, 4-panel, 6-panel): $100–$175 per door. Panel doors have raised or recessed panels, stiles, and rails that require more brush work and attention to detail. Six-panel doors take 30–40% longer than flush doors. French doors (glass panes): $150–$300 per door depending on the number of panes. Each pane requires masking or careful cutting in — a 15-lite French door can take 45–60 minutes of masking time alone. Bifold closet doors: $50–$100 per pair (two panels). These are lightweight and fast to spray but the louver type requires significantly more time. Pocket doors and barn-style sliding doors: $100–$200 each depending on size and panel configuration. For whole-house door painting (15–25 doors), offer a 10–15% volume discount. A 20-door house at $125 per door lists at $2,500 — offer at $2,100–$2,250.
Exterior and Front Door Refinishing
Exterior door refinishing is premium work because of the weather exposure and the homeowner perception of the front door as a design element. Painted exterior doors (steel or fiberglass): $150–$350 per door. Includes cleaning, light sanding, priming bare areas, and two coats of exterior enamel. Use Sherwin-Williams ProClassic Exterior ($45–$60 per gallon) or Benjamin Moore Advance ($50–$65 per gallon) for excellent adhesion and durability. Stained wood front doors: $250–$500 per door. This is the premium service. Strip the old finish with a chemical stripper (Citristrip $12–$18 per quart, or Dumond Smart Strip $25–$35 per quart), sand to bare wood through 220-grit, apply wood stain (Minwax, General Finishes, or ZAR, $12–$20 per quart), and finish with 3–4 coats of marine-grade spar urethane (Minwax Helmsman or General Finishes Exterior 450, $25–$40 per quart). Each coat requires 24 hours of drying and light sanding between coats. A full front door refinish takes 3–5 days. Charge a premium for doors that must remain operational during the refinish — you will need to work around opening and closing schedules.
Garage Door Painting
Garage doors are large surfaces (typically 16x7 feet for a double or 9x7 feet for a single) that are visible from the street — homeowners care about their appearance. Single garage door (9x7): $150–$300. Double garage door (16x7): $250–$500. Carriage-style garage doors with raised panels and hardware details: add 25–40% premium. Prep involves cleaning with TSP or a degreaser (garage doors accumulate exhaust grime and road salt), sanding, and priming any bare metal or rust spots with a rust-inhibiting primer like Rust-Oleum Stops Rust or KILZ 2. Apply two coats of exterior acrylic or DTM (Direct to Metal) paint like Sherwin-Williams DTM Acrylic ($40–$55 per gallon) for steel doors. Wood garage doors receive the same treatment as exterior siding: sand, prime, and two coats of exterior acrylic. Spraying is the most efficient method for garage doors — mask the driveway and surrounding surfaces with plastic sheeting and spray with a 515 tip for a smooth finish. A solo painter can prep and paint two standard garage doors in one day.
Door Prep and Product Selection
Door prep follows a consistent process regardless of door type. Remove the door from hinges and lay flat on sawhorses (or a dedicated door rack) for the best results — painting doors while hanging is possible but produces inferior results due to drips and sags on vertical surfaces. Remove all hardware: hinges, knobs, locksets, and kick plates. Fill dents, holes, and scratches with lightweight auto body filler (Bondo, $8–$12 per container) for a smooth repair, or wood filler for solid wood doors. Sand the entire door with 150-grit, then 220-grit for a smooth surface. Clean with a tack cloth to remove all dust. For paint, waterborne alkyd enamel is the professional standard: Benjamin Moore Advance dries to a hard, smooth finish comparable to factory-sprayed doors. Sherwin-Williams ProClassic provides excellent leveling. Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane is the hardest waterborne option. For sheen, semi-gloss is traditional for doors, but satin is increasingly requested for modern aesthetics. Apply two coats with light sanding (220-grit) between coats for the smoothest finish.
Spray vs. Brush Application for Doors
Spraying produces the smoothest, most professional finish on doors and is the preferred method for painters doing volume door work. Use an HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) sprayer or a fine-finish airless tip (310 or 312) for door work. HVLP produces less overspray and a finer finish but is slower. Airless is faster but requires more masking and produces slightly more texture. To spray doors efficiently: set up sawhorses in a clean, well-ventilated area (garage or basement), spray one side, let dry, flip, spray the other side. Batch-spraying 10–20 doors in a session is significantly faster than spraying doors individually. Brush and roller application works well with self-leveling products like Benjamin Moore Advance. Use a 4-inch mini foam roller for flat areas and a 2.5-inch angled brush (Purdy XL or Wooster Silver Tip) for panels and edges. The key to brush-and-roll success is maintaining a wet edge and applying thin, even coats. For panel doors, paint the panels first, then the rails (horizontal pieces), then the stiles (vertical pieces). This sequence minimizes lap marks at the panel-to-frame transitions.
Estimating Multi-Door Projects
Multi-door projects require careful scoping during the estimate. Count every door in the home — interior bedroom and bathroom doors, closet doors (bifold pairs count as one unit), linen closet doors, pantry doors, utility room doors, and exterior doors. A typical 2,000 sq ft home has 15–25 doors. Inspect each door for: type (flush vs. panel), condition (dents, scratches, peeling paint), hardware that needs removal, and whether the door frame (jamb and casing) is included in the scope. Door frames add $20–$40 per opening to your price. Hinges that need painting add $10–$15 per door (remove, spray separately, reinstall). Build your estimate with a per-door rate that includes removal, prep, two coats, and reinstallation. Add line items for: hardware removal and reinstallation ($10–$20 per door if hardware is complex), hinge painting, and frame painting. Typical whole-house door painting timeline: 15–20 doors takes a solo painter 3–5 days. A two-person crew can complete the same scope in 2–3 days by batching: one person preps while the other paints.
Frequently Asked Questions
Interior door painting costs $75–$175 per door (both sides and edges) including prep, two coats of paint, and hardware reinstallation. Flat flush doors are at the low end, six-panel doors are in the middle, and French doors with glass panes are at the high end. Whole-house door painting (15–25 doors) typically costs $1,500–$3,500 with volume discounts.
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