Living in the Bay Area means dealing with two guarantees. One is beautiful sunsets over the Gulf, and the other is the relentless sun baking the paint right off your house.
Whether you are in a bungalow in Kenwood or a stucco home in Shore Acres, your walls take a beating. When the paint starts to fade or peel, the first thought is usually, “I can probably do this myself and save some money.”
It is a fair thought. But after years of painting homes across St. Pete and Tampa, we have seen the aftermath of DIY projects that went sideways. The truth is that the price on the paint can is only a small fraction of the real cost.
If you are on the fence about grabbing a roller or calling a pro, let’s look at the numbers. We want to be honest, transparent, and keep it local to our area.
Why One Price Never Fits All
Before we talk numbers, you have to understand why we cannot just give a flat price over the phone. Every house in St. Pete has a different story.
We look at three main things:
- Height: A single story ranch is much cheaper to paint than a two story home in Old Northeast. High ladders and scaffolding increase the risk and the time.
- Texture: Our Florida knock-down or orange-peel texture soaks up paint like a sponge. Smooth walls take less paint but show every single imperfection if the prep isn’t perfect.
- Stuff: An empty rental property is faster to paint than a home full of antique furniture that we need to carefully cover and move.
1. Interior Painting Costs
Most homeowners estimate the cost of painting based solely on the price of the gallon. But unless you have a fully stocked painter’s van in your garage, the receipt gets long very quickly.
Single Room (Walls Only) For a standard 12×12 bedroom, you might expect to pay $400 to $700.
- DIY Cost: You will spend about $150 to $200 on paint and supplies, plus your entire Saturday.
- Why Hire Us: We cut perfectly straight lines at the ceiling (no tape needed) and we are done in a few hours.
Whole House Interior (2,000 Sq. Ft.) This usually ranges from $4,000 to $8,000 depending on ceiling height and baseboards.
- The Pro Difference: We can knock this out in 3 to 5 days. A DIY approach for a whole house often drags on for months, leaving you living in a construction zone.
Kitchen Cabinets This is a very popular request lately. Ripping out cabinets costs $20,000 or more. Painting them is a fraction of that, usually falling between $3,000 and $6,000.
- Warning: Do not DIY this with a brush. It will look like a painted craft project. We use sprayers to give it a factory hard finish that stands up to grease and cooking heat.
2. Exterior Painting Costs (The Florida Factor)
This is where the Florida climate really matters. If you use cheap paint here, it will chalk and fade in two years. We use heavy duty, UV resistant paints that can handle our humidity.
Exterior Repaint (Stucco Home) For an average home in St. Pete, costs generally land between $2.50 to $4.50 per square foot of wall space.
- Total Project: A typical 2,000 sq. ft. home often costs $4,000 to $9,000.
- What You Pay For: This includes pressure washing, trenching around the foundation to seal water out, patching those inevitable stucco cracks, and sealing the masonry.
Pool Decks We paint a lot of these. A standard pool deck resurfacing runs $3.00 to $6.00 per square foot.
- Why It Matters: We use a “cool deck” type coating that lowers the surface temperature so you don’t burn your feet. Regular paint on a pool deck is a slip hazard and will bubble up within a year.
3. The DIY “Hidden” Invoice
If you decide to do it yourself, you need to budget for more than just color. Here is the real shopping list for a quality job in Tampa Bay:
- Quality Paint: In Florida, cheap paint melts. You need mold resistant paint. Expect $60 to $85 per gallon.
- Primer: Essential for our textured walls to ensure the paint sticks. $30 to $50 per gallon.
- The Gear: Brushes, rollers, extension poles, drop cloths, painter’s tape, sandpaper, and spackle. $200 to $400.
- Ladders: If you have high ceilings or a two story exterior, a safe ladder is an investment of $250 plus (or a daily rental fee).
The “Time Tax” This is the big one.
- Prep: Scrubbing walls, patching stucco cracks, and taping trim takes twice as long as the actual painting.
- The Weather: In Tampa Bay, if you do not time your exterior painting around the afternoon storms, you might wash your hard work right down the driveway.
When to Call the Pros
Go DIY if:
- It is a small, single room like a laundry room or guest bath.
- You actually enjoy the physical labor.
- The walls are smooth and do not require drywall repair.
Call Nutrend Painting if:
- It is an Exterior: Waterproofing is vital here to stop mold.
- High Ceilings or Stairwells: It is dangerous work without proper staging.
- You Want it Done Fast: We come in, prep, paint, clean, and leave. No lingering fumes or mess for weeks.
We Are Your St. Pete Neighbors
At Nutrend Painting Inc., we aren’t a big faceless franchise. We are right here on 49th Ave S in St. Petersburg. We know which paints stick to Florida stucco and which ones peel off in July.
If you want an honest number on what it will take to transform your home, let us come by. No sales pressure, just a real conversation about your house.
