Interior house painting

Interior painting is the trade where the visible part takes the least time. Rolling a coat on a prepared wall is quick. Getting the wall to the point where a coat will look right and stay put is most of the job, and it is where quotes diverge by thousands of dollars for what sounds like the same work.

Step one: the walk-through. A painter measures the rooms, counts doors and windows, notes ceiling height and looks for what adds labour: stippled ceilings, wallpaper, water staining, nail pops, and trim last done in oil. Ottawa houses from before the mid 1990s very often have oil-based trim under the current coat, and that changes the primer and the price. Colour choice happens here too, and a painter who insists on a sample on your own wall in your own light is saving you a repaint.

Step two: protection and preparation. Furniture is moved in and covered, floors are papered, and anything staying gets masked. Then the repairs: nail holes and dents filled, cracked drywall joints taped and sanded, loose paint scraped, trim-to-wall gaps caulked, glossy surfaces sanded so the new coat grips. A good crew spends more hours here than on the painting. If a quote does not describe this stage, it is not priced in.

Step three: priming. Bare drywall repairs, water stains, strong existing colours and any oil-based surface all need a primer, and they need different ones: a stain-blocking primer for water marks, a bonding primer over old oil trim, a drywall sealer over patches so they do not flash through. Skipping primer is the most common way a cheap quote gets cheap.

Step four: the finish coats. Ceilings first, then walls, then trim and doors last, which keeps overspray off finished work. Two coats is the standard for a colour change and over fresh patching. One coat is honest only on a same-colour refresh over a sound surface, and the quote should say which was priced.

How long it takes. A single bedroom is usually a day. A main floor of an average Ottawa two-storey is two to three days. A whole house of about 185 square metres (2,000 square feet), walls, ceilings and trim, is commonly four to six working days with a crew of two. Wallpaper removal, heavy repairs or a stippled ceiling that has to be skim-coated flat can each add a day or more.

What it costs in Ottawa in 2026. These are indicative ranges rather than quotes. A standard bedroom of roughly 3.7 by 3.7 metres (12 by 12 feet), walls only, two coats, commonly runs $450 to $800. Walls, ceiling and trim in the same room is closer to $700 to $1,300. A whole-house interior, two coats throughout, is usually $6,000 to $14,000. What moves the number: ceiling height, how much trim and how many doors, whether the trim is oil and needs bonding primer, the condition of the drywall, and whether you are going from dark to light. Stairwells and cathedral ceilings carry a premium because of staging, and they should be itemised.

What makes an Ottawa house different. Humidity swing, first. Ottawa runs very dry indoors in January and humid in July, and that movement opens drywall joints, cracks caulking and pops ceiling nails. Tape those properly and you buy years. Paint over them and you get the same cracks next winter. House age by neighbourhood, second. The core, Westboro, Hintonburg and Old Ottawa South carry plaster, oil trim and, in the oldest stock, lead. The suburbs built since 1990 are drywall throughout.

Licensing, and what actually exists. There is no painter's licence in Ontario and no legal requirement to hold a certificate to paint a house. Painter and Decorator (Commercial and Residential) is trade code 404C and it is a non-compulsory trade, which means a certificate can be earned through a 6,000 hour apprenticeship but is not required to practise, and holders do not appear on the public register (Skilled Trades Ontario, Painter and Decorator (Commercial and Residential), trade code 404C). Anybody telling you they are a licensed painter in Ontario is using the word loosely. What is real and checkable: liability insurance, and WSIB coverage, which since 5 December 2024 is compulsory for independent operators, sole proprietors, partners and executive officers in construction, with a narrow exemption for work on an existing private residence where the occupant hires the contractor directly (WSIB, Expanded Compulsory Coverage in Construction). Ask for a WSIB clearance certificate and a current insurance certificate. Neither costs the contractor anything to produce.

Lead, if your house is old. Health Canada says houses built before 1960 probably contain lead-based paint, houses built between 1960 and 1990 may have it, and anything after 1990 should not, because consumer paints were virtually lead-free by then. Its guidance is explicit about method: do not use sanders, heat guns or blowlamps to remove paint in older homes, because that creates dust and fumes containing lead (Health Canada, Reduce your exposure to lead). If your house predates 1960 and the trim is being stripped rather than scuffed, that is a conversation to have before the quote, not after.

What to ask before you hire. How many coats, and of what product. Is the trim oil or latex, and what primer goes over it. What repairs are included. Who moves the furniture. Fixed price or hourly. How many crew, for how many days. What does the warranty on peeling and flashing cover. Can I see your WSIB clearance and insurance certificate.

Painting and decorating does not need a building permit in Ottawa, which the City lists among the work that is exempt (City of Ottawa, Do I need a building permit). That also means nobody from the City will inspect the job, so the written quote and the warranty are your only protection.