How Much Does it Cost to Paint a House in Ottawa?

The cost of painting sometimes feels like a secret to homeowners and it's hard to get a clear answer. Is it by square footage? Is it per room? Is it per hour? Not only that, but it changes as inflation changes. So, we're here to provide an update for Spring 2026 in Ottawa with up-to-date prices and rates for hiring professional painting services.

As noted in a previous blog post and on our homepage FAQ, a powder room can cost as little as $350 CAD and an entire house can almost hit $17,000 CAD at the highest end. In this guide, we'll demonstrate how costs are calculated and where your project might land in this range. (These are rough estimates and should not be considered final.)

Cost to Paint by Square Footage

Square Footage	Average Total Price
800	$1,100-$4,400
1,000	$1,400-$5,500
1,200	$1,600-$6,600
1,500	$2,100-$8,200
1,800	$2,500-$9,900
2,000	$2,700-$11,000
2,500	$3,400-$13,700
3,000	$4,100-$16,400

Home sizes in Canada can vary widely. In Ottawa, the average home size is just under 2,000 sq ft (1,948), so a full-house re-painting can be expected to cost somewhere in the range of $2,700-$11,000.

By Neighbourhood

1. Hintonburg

   On average, the size of a home in Hintonburg in terms of square footage is less than the average of an Ottawa home. Most of the neighbourhood is made up of single-detached homes with aluminum or vinyl siding (especially in Mechanicsville); however, the region does include new condominiums and larger townhouses north of Scott St.

Common Dwelling Type	Realtor.ca Square Footage Range (03/2026)	Expected Paint Cost Range
Condominium	700-1,000	$1,000-$5,500
Single Home Detached	700-1,500	$2,100-$8,200
Townhouse	2000-2500	$2,700-$13,700

2. Nepean

   Like in Hintonburg, Nepean features a lot of single-detached houses, but also includes row-houses, semi-detached, and apartments in low- and high-rise apartments.

Common Dwelling Type	Realtor.ca Square Footage Range (03/2026)	Expected Paint Cost Range
Apartment	500-1000	$800-$5,500
Semi-detached	700-2500	$1,000-$13,700
Row House	1000-1200	$1,400-$6,600
Single-Home Detached	700-3000	$1000-$16,400

3. Orleans

   The most common housing type in Orleans are single-detached homes; however, rowhouses are popular options in areas like Avalon and Cardinal Creek, semi-detached homes can be found in Orleans North, and townhouses in Orleans East.

Common Dwelling Type	Realtor.ca Square Footage Range (03/2026)	Expected Paint Cost Range
Condominiums	500-1200	$800-$6,600
Townhouse	700-1500	$1,000-$8,200
Single-Home Detached	1500-3000	$2,100-$16,400

4. Kanata

   Over 50% of the dwellings in Kanata are single detached homes, followed by a significant number of townhomes and condos.

Common Dwelling Type	Realtor.ca Square Footage Range (03/2026)	Expected Paint Cost Range
Condominiums	700-1200	$1,000-$6,600
Townhouse	1000-1500	$1,400-$8,200
Single-Home Detached	1200-2000	$1,600-$11,000

Painting Cost by Room

The following includes the cost of walls, ceilings, and trim with no significant wall damage present.

Bathroom

Bathrooms can be as small as 15 sq ft for half-baths and as large as 100 sq ft for larger primary suites. You can therefore expect bathrooms to cost $200-$400.

Bedroom

The average bedroom in a home can start at 120 sq ft with master bedrooms reaching 300 sq ft in larger, suburban homes. You can therefore expect bathrooms to cost $450-$750.

Dining Room

Dining rooms range from 150 to 200 sq ft with furniture to work around and can be somewhat of a higher traffic area in certain homes. You can therefore expect dining rooms to cost $500-$600.

Kitchen

Kitchens tend to be smaller than dining rooms with less painted wall space, but a higher chance of imperfections in the walls because they are commonly high-traffic areas. You can therefore expect kitchens to cost $400-$550.

Hallways and Entryways

Hallway size can vary greatly across Ottawa. Hallways in small condo spaces can start at $450 and reach $600 in detached homes.

Living Rooms

More common in larger suburban homes, living rooms can range between 300 and 500 sq ft in certain cases. You can therefore expect living rooms to cost $750-$1000.

Stairwells & Stairways

These areas tend to account for many different elements, including railings, risers, stringers, sloped walls, chandeliers, etc. While it is hard to gauge an accurate price range for stairways, you can expect to pay $15-$30 per linear foot.

Pantries & Closets

Pantries can be very small in terms of total wall space, while walk-in closets can be larger than certain rooms themselves. You can therefore expect closet spaces to cost $100-$250.

Basements

Basements can sometimes be small rooms at the bottom of a staircase or encompass an entire bottom floor of a detached home. You can therefore expect basements to cost $900-$2000.

Painting Cost by Interior Surfaces

Ceilings

Ceilings are like walls in that they cover a lot of square surface area, and a lot of the work involves rolling. However, ceilings are of course overhead and sometimes can have a different texture, which then requires a different approach. Lastly, one may choose to only paint a ceiling and not the walls and is an entirely different approach as well. With that in mind, ceilings are more costly than walls. For example, if one 10x10 wall costs $90 to paint with two coats, you can expect a 10x10 ceiling to roughly cost $140, or 55% more than walls.

Doors

Doors, like other trim, may only take one coat to cover if they have already been painted in a white semi-gloss and you're looking to re-paint it the same styles. If you're looking for a colour change, then it can of course cost more. You can expect to pay between $35 and $70 for a white door re-paint.

Trim

Like doors, trim such as baseboards and door frames/casings are conventionally painted white and are re-painted white. The cost to paint trim is generally measured by the linear foot. For baseboards, expect to pay $1.15-$2 per linear foot.

Windows

Window costs depend on the size of the window and unless there are many panes involved that need to be painted (such as in the style of a French door), costs are pretty consistent. Expect to pay between $17-$35 for most windows.

Walls

If you're looking to paint simple drywall that has already been primed and painted at least once, the costs will be fairly low. As factors such as textured walls, or walls requiring ladders/scaffolding and/or repair, the costs will of course rise. Expect to pay $90 minimum for a 10x10 wall.

Paint Costs

Paint costs vary not only by brand but by quality and type as well. High quality paints generally have purer pigments and more durable resins, whereas lower quality paints have a higher percentage of solvent and will require more coats to get the same coverage and finish of a higher quality paint.

Paint Cost Matrix by Gallon

	Budget	Examples	Mid-tier	Examples	Premium	Examples
Primer	$28-$35	KILZ 1; Beautitone Primer Solutions	$40-$55	KILZ 2; Zinsser 1-2-3	$50-$80	Benjamin Moore Fresh Start Premium
Wall Paint	$45-$50	Behr Interior	$50-$80	Benjamin Moore Ben	$90-$120	Sherwin Williams Emerald
Ceiling Paint	$20-$35	SICO Plus Ceiling Paint	$50-$75	Behr Premium Plus	$50-$90	Benjamin Moore Ceiling
Trim Paint	$45-$55	Behr Premium Plus	$50-$90	Sherwin Williams SuperPaint	$50-$115	Benjamin Moore Advance
Semi-Transparent Stain	$36-$50	RONA Boomerang;Behr Deck Plus	$45-$65	Beautitone Wood-Shield; SICO Formula 77	$65-$150	Behr Premium; Sikkens ProLuxe
Solid Stain	$45-65	Olympic Triumph; SICO Exterior	$65-$75	Behr Premium Solid Colour	$70-$85	Amstrong Clark Solid Stain

Paint Costs by Type of Paint

Sometimes homeowner will hear "Eggshell" and may interpret the term in a variety of ways; what it really refers to is the sheen (or level of shine) of a paint. So, after having considered differences in paint type, it's important to consider sheen.

Sheen ranges from matte/flat all the way to a high-gloss finish. As paints rise in sheen level, so does the cost.

• Matte/Flat: the purpose of this paint is to hide and cover and is the least resistant to wear and tear. Often, these are used for ceilings. Cost: base sheen, lowest cost among sheens

• Low Eggshell/Eggshell/Satin: these three are different but vary only slightly in sheen. They also have more sheen than matte paints, but also far less than semi-gloss finishes. These paints are commonly used for interior walls. Cost: 5% more than matte

• Semi-gloss: this type of sheen is resistant to wear and tear due to its higher gloss resin content but is less useful for coverage. You'll find these paints used more on trim pieces like baseboards, door casings, and windows. Cost: 10%-20% more than matte

• High-gloss: Paints with this sheen quite literally shine! It is very resistant to the elements, scrubbing, and wear and tear. In certain cases, this paint is used for exterior trim, or a topcoat on small wooden decks to limit seasonal wear. Cost: 10%-20% more than matte

Cost of Soft Supplies

Also known as sundries, we're talking about other equipment required for a painting project, such as brushes, rollers, dropsheets, plastic coverings, painter's tape. Although these costs are much smaller than those of the paint itself, they are included as part of the materials section in a painting quote and can range from $50 - $200 in one-time costs depending on the size and scope of the project.

Preparation Costs

These costs include everything from set-up to wall surface preparation, to ladder and scaffolding set-up, to safeguarding furniture, to clean-up. While there is no simple formula to calculate prep costs, you can expect to pay $0.80 per square foot for major wall repairs. Otherwise, preparation costs scale as the project scales. For example, a job that is projected to take 2 weeks compared to 2 days will be costlier to set-up and clean-up for each day. If a job has taller ceilings and more ladder placements, that too will affect the cost. Lastly, if a lot of furniture needs to be moved, covered, or worked around, this can contribute to higher costs.

Wallpaper Removal

This service is the only service that Letts Paint charges by the hour. The reason? Wallpaper removal is difficult to estimate because there are only so many questions that can be answered during an estimate. Often, you can only understand the type of wallpaper removal project you're dealing with after you start removing. The amount of glue used, the type of wallpaper (vinyl vs. paper), how long ago the wallpaper was applied - all of these factors can impact how easy or how difficult it will be to remove.

Conclusion

When we get asked, "how much does it cost to paint?" we never have a straightforward answer. Even though we'd like to point to a single, straight-forward pricing method, the reality is that you have to approach every project differently.

Ultimately, painting and how much it costs comes down to many factors - location, size, preparation, type of project, and the type of paint used. This is why estimates can vary as much as they do. However, by getting a sense of what goes into the price of an estimate, this guide can help provide a clearer picture of where your project might fall within the ranges outlined above. Happy painting!

Related materials:

• Commonly Asked Questions Answered!

• Interior Painting Cost Calculator

• Let's Start from and at the Top