Is this popcorn ceiling job actually paying you? Free, no signup.
Time under the knife, per square foot. Painted-on texture is slower; the toggles below price that in.
Jobs like this one to hit your take-home goal.
Popcorn ceiling jobs die on the per-square-foot instinct quote. A $2/sqft scraping price ignores the asbestos test, the skim coat, the prime and paint, the tall ceiling, and the two hours of masking. Start with your bar (75), profit margin percent (20), a minimum job fee ($900), and a monthly take-home goal. Pick a ceiling preset: Bedroom (400 sq ft), Living room (600), or Whole house (1500), each filling scrape minutes per sq ft as editable. Tick painted-over texture (+50 percent scrape time) and tall ceilings (+30 percent) when they apply. The finish card prices the asbestos test ($350), skim coat dollars per sq ft, and prime plus paint dollars per sq ft as separate toggles, because scraping-only and full-finish jobs are different quotes. Results show scrape labor, setup, drive, finishes, vehicle cost, true cost, profit, and the recommended quote (cost plus margin, rounded up to $25, never below the minimum), with dollars per sq ft and per hour underneath. Verdicts are PRICED RIGHT, CLOSE, BUT LEAKING, WORKING TOO CHEAP, or LOSING MONEY. The gut check grades your instinct dollars per sq ft, and the month planner turns your goal into jobs. No signup; runs on your phone.
Example only, not typical pricing. Living room, 600 sq ft at 1.5 scrape minutes per sq ft, test plus skim plus paint all on, 40-minute drive, 30 miles, 120 minutes of masking and setup, at a $75 bar with 20 percent margin. Scrape labor is 15 hours x 75 = $1,125. Setup is 2 x 75 = $150; drive is 0.67 x 75 = $50. Skim = 600 x $1.50 = $900; paint = 600 x $1.25 = $750; test = $350; disposal = $150; vehicle = $20.10. True cost = $3,495.10. Recommended quote = ceil(3,495.10 x 1.20 / 25) x 25 = $4,200, or $7.00 per sq ft. Effective rate = (4,200 - 900 - 750 - 150 - 350 - 20.10) / 17.67 = $114.90 per hour, which clears the bar, so the verdict is PRICED RIGHT. A $2,500 gut quote would pay $18.67 per hour and leave $1,700 on the table.
Why separate the scrape from the finish?
Because scraping-only and full refinishing are different jobs with different prices. The finish toggles keep the test, skim, and paint as separate lines so a refinishing quote never gets mistaken for a scrape price.
What do the painted and tall toggles do?
Painted-over texture multiplies scrape time by 1.5; tall ceilings multiply it by 1.3. Both stack, because painted texture on a 12-foot ceiling is the slowest scrape there is.
Is the asbestos test really a line item?
Yes, on pre-1980s homes. The $350 test is real money whether you pass it through or eat it, so the tool prices it into true cost.
How is masking counted?
Masking, setup, and final cleanup get their own minutes field. Covering a furnished living room can take two hours before the knife ever comes out.
What does the month planner do?
It turns your monthly take-home goal into jobs like this one and totals your hours. Cross 50 hours a week and it flags the reality check: raise the job price.