Anyone that has tried to paint their own home quickly comes to understand that a skilled house painter is worth their weight in gold. As a business owner looking to grow their success in the marketplace, having the most talented painters at your disposal is bound to deliver more customers to your door. However, when it comes to hiring, it helps to understand the average total compensation required to attract the best talent.
Before diving into the figures, you must fully understand the skills professional painters need to stand out against the competition. Whether you’re specialising in exterior house painting or interior painting jobs, the key tasks that help determine pay rates include refined manual skills, in-depth knowledge of paint properties, aesthetic sensibilities, and physical stamina.
Naturally, an entry-level painter will cost less than an experienced painter. Yet a thorough understanding of the work involved and how the average salary depends on your location will help keep your business profitable and your workers satisfied. Here, we provide a national overview and state-by-state breakdown of painter salaries and average hourly pay to ensure you know what to expect.
Painters Salary Australia – National Average
As a general guideline, knowing the average costs to hire professional painters means you can more easily forecast your business expenditure and keep track of the overall cost of running your operation. So, how much does a painter get paid? The average salary in Australia is $70,617 per year. When we consider this salary as average hourly pay, the cost is $24.66.
However, it’s important to remember the average salary for a professional painter nationwide doesn’t tell the whole story. With significant cost differences existing between the major capital cities and regional areas, where your business is located is one of the defining characteristics of these salary expectations.
Outside of location, this figure also doesn’t accurately reflect the niche skills that your painting job might require. For example, a decorative painting project that needs significant preparation work might mean you need to hire someone with a specialised skillset. Alternatively, painting a simple brick exterior should see the cost of painting reduced.
According to one resource, an entry-level painter in Australia can expect to receive $60,000 per year or $28.85 per hour. Meanwhile, an experienced painter could charge an estimated $92,000 per year or $44.24 per hour. Small companies must remain aware of the salaries involved to secure the best painters considering these divergent costs.
Painter Salary by State – How Painter Salaries Compare
While the national average salary is an easy number to understand, considering the average total compensation on a state-by-state basis will make more sense. The cost of hiring a mid-career painter in New South Wales will likely be higher compared to an experienced painter in Tasmania simply due to the dramatically different cost of living.
However, at the same time, the following state-based figures won’t precisely reflect the average hourly pay your business will need to pay to handle challenging projects with the right team of painters. As the talent of each painter can vary considerably, always keep this in mind when considering what painters charge in your local area.
Here is a handy breakdown of average salary and average hourly pay depending on the state and territory:
Victoria: $75,548/year, $26.38/hour
New South Wales: $68,159/year, $23.80/hour
Queensland: $99,230/year, $34.65/hour
South Australia: $61,639/year, $21.52/hour
Western Australia: $71,409/year, $24.93/hour
Tasmania: $52,252/year, $18.24/hour
Northern Territory: $65,764/year, $22.96/hour
Australian Capital Territory: $66,279/year, $23.14/hour
Painter Salary by City – How Painter Salaries Compare
Finding a skilled painter for lower prices is challenging if your business is situated in one of Australia’s major capital cities. With the high cost of living in sought-after destinations like Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, meaning that workers can charge more for their services, you can expect the average salary to increase dramatically compared to companies in other areas.
In addition, painters can demand higher salaries when they have more businesses to choose from. Rather than only having a strictly limited number of small companies to seek employment with in country towns, the big cities naturally means skilled workers can seek out the best option on the table. If your metropolitan business needs a local handyman who can handle a highly complicated painting project, expect to meet greater salary demands or risk missing out.
If you’re looking to focus your attention on big painting jobs, the cost of hiring large crews with the talent to complete the project to the highest standard might end up costing you a pretty penny.
Below, these number represent the average salary of workers based in Australia’s major cities:
Melbourne: $96,139/year, $33.57/hour
Sydney: $69,449/year, $25.25/hour
Brisbane: $99.458/year, $34.73/hour
Perth: $69,660/year, $24.32/hour
Adelaide: $61.639/year, $21.52/hour
Hobart: $50,599/year, $17.67/hour
Darwin: $64,221/year, $22.42/hour
Canberra: $66,279/year, $23.14/hour
Different Painting Job, Different Price
As mentioned, the average salary required to hire a painter in Australia is a valuable guide to determining how much your business must invest in salaries. However, the average total compensation will ultimately depend on the painting jobs that your business earns it keep from.
Meanwhile, other factors like starting painting immediately can also lead to higher costs. Consider these types of projects and how they might impact what it costs to organise a team for specific painting projects.
Exterior House Painting
Exterior painting is one of the main roles for many painters, with countless homeowners across Australia wanting to keep the outside aesthetic qualities of their house in tip-top shape. Suppose you’re looking to tackle an exterior painting job. In that case, it’s possible to charge a considerable fee as the square metre required to cover a three-bedroom house in a fresh coat requires extensive raw materials and plenty of time.
Interior House Painting
No one likes to have unpainted rooms in their home. Instead, many homeowners are willing to invest heavily in a skilled painter who knows what it takes to produce stunning feature walls that transform a simple room into a beautiful space. For interior house painting, an experienced painter will provide knowledgeable colour advice and conduct extensive preparation work, like cleaning a dirty wall, buying paint, fixing small holes and covering floors that might otherwise be damaged.
Decorative Painting
While approaching an exterior paint job might be relatively simple for most skilled painters, decorative painting is one element of house painting that can increase the cost considerably. With these creative painting projects taking the level of your home’s atmosphere to the next level, this form of interior painting is a time-consuming and often complex propsect. With many jobs involving multiple colours and intricate decorative features, homeowners must understand how their painter cost could be noticeably higher than usual.
Take Charge of Your Painting Jobs with FieldPulse
Whether your business is looking to save money or organise its budget to hire large crews of the city’s best painters, the data provided in this article gives you a solid idea of what it will cost your company and its clients. Considering how a fresh coat of paint improves just about every aspect of a home, employing a painter who delivers incredible work for a reasonable cost can massively help your business grow.
Now that you’ve received a headstart on the average salary required to hire a top-notch painter, it’s time to level up the rest of your operation with FieldPulse. With our powerful business management app ensuring your company can keep close tabs on its finances from the office and on the move, you don’t have to worry about miscalculating your pay rates.
Meanwhile, our app makes it easy to process invoices, schedule jobs, communicate with clients and much more. If you’re ready to take your business to greater heights, schedule a free demo and discover how FieldPulse can save you time and money today.
