A painting contract is the agreement between a client and a painting contractor that says which surfaces get painted, how they’re prepared, what paint goes on, how many coats, what it costs, and how touch-ups work at the end. Homeowners, landlords and small businesses use it for interior and exterior jobs, and painters use it so “I thought you were doing the trim” never comes up. This free painting contractor contract template is in Word and PDF.

What goes wrong on painting jobs without a written contract?

Mostly small things that add up. Say, hypothetically, a couple in Portland hires a painter for $4,600 to do the living room, hall and two bedrooms. They picked a color, but nobody wrote down the sheen, so the walls come out eggshell when they wanted matte. The ceilings weren’t mentioned, so the painter didn’t do them. The closets were a maybe. And the patched spots in the hall show through because there was one coat, not two.

Every one of those is a line in our template. The painter isn’t being shortchanged and neither is the client; it’s just written down.

Is your home built before 1978?

Answer this first, because it changes how the job has to be done. EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule covers paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in housing and child-occupied facilities (like childcare centers and preschools) built before 1978. Firms doing that work must be EPA certified and use certified renovators and lead-safe work practices. Scraping and sanding old paint is exactly the kind of work the rule is about.

There’s a small-job exception. Under 40 CFR 745.83, “minor repair and maintenance” means disturbing no more than 6 square feet of painted surface per room inside or 20 square feet outside, and it doesn’t cover window replacement, demolition of painted surfaces, or practices the rule prohibits. Jobs in the same room within 30 days count together. Most real painting jobs with prep work go well past those numbers.

What does the Renovate Right pamphlet requirement say?

Before renovation in pre-1978 housing, the firm must give the owner EPA’s lead hazard pamphlet, Renovate Right, no more than 60 days before work begins. The firm then needs either the owner’s written acknowledgment that they received it, or a certificate of mailing sent at least 7 days before work starts. If the owner doesn’t live there (a rental, say), the firm also has to give the pamphlet to an adult occupant, with the same kind of proof. Common-area work in multi-unit buildings has its own notice rules. The details are in 40 CFR 745.84.

Our template includes a section where the client states the year the home was built, the contractor gives its EPA firm certification number, and the client acknowledges getting the pamphlet.

What should the contract say about prep, coats and paint?

Prep

Surface prep is where good and bad paint jobs split. The template lists prep tasks you can tick: washing, scraping loose paint, sanding, filling holes and cracks, caulking gaps, spot-priming bare wood or patches, masking, and removing or covering hardware and outlet plates. If you’re not paying for heavy drywall repair, say so in the exclusions.

Coats

Write the number of coats for each surface, and whether primer counts as one. “Two finish coats over one coat of primer on patched areas” is clear. “Paint living room” isn’t.

Brand, line, color and sheen

Name the manufacturer, the specific product line (brands sell several grades), the color name or code, and the sheen for walls, ceilings, trim and doors. The template uses a table so every surface gets its own row. It also says who buys the paint. If the client supplies it, the painter isn’t on the hook for how a bargain product performs.

What about furniture, cleanup and touch-ups?

The template spells out who moves furniture, how floors and belongings are protected, daily cleanup, and what happens with leftover paint (labeled and left for touch-ups is the kind choice). It ends the job with a walkthrough and a punch list, and gives the painter a set number of days to finish touch-ups before final payment is due. A workmanship warranty for peeling or blistering caused by poor prep rounds it out.

How do you fill in a painting contract and get it signed?

  1. Walk every room or elevation together and fill in the surface table.
  2. Settle the pre-1978 question and handle the pamphlet before work starts.
  3. Choose products and sheens, and agree who buys paint.
  4. Fill in price, deposit and payment schedule.
  5. Sign, and keep the lead acknowledgment with the contract.

If the painter sold the job at the client’s home, the FTC cooling-off rule may give the client three business days to cancel a sale of $25 or more, with written notice from the contractor. The template has a line for that. Electronic signatures work fine for painting contracts; our guide to how to sign a PDF online covers the options. For a larger remodel that includes painting, use a construction contract instead.

Download it, fill in the blanks, and send it for e-signature with any tool you like. (We’re building SignWren for this kind of paperwork; join the waitlist.)

This template and guide are general information, not legal advice. For a specific job or dispute, talk to a lawyer licensed where the property is.