How Much Does Exterior House Painting Cost in Los Angeles?
Exterior house painting in Los Angeles typically runs $2.50 to $5.00 per square foot of exterior wall area, which puts a typical 1,500–2,000 sq ft single-story stucco house at $6,000 to $14,000, and a two-story home or a house needing heavy prep work at $12,000 to $25,000. Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975), bonded and insured, based in Van Nuys, and exterior painting is one of our core services — usually done on its own or paired with stucco repair, trim work, or a broader exterior refresh.
Exterior painting cost by scope
| Scenario | What’s included | Typical Los Angeles range |
|---|---|---|
| Per square foot of exterior wall area | Base rate before prep, story count, or coating type adjustments | $2.50 – $5.00 per sq ft |
| Typical single-story stucco house, 1,500–2,000 sq ft | Standard prep, one to two coats, stucco and stucco-adjacent surfaces | $6,000 – $14,000 |
| Two-story or heavy-prep house | Scaffolding/lift access, extensive scraping and repair, peeling paint, wood trim rot repair, stucco patching | $12,000 – $25,000 |
These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.
What changes the price
- Stucco vs. wood siding. Stucco is the dominant exterior material in Los Angeles and generally takes paint well with standard prep, while wood siding needs more scraping, sanding, and priming to hold paint properly and lasts a shorter number of years between repaints.
- Number of stories. Two-story homes require ladders, scaffolding, or lift equipment to reach upper walls and eaves safely, which adds labor time and equipment cost beyond the raw square footage.
- Prep condition. A house with sound, intact existing paint costs far less to prep than one with peeling, cracking, or chalking paint — heavy prep is usually the single biggest driver of cost above the base per-square-foot rate.
- Trim and fascia repair. Wood trim, fascia boards, and window surrounds often show rot or sun damage before the stucco field does, and replacing or repairing that wood adds carpentry cost on top of the paint job itself.
- Color change. Going from a dark color to a light one (or the reverse) often requires an extra coat or a tinted primer to get full, even coverage, which adds material and labor versus a same-tone repaint.
- Elastomeric vs. standard acrylic. Elastomeric coatings are thicker, bridge small stucco cracks, and hold up longer in direct sun, but cost more per gallon and take more labor to apply correctly than a standard acrylic exterior paint.
Stucco or wood — the prep is the price
Most Los Angeles houses are stucco, and stucco generally takes paint reliably as long as it’s clean, free of active efflorescence, and any cracks are addressed first — that’s usually a lighter prep job than people expect. What drives cost on a stucco house is almost always the sun-facing elevations: south- and west-facing walls take the most direct sun in the San Fernando Valley and fade and chalk noticeably faster than north-facing walls on the same house, which is why a “spot repaint” of just the faded sides sometimes makes sense.
Wood trim is where the real prep cost usually lives, even on an otherwise stucco house — window trim, fascia boards, and garage door trim are wood on most homes regardless of the wall material, and that wood is what shows rot, cracking, and peeling first. On houses built before 1978, any sanding or scraping of painted wood trim requires lead-safe work practices, which adds time and specific containment and cleanup steps to that portion of the job.
Do you need a permit?
Generally, no — repainting an exterior in the same or a similar finish typically doesn’t require a permit. A permit can come into play if the scope grows to include structural stucco repair, replacing damaged siding, or other work beyond surface preparation and coating — that’s assessed case by case, and we’ll tell you upfront if any part of the scope crosses that line.
How long does it take?
Prep work (scraping, caulking, minor stucco patching, wood repair) typically takes 1 to 3 days depending on condition. Priming and painting typically add another 2 to 4 days for a single-story house, longer for two-story or heavy-prep jobs. Total time for a typical single-story repaint runs 3 to 7 days; two-story or extensive-repair jobs take longer. Weather matters — painting is generally avoided during rain and during extreme heat, since both affect how paint cures, so the calendar season can shift the schedule.
How to compare quotes
A written proposal should specify: how the square footage was measured, the number of coats, an itemized prep scope (scraping, caulking, stucco patching, wood repair — not just “prep included”), the specific paint product line and whether it’s elastomeric or standard acrylic, whether trim, doors, garage doors, and gutters are included or priced separately, and the labor warranty period.
Red flags: a bid with no prep detail at all, no named paint product or line, and a price that’s dramatically below competing bids with the same scope — that’s usually a sign prep is being skipped, not that the crew is more efficient.
Where we do this work
We serve Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura counties, plus western Riverside and western San Bernardino counties, from our Van Nuys base. That covers San Fernando Valley communities like Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, and Woodland Hills, along with exterior work across the wider region. See examples of completed work in our project gallery.
Exterior house painting cost FAQs
How often does exterior paint need to be redone in Los Angeles?
It depends heavily on sun exposure and coating type — a standard acrylic on a south- or west-facing stucco wall in the Valley heat typically shows fading and chalking sooner than the same paint on a shaded north wall. There’s no single universal number; condition, not a fixed calendar, should drive the decision.
Is elastomeric paint worth the extra cost on a stucco house?
It’s worth considering if your stucco has existing hairline cracking, since elastomeric coatings bridge small cracks in a way standard acrylic doesn’t. On stucco that’s already in good, crack-free condition, a quality standard acrylic is often a reasonable and less expensive choice.
Do you paint wood siding as well as stucco?
Yes — wood siding is common on some Los Angeles homes and requires different prep (more scraping and sanding, careful priming) than stucco, which we account for separately in the proposal rather than pricing it identically to stucco square footage.
What’s the biggest hidden cost in exterior painting?
Prep condition, by far — a house with peeling or chalking paint, cracked stucco, or rotted trim costs meaningfully more to prep than one with sound existing paint, and that difference often isn’t visible from the street until a contractor gets close and actually inspects the surfaces.
Can you match my existing color exactly?
In almost all cases, yes, with a color sample or the paint code if you have it. If neither is available, we can color-match from a physical sample taken from a less visible part of the house.
Do you handle stucco cracks as part of the painting job?
Minor hairline cracks are typically addressed as part of standard prep. Larger structural cracks or areas of damaged stucco are flagged separately, since they may need patching work beyond standard paint prep before the coating goes on.
Get a written exterior painting price for your house
Painting pricing depends on your exterior’s material, condition, and story count, which is why we walk the whole exterior before quoting anything. Call (800) 348-3050 for a free site visit, or reach out through our painting page — we’ll send a written proposal within 48 hours and reply to any inquiry within one business day.