How to Price a Line Striping Job by Stall and by the Foot

How to price a line striping job comes down to six numbers: stalls and markings, the linear feet they make, the gallons those feet take, labor hours, stencils and extras, and the trip. Price each, add overhead and margin, then check per stall and per linear foot. Every number below has a source, and a 60-stall restripe is worked through line by line.

How to price a line striping job: feet of line, stencils and the trip

A striping quote prices lines by the linear foot, markings by the piece, and the trip as a flat charge. Keep them apart; a per-stall price hiding two arrows cannot be checked.

Step 1: Count stalls and measure linear feet

Tally stalls by type (standard, ADA car, ADA van), lines that are not dividers (aisle lines, fire lanes, crosswalks, hatching), markings by the piece, curb in linear feet, and the divider style: single, double or hairpin.

How many linear feet in a parking stall, by layout

A standard stall in San Diego's municipal code is 8 ft wide and 18 ft long, so depth, not width, sets the paint. With single lines, neighbors share a divider: each stall adds one 18 ft line and each row one closing line. AsphaltPro's estimating guide works its break-even example at 20 linear ft per stall; plan on 20, so the row's closing lines and some waste are covered.

Counting from satellite or on site

On site, use a clicker and a wheel. From the office, the free satellite tool counts items by tapping and measures lines for linear feet, with no account. In MakeHay, a saved measurement fills a quote line's quantity with Use in line and updates the line if the measurement is edited later.

Step 2: Paint per linear foot from the manufacturer's coverage

Paint is priced from the data sheet. Three waterborne traffic paints publish about 320 linear ft of 4-inch line per gallon at 15 mils wet. Ohio DOT's spec puts its Type 1A paint at 16 gallons per mile of 4-inch line (330 ft per gallon) and its Type 1 paint, applied at 50°F and above, at 22 gallons per mile (240 ft per gallon), so a DOT-thickness line takes more. Divide the lot's linear feet by the coverage, round up to whole gallons, and multiply by your supplier's price per gallon.

How much paint to stripe a parking lot: published coverage

Beads, second coats, rough asphalt and new pavement

Glass beads are a second material line for reflective lots: Benjamin Moore's sheet calls for 6 pounds of beads per gallon, dropped onto the wet film. A second coat doubles the paint. Coverage falls with pavement porosity (SealMaster's sheet), so plan on more on rough asphalt. New asphalt and new concrete cure first (30 days on Aexcel's sheet, 4 weeks for asphalt on SealMaster's), and fresh sealer gets 24 hours before paint on SealMaster's sheet, 48 hours on Benjamin Moore's.

Step 3: Labor hours and a wage floor you can cite

Labor is hours times a wage, and the wage has a public floor: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the May 2025 median pay for painters, construction and maintenance at $23.75 per hour; payroll taxes, insurance and the truck go into the overhead markup in Step 6, so the example uses the bare wage here. Hours come from your own timing: clock three restripes and divide by the stalls. AsphaltPro's guide turns those costs into a break-even per 4-inch linear foot (its example is 35 cents), the floor for the striping line.

Step 4: Stencils, arrows, ADA stalls and curbs as separate items

Each marking is its own item. SealMaster's striping cost FAQ lists handicapped stalls at $25 to $30 each, directional arrows at $15 to $20 each, word stencils at $3 to $5 per letter, fire lanes at $40 to $75, crosswalks at $50 to $75 each and curb painting at $1 per linear ft.

The ADA count is not yours to choose: US federal ADA rules require at least 1 accessible space in a lot of 1 to 25 and 3 for 51 to 75, one of every six van accessible. Counts, signs and layout are in the ADA parking striping checklist.

Step 5: Mobilization, night closures and a minimum job charge

The trip is a flat line. SealMaster's FAQ puts mobilization at $250 to $350. Put it first on the quote so nobody reads it as a per-stall number. Add the lot closure (cones, barricades, an after-hours team); night work dries slower (Aexcel's sheet), and a lot stays closed to traffic for two hours after painting.

Set a minimum job charge: mobilization plus the least work the team can do once unloaded. Weather belongs in this step because a washed-out trip costs the whole mobilization: all three paint sheets set 50°F as the floor, Aexcel adds no rain expected within 24 hours and humidity under 80 percent, and SealMaster wants 50°F held for 24 hours after painting.

In MakeHay, the suggested striping weather rule in setup is max rain 20 percent and min temp 50°F, and the forecast behind the warning is the National Weather Service's for the lot's address (US addresses); see Plan around the weather.

Step 6: Overhead, margin and the per-stall and per-foot check

Direct cost plus overhead plus margin is the price: overhead is a markup on direct cost, margin a share of the final price, and AsphaltPro's guide says the two are different numbers from the same inputs. Price = direct cost × (1 + overhead) ÷ (1 minus margin), both as decimals (your accountant has them).

Then divide the stall line price by stalls and by feet. SealMaster's FAQ lists parking stalls at $4 to $5 each before its new-layout markup, and AsphaltPro's break-even example, 35 cents per 4-inch linear foot at 20 linear ft per stall, is $7 per stall before profit. The two disagree, which is useful: a break-even above a market range means the market price only works at higher production than the example assumed. Under your own break-even, a cost is missing; far above the market range, recheck the hours or say on the quote why this lot costs more.

Restripe vs new layout: why the price is different

A restripe follows lines already there; a new layout has none, so every line is measured and snapped first. SealMaster's FAQ adds 20 to 30 percent to the job cost for a new layout. The extra is mostly hours: chalk lines, the ADA count and placement, the local code's aisle width (24 ft for stalls square to the aisle in San Diego's code), and a drawing the customer signs off.

Price it as the restripe plus a layout line in hours, or apply the percentage and say so on the quote. A restripe after sealcoating keeps its layout; the sealcoating pricing guide carries it as its own item.

How much to charge for parking lot striping: a price list you can copy

Charge by the item: standard and ADA stalls as each lines, curb and crack fill per linear foot, and the trip as one flat line. The published ranges below are a starting point; your own Step 6 numbers replace them.

In MakeHay, the line striping starter list carries "Standard stall, restripe", "ADA stall with symbol and hatching", "Directional arrow" and "Stencil (fire lane, visitor, no parking)" as Each items, "Curb painting" and "Crack fill" as Per linear foot, and "Lot closure and mobilization" as a Flat price. Put your numbers beside them under Settings › Services; the quote builder prices a lot from the counts.