In this article I’m going to do something that some of my friends warn me not to because they are so darn practical:
I’m going to tell all. Oh My God, I’m sharing with the entire world our pricing structure for wall murals. (Subject to increase by 10% every year…)
Why would I do something so daring and crazy, you ask? Because that’s what my blog is all about – uniting artists and sharing information so that we all can be successful and live the dream life.
In a second follow-up article, I’m going to give you our “secrets” for making mural clients so happy that they scream from their rooftops “Use this artist for your next project. She’s/He’s the BEST!”
But first, I’ll go over the money part – because for me, money is important. I love to eat good food and travel. And for some strange reason, it costs money to do that. 🙂
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO DEVELOP A STRUCTURED PRICE SHEET
You should have a detailed mural pricing structure in writing. And if you don’t have one already, you can use mine as a guide.
Determining what to charge for a wall mural can be tricky. But once you get a structure in place, pricing murals will be a smooth process.
This month we have two large murals that Drew has been commissioned to paint. One of the murals is for a new store called Yogurt Wave. We flew mural expert, Katie Staib, down from Spokane Washington to help make it look great.
The owners, Kerry and Tommy, contacted Drew because his fun style attracts young people that are into action sports, which is their target market.
Their first question was “what will it cost to have Drew paint a 46’ foot mural?” In just a few short minutes, I was able to give them a quote thanks to my nicely organized price sheet.
One of the most common challenges for artists is determining what to charge for a project. Developing a structure & system will make it so much easier for you.
Our current system is working well for us and our clients understand it. But there may be alternative ways to do it, so if you know of a better system, please share in the comments!
HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR PRICE SHEET
Your mural price sheet should be structured in a way that makes sense and that enables you to easily determine what you will charge based on size of the mural.
We charge approx. $25.00 – $35.00 per square foot with a minimum of 160 square feet. Knowing this makes it easy to establish pricing based on various sizes.
Below is a copy of the price sheet that we give to people prior to a written proposal.
Giving a client a price sheet:
- Weeds out the people who can’t afford you (so you don’t waste your time or theirs); and
- Demonstrates your professionalism. People tend to feel better about handing you a big check when they think you know what you’re doing.
Keep in mind, our pricing may be considered high by some standards and very low by others. We know of many artists that charge a lot more than we do. And then there are some that are charging half of what we do.
HOW MUCH $$$ YOU CHARGE IS RELATIVE TO: your experience, where you are located (some places are cheaper to live than others) and supply and demand of your art.
You are welcome to copy and paste the form below and adjust it accordingly for your own use.
OR buy my Mural Pricing and Proposal Package HERE (it will save you years of agony having a TEMPLATE on a mural proposal!)
SAMPLE MURAL PRICING SHEET
Minimum Price: Murals sized 0 to 160 Square Feet: Price is $5,600
Pricing starts at $35 per square foot and decreases with increased size of mural; at 290 sf price drops to $32/sf – at 500 sf drops to $30/sf – at 900 sf price drops to $28/sf.
(Square Foot is determined by multiplying the height x width of the painting surface)
*Price per square foot may increase if design requested is complex. This will be indicated in price quote and determined at the time that the final sketch is approved.
SAMPLE PRICING, per square foot:
| Prices per Unit Size (sample sizes) | ||
| DIMENSIONS | ²AREA | PRICE |
| Up to 10ft. x 16ft. | 160ft. | $5,600.00 |
| 11ft. x 16ft. | 176ft. | $6,160.00 |
| 12ft. x 20ft. | 240ft. | $8,400.00 |
| 13ft. x 20ft. | 260ft. | $9,100.00 |
| 14ft. x 21ft. | 294ft. | $9,410.00 |
| 15ft. x 23ft. | 345ft. | $11,040.00 |
| 17ft. x 26ft. | 442ft. | $14,144.00 |
| 18ft. x 28ft. | 504ft. | $15,120.00 |
| 19ft. x 30ft. | 570ft. | $17,100.00 |
| 20ft. x 31ft. | 620ft. | $18,600.00 |
| 25ft. x 39ft. | 975ft. | $27,300.00 |
| 28ft. x 44ft. | 1232ft. | $34,500.00 |
Non-Refundable Design/Sketch Fee: $2500.00 – Includes up to 2 sets of changes by client (Additional sketches charged at $250/sketch)
In my Mural Pricing and Proposal Package I also tell you how to handle and what to charge $ for:
- Travel fees
- Liability Insurance
- Unexpected changes to the art
- Adverse conditions on the surface of the wall (i.e. it’s not “paint ready”)
- Payment terms: How much $$$ to ask for UP FRONT before starting the sketch process and when the balance is due
- MORE things you never thought of!
PRICE SHEET EXPLANATION
Every detail and *caveat on the price sheet is necessary and came from us learning the hard way. Below are a few points and for ALL of the info get my Proposal Package:
Pricing Structure: I’ve talked to mural artists who charge $40 – $50 a square foot. For us, a starting price of approx. $35 per square foot works, because Drew is extremely efficient and gets a project completed rather quickly.
- You might charge less if you’re new at it or if you live in a low cost-of-living area, or
- You might charge more if you are very experienced or in high demand, or live in a high cost-of-living area (like New York or LA).
Minimum Price: We charge a minimum for small murals under 160 square feet because it’s a lot of work and time to set up at a location. It’s not worth it for us to have Drew go out to paint a small mural and only be paid a couple thousand dollars. You may want to adjust this number up or down, depending upon where you are in your career.
Realistically, for murals smaller than 160 sf, an artist is better off painting an original painting in their studio. It’s easier and doesn’t require travel or set up someplace else. The upside for the client is a piece of art that they can remove from the wall if they move, or that they can resell if they want to later.
Non-Refundable Design (Sketch) Fee: Every mural we do is designed on paper first. We offer the client the ability to pay just for the sketches first, because sometimes a client isn’t sure if you can do what it is that they want.
If they don’t like your design or decide not to use your services after all, they only lose the money they paid for the sketch fee and you are at least paid for your time to sketch it for them. We don’t sketch out anything without the design fee because it’s a lot of work. Just meeting with the person to discuss what they want can take a couple hours. You want to make sure that you are paid for that time.
Why You Should Limit the Number of Sketches: We have a limit of up to 3 sketches (2 sets of changes) and then charge for each additional sketch beyond that. When you do this, your client will be motivated to be very specific about what they want. If you don’t limit the number of sketches, they will just go on and on with changes. Trust me on this!
Wall Preparation: So far, we’ve never had to charge additional fees for wall prep. We’ve only had brand new walls to paint. But if Drew arrived at a location and the walls were in bad shape, we have this caveat in the price quote so that we can charge extra for getting the wall paint-ready.
Payment Terms: This is very Important! We require 50% of the total amount 2 weeks prior to the scheduled start date. This allows us to block out 5 or more days on the calendar (thus not accepting other projects for those days) and to purchase the necessary materials prior to the painting.
Paying a deposit is also a psychological thing with your client – you want to train them to view you as a professional who expects prompt payment, and they are fully committed when they pay half up front.
If you are just building your portfolio, there are other ways to handle the deposit, and I tell you how in my Mural Pricing and Proposal Package.
THE BALANCE is due on the last day of the painting. This is because I personally hate chasing money. I want to be paid and done with a job when it’s finished. Also, I have to pay our assistant on that last day as well. And if you know anything about me by reading my posts, you know that I got out of the Art Banking business years ago!
PROPOSAL PROCESS
When we get a call from someone interested in a mural painting, our process is:
1.) E-mail them the pricing sheet above. This is so that from the very beginning, your client knows your general pricing and they can determine if it’s in their price range.
2.) Gather details about the mural, such as: Height and Width of the proposed mural, physical location, the shape that the wall is in, and what design they want. (I ask the client for this – we rarely go out to see the mural space until after we know it’s a “go”.)
3.) Based on the information provided above, then I’ll write up and e-mail a written proposal. (My Mural Proposal Template available HERE)
Throughout the process I will verbally clarify, up front, how we work (meaning our payment policies). I’ll usually say: “We will begin the sketch process once you pay your Sketch fee. The fee includes up to 3 sketches, so please be as specific as you can about what you want. A 50% deposit is due 2 weeks before the painting begins. The mural will take approximately 5 days (or however many). We plan to work from 9-5 daily. Your final payment is due on the day it’s finished.”
Being clear and direct helps to prevent misunderstandings later. I don’t like surprises, especially when it comes to money. That’s why I’m so specific in both my written agreements and my verbal discussions with clients. Everything goes better that way, and clients appreciate knowing what to expect.
GIVING A DEAL/PRICE BREAK
Your client may ask for a deal on price. Sometimes it’s reasonable to give a small discount or freebie to a returning client.
For new clients: If it seems like it’ll be a less complicated design, sometimes I’ll offer to deduct their sketch fee from the mural price. Basically I’m waiving the sketch fee, but I still require a payment prior to the sketch process.
You could also offer to lower the per-square-foot fee if the mural is going to be very simple and easy, say, like a basic design. On the other hand, if the design they want is extremely detailed, you should consider increasing the per square foot fee.
ONCE THE SKETCH PROCESS IS COMPLETE
After we get the sketch drawn out, and the client is ready to move forward, we ask for 50% down and we schedule the dates that the painting will take place.
Typically Drew can get a mural completed in 5-7 days. Using a system of gridlines and efficiency, along with the help of an assistant, most murals, even very large ones, can be completed in that time frame.
In the end, the most important thing is to make sure that your client is extremely happy with your work. Read my article “Painting a Wall Mural – Ten Ways to Please Your Client” on how to make your client so pleased, that they are screaming your name from their rooftops!
SAMPLE WALL MURAL PROPOSAL TEMPLATE:
Artist’s Wall Mural Proposal Template Package
I hope this has been helpful to you. Please let me know in the comments below. (Or share your suggestions on how to make the mural pricing process better).
AND: Sign up for my informative Newsletters! In every newsletter I send by email you get FREE art business strategy coaching – my gift to you for being on my e-mail list!
Because of my freakish nature of ruminating over every little detail, it takes me hours to write these articles, and if I know that I’m helping people, I will keep on doing it!
AND, IF YOU WANT A PROFESSIONAL PROPOSAL PROCESS and TEMPLATE, check out this awesome package I created that has helped hundreds of artists proposal and price out murals:
Artist’s Wall Mural Proposal Template and Price Sheet
Luv, Maria xxoo
517 Responses
I have just started my life long dream of painting murals for people. Your pricing system has helped so much. I know i ma just starting out so it does seem very expensive but I also know that it costs alot to paint one mural. I have posted some of my work on my facebook and alot of people have wanted to quote them on pricing of pictures and mural paintings. So thank you for giving me an idea of what it would cost.
I googled “mural pricing” and of course the queen of art info pops up at the top of the list! I received all call from a local business that’s very interested in having my art in their new location. Your info as always is really helpful, Maria. Thank you for your guidance and willingness to share:) Much Aloha – Bryan
Wow, Maria! Thanks so much for posting such detail! Can’t tell you how much your information is forming the basis for my beginnings in mural painting!
I like your pricing structure. For all the hotel murals I did in Spain I got paid the same as a carpenter or electrician. $200 a day. Guess I got burned.
Richard, thanks for the comment and for reading my blog!
You didn’t get burned; you just didn’t charge them enough. It’s the responsibility of the artist to make sure they provide a written price quote and to charge what they feel they are worth. It’s not up to the client; often your clients have no idea what the artwork is worth.
For your next mural project, make sure you charge your client enough so that you can feel good about it!
On another note: electricians only charge $200 a day in Spain? Here, in California, it’s $200 an HOUR.
Thank you so much for this information, it’s very helpfull
Very helpful
Helo I’d like to say a uge thanks for sharing your information. Tis helps me greatly especially as I’ve just started out with both residential and commercial Mural paintings. Thank you I have now subscribed!
Thank you for your webpage. I’m an artist who also writes contracts for my artist brother. Your mural price sheet is an excellent resource! Thank you for all the work you put into providing this information.
Thank you so much for this guidance and advice. I’m considering setting up a business doing this kind of thing and although I am UK based, the information you are providing is invaluable and inspiring so thank you.
Gav xx
Wow, I finally found you! Thank you sooo much for this advise/posting.
Thanks so much. I found this very helpful. After painting all my life, I just completed my first outdoor mural. It is small compared to most murals 55″ circular. It is a mandala. It got a lot of attention, and I want to offer more to the community. My question: how to base the sketch price on a relatively small mural? (where I live would not support your minimum pricing)
Thanks so much!
Super helpful article. I’m sure a LOT of artists with first time mural gigs are loving you right now. I agree the hardest part of freelancing is the pricing guide. It can be very daunting.
Thanks for all the info!
Hey!
I stumbled across this just by sheer luck and browsing since I was looking at Drew’s work as style inspiration for some new project I want to start, and this was really insightful!
I’m a freelance digital artist so it’s always hard to know how and what to charge. Obviously I don’t use physical materials but the digital software I use costs a lot and I’m still paying it off. While there are obviously extreme differences from digital and traditional artwork, this was incredibly helpful especially with all the “fiddly” bits in contracting that I always seem to overlook. Such as the design fee. I often find myself surrounded with endless iterations of designs and hours and hours and hours of unpaid work which has gone into the concepts. Won’t be doing that again! Thanks so much for posting, nice to see it’s still as helpful and relevant today as it was 4 years ago on the original post!
Laura 🙂
G’day Maria,
Lesson learnt for me. I thoroughly enjoyed your advise and price guide.
Time for me to stop underselling myself.
Thanks for the info! What would you charge for a canvas painting if they just want the small mural?
Thank you so much for your article. it has helped us immensely with working out a quote for a large mural and not underestimating the amount of work involved.
Fantastic- and also for the sample contract
Hello…Cool! Bloggy Blogg!
Thanks Maria for the article. I paint murals for a chain of grocery stores. They hand me the design but most murals are repeats with some adjustments for size.
To save money, they’ve opted to do the next mural with printed vinyl! Somebody else is getting the job! Did I mention PRINTED VINYL!
Of course I immediately start doubting my pricing. Am I charging too much? Am I being greedy because I want a vehicle that is new instead of used? But after reading your article I’m more confident than ever that my price is bang on. I’d rather get paid what I’m worth (and more important, what it costs) than sell myself short.
I know what it costs to run this business. The commercial insurance, commercial property tax, new roof on the building this year. Scaffolds, rated ladders, trailer, health and safety training… and more. It’s easy to charge less and skimp on all of the above… until something goes wrong. When something goes wrong, I’m responsible. If I’m at fault I become liable.
It’s easy to charge less when you start out. You’re painting for friends etc. The occasional mural. You can’t believe that people would even pay you for something that you enjoy doing. But then you start doing work for people that you don’t know and it gets complicated. ALL the T’s need to be crossed and the I’s need to be dotted. And that costs money.
Yes, my feelings are hurt that I’m not getting the job… that my good client is getting cheap. But I’d rather not work than work for less than what it costs.
Thanks again for your article.
Hi Maria, Another Killer post!!!
A Buddy of mine is paintings a 8′ X 20′ mural at the Sega booth this weekend at Comicon. I am dismayed to say that he clearly got low-balled by Sega. Do you price differently for painting on moveable panels at a convention/ event versus a permanent wall? just curious. thanks again! tom
Hi Tom, thanks for the question! Often, we get hired to paint murals at trade shows. When doing it for large companies (such as Sega), we typically are paid anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 PLUS travel & hotel costs. These types of projects pay more than a typical mural, for many different reasons. One, the larger companies have larger budgets (that’s why I prefer working with large companies!), and the other is that painting live at a trade show is extremely exhausting and requires longer hours, travel, and talking to huge numbers of people. It’s a lot harder than just painting a mural; that’s why we charge more. I hope he got paid at least $15,000 for it, because ComicCon is a tough place to paint live at! (And believe me, Sega has the budget.)
Hi Maria,
THANKS for your generosity with your time and info!!!!!! I think he got low-balled on this job. But he won’t be caught unaware next time!!!!
Hello artists,
We are looking to paint our exterior walls, 21′ per wall
Sky and clouds only!
jerry.hartman@guestinformant.com
where have you been all my life!!! bless you for sharing this. i always wished i had a manager to handle billing, submissions and clients, etc. over the years i’ve been thrown every possible trick to confound my business.haven’t we all? i believe this guide (with some adjustments) will help out immeasurably.
This is a great article. After painting a residential mural in my baby’s nursery (15ft x 9.5ft), I am hooked & want to paint more, but had no idea where to start in figuring out how to charge. I first thought about hourly + materials + sketch charges, but it felt too complex. This article provided me a great baseline to calculating out per square foot costs (but I’d be much lower since I’m just starting). Next I need to figure out how to market myself & get myself some clients! (any articles on that, Maria?) 😉
Thank you so much for publishing this article.
Thanx for all the great info on pricing! Might get my first mural and not having any spray paint exp. was wondering if I should use latex paints as opposed to acrylics? I have always painted with oils. Also noticed the great instrumental music Drew paints to so I have to share my sons music with him! “Scale the Summit”, Drew will love to paint to their songs!; just released their 4th cd and touring extensively! Enjoy,thanx again! Surfer & Artist as well… 🙂
Thank you. Very helpful
Hello, just wanted to say thank you for the time you took into making this post available for me to find. I paint murals but I have gotten my first possible customer and I got no idea how to go about the pricing. I never thought that this many details are involved. It is of great help to me that I am starting to find out about all it takes to do this as a buss.
It is my very first time dealing with a client on my own and I was totally lost not knowing how to deal with the whole thing. You have giving me all I need to start with confidence. I thank you so much for so unselfishly sharing your expertise based on your own trial and error so we don’t have to. You are a wonderful soul being.
Thank you!!!!! This is so helpful
Hello Maria,
Thank you so much for sharing this! I was just asked for an estimate on a mural. I had done a few in the past, and donated a couple to our church, but really hadn’t thought much about it. Thank you for sharing all!
Very helpful thanks so much 🙂
Any idea how to find a building (eg. in downtown LA) to rent in order to do a mural on the outside of it?
What do you suggest I charge for hand lettering?
Large letters on a large wall
I am a mural artist starting out on a business.
Thanks – I’ve searched for this kind of info before and your article is exactly what I was looking for. Appreciate that you are so openly willing to share with fellow artists.
Great article! Extremely well thought out and presented! Would you mind if I shared it on our Art Box Facebook page?
I appreciate you sharing this information. I didn’t set out to be painting murals but I have painted walls for friends and family and because I have a friend in the restaurant business who has moved around..I have painted 3 murals for her, I need to do something!. Now there are inquiries for me to paint for other folks and I am searching for information. Thank you so much!!
super valuable info..
This article was extremely helpful! Thank you!
Hello Maria, I am a artist. I use to work helping my husband doing murals but we got divorced and he is doing very well but don’t want to help me to get in the trade, he is very selfish,so please if you can help me in anyway please contact me. I am from Costa Rica-and I’m learning English.Thank you.
Hi Maria! My wife has been an artist/instructor for over 20 years and was approached yesterday to do a mural. She has a little experience in doing murals. Thank you very much for sharing your pricing structure….I created a similar structure for her artwork but not murals. I have read about your experience in the insurance industry, so you must have a really good reason for not including your own liability insurance in Drew’s mural contract. (Did I miss something there?) What protects Drew liability wise? Is Drew’s assistant required to provide their own insurance while on the job? Do you require that the client provide the insurance if the coverage is important to them? Does the client’s contract signature implicitly relieve Drew & assistant of any liability claim on the part of the client if “something” should happen? Please explain and thank you in advance. Rob
Nice article and good advice. Even as an experienced muralist, pricing is difficult. I like how you structured the pricing sheet so it gives the client a benchmark while still maintaining some room for adjustment.
Great info
Hello and yes!!! thank you so much for this information! my daughter is an aspiring artist at SFSU and has been commissioned to paint a few walls at her sister’s Cheer gym. we didn’t know where to start as she has done blackboard signs as a wedding gift and other art pieces as gifts. She just started selling a few of her original pieces on clothing, (her website above) but she can paint/sketch anything she is given. The wall art is basically sayings and a logo with some small pictures. This helps because although she is new at this I want her to be taken seriously. I am passing along this information and will be looking into your other articles as well. Thanks again!
I want to thank you for this helpful info…I’ma an art is but with very little experience on prices for murals…love your passion to help strangers…thank you and god bless you.
We are pursuing a grant for a series of outdoor murals in alleys downtown; I found your article very helpful in figuring out how to approach the budget portion of the grant proposal. The walls are original brick from roughly 75-100 years ago and we’ve been advised that it would be best to have the murals done on a medium that is hung on the brick, rather than the brick itself. Do you have any thoughts or experience with this type of outdoor mural? We liked the idea of the paint on the brick (so the texture shows through) but don’t know if it is feasible.
Fantastically useful!!
Thank you,
Erin
Thanks for sharing – loved it!
I’ve been looking for an article with everything you covered! Lifesaver, churr
Thanks so much for all the information. Very helpful and generous of you to share like this!
Good morning I came across your website/blog and even after being a professional mural artist based in chehire in the UK for over two decades i found your advice excellent for new people coming into the industry.
you are amazing for doing this! thank you so so much!
you are amazing for doing this! i am just starting to learn about all this + this has been the most helpful thang ever.