Painting prices per square metre, Cape Town 2026
What painting your house really costs, per square metre.
Short answer: interior repaints run from R70 per square metre, exteriors from R105. You will find cheaper quotes than these. This page explains exactly what you give up to get them.
Interior repaint, walls and ceilings
from R70 per m²
Exterior repaint, plaster
from R105 per m²
Exterior repaint, face brick and textured walls
from R120 per m²
These are guidance ranges to help you budget, not a quotation. Every property is different. We give you one fixed price for the whole job after we have looked at it properly and written down what we found.
Most painting price pages on the internet are written by companies that sell your details to whoever pays for them. The rates are pitched low because a low rate gets the click, and the contractor who arrives has to find the difference somewhere: fewer coats, no wash, cheaper paint, no primer.
So here is the market as it actually is in 2026, and here is where we sit in it, with the reason next to every rand.
The market, and us
What it costs, and what you get for the difference.
Interior repaint, walls and ceilings
Cape Town market
R25 to R80 per m²
Williams & Co
from R70 per m²
Furniture moved and covered, cracks cut out and filled, ceilings cut in by hand, two full coats of Plascon over a bonding coat.
Exterior repaint, plaster
Cape Town market
R60 to R120 per m²
Williams & Co
from R105 per m²
High-pressure wash, chalk and loose coating removed back to sound plaster, cracks opened and sealed, plaster primer, then two full coats.
Exterior repaint, face brick and textured walls
Cape Town market
R70 to R130 per m²
Williams & Co
from R120 per m²
Textured and porous surfaces drink paint. The coverage rate drops and the coats have to be built properly or it flashes within a season.
Trim, doors, windows and fascias
Cape Town market
quoted per item
Williams & Co
quoted per item
Sanded, primed and finished in enamel. Priced on what is actually there, not averaged into the wall rate.
These are guidance ranges to help you budget, not a quotation. Every property is different. We give you one fixed price for the whole job after we have looked at it properly and written down what we found.
Where we stand
We are not the cheapest. That is the whole point.
Our rates sit at the top end of what Cape Town charges, not past it. We are not the cheapest, and we are not trying to be the most expensive either. What you are paying for at the top of the range is the part that never shows in a photograph: the wash, the crack repair, the primer, and the last coat that a cheap quote quietly leaves out.
Why the cheap quote is cheap
The savings all come out of the same place.
The wash gets skipped
A Cape Town exterior wall carries years of dust, salt and chalk. Paint over it and you are gluing a new coat to a powder. It looks perfect on handover day and peels in sheets after the first serious winter.
The primer gets skipped
Primer is invisible when the job is done, which makes it the easiest line to delete from a quote. It is also the only thing holding your topcoat to the wall.
Two coats become one and a bit
Thinned paint spreads further and covers well enough to pass a walk-around. Film thickness is what gives you years, and a thin film gives you seasons.
Nobody writes down what was agreed
Without a written specification there is nothing to hold anyone to, so there is nothing a guarantee can mean.
Worked example
A real job, priced line by line.
Double storey home in Durbanville, roughly 220 m² of exterior wall, plaster, last painted about nine years ago
High-pressure wash and surface prep
Full wash, chalk and failed coating removed, fungal wash where needed
R5,300
Crack repair and sealing
Hairline cracks opened, filled and sealed, movement joints resealed
R3,900
Plaster primer
Full coat of Plascon plaster primer to bare and chalky areas
R4,200
Two full topcoats
Plascon exterior system, brushed and rolled, two coats at spec
R11,600
Trim, fascias and downpipes
Sanded, primed and finished in enamel
R3,600
Access, protection and site cleanup
Scaffold where needed, plants and paving covered, site cleared daily
R2,900
One fixed price
R31,500
That works out to about R143 per m² all in, wall rate plus everything the wall rate does not cover. You will be quoted this same house for R22,000 by someone who is not going to wash or prime it. Both quotes are real. Only one of them is still on the wall in eight years.
What is not in the price
So the number stays honest.
- Plaster repairs beyond hairline cracking, quoted separately once opened up
- Structural or damp causes behind failing paint, diagnosed first and quoted on their own
- Roof work, which is priced on the roof, not in the wall rate
- Colour changes decided mid-job that need extra coats to cover
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Get your own number
Guidance only goes so far. Let us look at the property.
We come out, get onto the roof and the walls, photograph what we find, and send you one fixed price for the whole job.