By Matt Weiler, Weiler Painting
It’s the question I get asked on nearly every interior estimate: “How long are you going to be in my house?” Fair question. Nobody wants painters camped out in their living room for two weeks. The honest answer is that most interior jobs we do in Chilliwack run somewhere between two days and two weeks, and the spread comes down to how much square footage we’re covering, how many surfaces are involved, and what shape the walls are in before we start. Here’s how it actually breaks down, based on what we run into week after week around Chilliwack, Sardis, and Promontory.
A realistic timeline by project size
If you’re planning interior painting in Chilliwack, these are the ranges we schedule against:
- One or two rooms, walls only: 1–2 days. A living room and bedroom in a dark colour needing 3–4 coats runs about $1,700 and takes the better part of two days.
- Apartment or condo, walls and trim: 2–4 days. We price these at $2,200–$2,400, and adding ceilings is another $800 and roughly another day.
- Main floor of a house, walls, 2 coats: 3–5 days, priced at $4,000–$5,000.
- Whole interior — walls, ceilings, doors, and trim: 1–2 weeks. This is the full package at $5–$6 per square foot.
- Popcorn ceiling removal on top of painting: add 2–4 days. Removal, skim coat, prime, and two finish coats runs $5–$10 per square foot depending on whether the texture was previously painted.
All prices are in Canadian dollars and 5% GST gets added on top. Walls only, on their own, works out to roughly $2 per square foot.
Why the same-sized house can take twice as long
Two houses on the same street, same square footage, and one takes three days while the other takes six. It happens constantly. The difference is almost always one of these:
Prep. This is the big one. Filling nail holes, sanding down old drips and roller lines, caulking gaps in the trim, cleaning grease off kitchen walls — prep can eat up 30 to 50 percent of the total time on an older home. A five-year-old place in Promontory needs almost none. A 1970s home in Chilliwack Proper with dinged-up baseboards and hairline cracks needs plenty.
Number of colours. Every colour change means a fresh cut-in line, more masking, and more cleanup between coats. Four colours through a main floor can add a full day compared to one colour everywhere.
Trim, doors, and ceilings. Walls go fast. Trim is slow, fiddly work, and doors need both sides done with dry time in between. Ceilings mean covering everything below them first.
Dark or dramatic colours. Deep reds, navies, and charcoals often need three or four coats to cover evenly instead of two. That’s extra dry time you can’t rush.
How much stuff is in the way. An empty house is quick. A fully furnished one means we’re moving and covering furniture at the start of each day and putting it back at the end.
What each day actually looks like
A typical interior job runs in this order, and knowing it makes the timeline easier to picture.
Day one is protection and prep. Drop cloths down, furniture moved to the middle and covered, floors and fixtures masked, then patching and sanding. Almost no paint goes on the wall on day one, and that’s on purpose. Skipping this is how you end up with paint on your baseboards and a finish that peels in two years.
Then priming, where it’s needed. Bare patches, stains, water marks, and big colour changes all get spot-primed or fully primed.
Then ceilings, walls, trim — in that order. Top down, so any drips land on surfaces we haven’t finished yet. We use Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint on most interior work because it lays down flat, covers well in two coats, and holds up to being wiped down in hallways and kids’ rooms.
Last day is second coats, touch-ups, and cleanup. We walk the whole job with you, mark anything you’re not happy with, fix it, and put your house back the way we found it.
Can you speed it up?
Some of it, yes. Here’s what genuinely helps:
- Clear the rooms yourself before we arrive. Closets emptied, artwork and curtain rods down, small furniture moved out. This alone can save a half-day on a bigger job.
- Book in the off-season. Interior work from November through February is our quieter stretch, so scheduling is easier and crews aren’t split between jobs.
- Settle on colours before we start. Mid-job colour changes cost real time and sometimes real money.
- Be reachable. If we hit water damage behind a baseboard, one quick phone call keeps us moving instead of waiting.
What doesn’t help is cutting prep or coats. Dry time between coats isn’t padding — it’s what makes the finish last. That’s the same reason we back our work with a 3-year warranty. We can’t stand behind a rush job.
Frequently asked questions
Can I stay in my house while you paint?
Almost always, yes. We work room by room so you keep a usable kitchen and a bed to sleep in. We’ll tell you at the start which rooms are off-limits on which days.
How long before I can put furniture back against the walls?
Paint is dry to the touch in a few hours but keeps curing for a couple of weeks. Wait 24–48 hours before pushing furniture tight against a freshly painted wall, and don’t tape anything to it for a few weeks.
Do you work weekends to finish faster?
Sometimes, on bigger jobs or tight possession dates. Tell us your deadline when you call and we’ll build the schedule around it.
How long does cabinet refinishing take?
Longer than people expect, because of the number of coats and dry time. A kitchen typically runs 4–7 days and costs $4,000–$8,000, with a pantry at $2,000–$3,000, plus GST.
How far ahead should I book?
Two to four weeks is typical for interior work. If you have a possession date or a listing date to hit, call sooner — a deposit holds your spot on the calendar.
Get a real timeline for your home
Every house is different, which is why I’d rather walk through yours than guess over the phone. I’ll tell you exactly how many days it’ll take, which rooms we’ll be in when, and what it costs, in writing. If you’re still at the budgeting stage, our guide to house painting costs in Chilliwack is a good starting point, and if exterior work is also on your list, have a look at when to paint an exterior in our climate.
Call 604.825.8337 for a free estimate, or reach us through the contact page.
Weiler Painting serves Chilliwack, Sardis, Vedder, Promontory, Langley, Abbotsford, and Mission.
