How Much Does it Cost for a Custom Mural?
We have all seen them. We are all amazed by them. Hand-painted custom murals painted on walls, ceilings, buildings, trucks, cars, and trailers. Even wall decals and wall art, are amazing. A custom mural is a great work of art, but how much does it cost?
There are several Factors that affect the cost of a custom mural.
- Type of mural
- How long will it take
- Type of materials needed to paint
- Location and needed prep or final top coats (exterior brick, pool rooms, basements)
- Labor cost
- Special installation cost (making it removable)
- Special needs (scaffolding)
- where do you live? We service the greater Chicagoland area, which makes for some special problems with parking, unloading materials while working in the City of Chicago or getting in a home with equipment due to stairs, entrances or walkways
What type of custom painted mural are you looking for?
It may sound easy enough that you want a mural painted but there are different styles.
- There are murals for children’s rooms that are usually a coloring book type of painting
- One of my favorites is fresco style such as seen at the Sistine Chapel in Italy
- Then the other that we do is Airbrush realistic type murals
How long will a mural take to paint?
This question depends on what you want and where you want it.
- Is it outside? If so weather and the surface to be painted will take longer to get ready. Painting on concrete or brick will take extra time for power washing, primers, and weather.
- An 8ft wall is pretty straightforward, but a two-story stairwell is not so easy. Special scaffolding takes extra time to set up, work on, moving up and down the ladders and moving materials.
- How detailed is the mural? The more 3D or depth, the longer it takes.
What materials are needed?
- Again, special primers are needed to paint a custom wall mural
- If we are using paint brushes there is one type of paint, if airbrush a different paint
- Needed clear coats to protect the mural from UV sun damage, water resistance, or touching
- Any need for projectors, compressors, large-scale enlargements?
Labor Cost
- On average the cost of murals is about $10.00 to $15.00 per square foot to paint. How much detail affects cost.
- Sometimes the work before we paint takes just as long to do as it does to paint the mural itself. Good research on the image you want, proper scaling, custom artwork or graphic design to get an image to scale takes time.
Special Installation costs
- Is it going to be painted on drywall or do you want to be able to move it or relocate it?
- Some murals are actually painted on canvas then installed as a wallpaper to make sure it can be taken down if you move, relocate it, or just not wanting it to just be painted over. If you have questions about wallpaper murals, we can answer them!
- Outside installation can be done on panels and mounted to a wall.
Special Equipment
- Will the artist need an air compressor?
- Will there be a need for scaffolding?
- Does the surface need special primers, sprayers, ladders, air scrubbers, no voc materials?
What you need to do – YOUR HOMEWORK!
- You will need to decide what you want to be painted. Spend some time on the internet to decide what type of you want, what type of image, how large or small, and how much is you are willing to spend (keep in mind a minimum mural will be at least $500.00)
- When are you looking to have the work done by?
- Will the artist be able to do the work when someone is there (working on a stairwell makes it hard for walking under, through or around scaffold and ladders)
- Know what your expectations are and be able to freely discuss them with your muralist.
