Estimating Paint and Framing

NOTE--We retired MacNail in 2000, and replaced it with Goldenseal project estimating software. There are still quite a few die-hard MacNail users, so we keep the manuals online for them! Goldenseal is a complete small-business software package that also includes accounting, job costing and project management features. For framing and finish quantities, Goldenseal uses a much more extensive list of project dimensions, than we used in MacNail.

Paint Areas

This number represents the total area of walls including partitions, interior and exterior walls, and the total floor and ceiling areas.
* For an addition, these numbers will need to be adjusted if you are doing some painting in the existing structure.
* For gut/rehabs and remodeling projects, the areas should be checked carefully, since the actual quantity of work is hard to predict from the overall project dimensions.

Framing Dimensions

These calculated framing construction values may need to be adjusted in gut/rehabs and remodeling projects. They represent the length of walls that will get new framing (as opposed to existing walls that will only get new insulation, wallboard, trim and/or paint).

Total Height

The total height of the project is measured from the average ground level to the lowest point where the exterior walls meet the roof. The MacNail construction estimating software usually gets this value correctly, so it will only rarely need to be adjusted.