is there a formula professionals use. I have a 15x20 room that needs a
basic orange peel texture.Can anyone help me with a ballpark figure on how
much this will set me back?

I do painting for a living. I charge materials plus $15 an hour. What
dude is trying to say is, the extra prep work would cost you more
hourly rate. Anal or not..lol. I always try to do perfect work.
Have you considered trying to do it yourself? It isn't as hard as
the finished work looks. If not, I would qoute you a flat rate of
$300.00 for that sized room, without seeing it. I would charge lower,
if there wasn't alot of taping, and angle work involved. Your best bet
is to find a painter , in your area, that gives free esitmates.

I am in southeastern NC.

who is removing the furniture?
what is the height and condition of the present walls and ceilings and
what's behind it and leaking?
where are you located from the contractor and materials?
when is completion required?
why does this need painting? damage?
how you can figure will be painter and helper at $?/hour from their
house to yours and back to their homes plus you buy all the materials
including repair items and a couple coats of primer and etc and
disposable tools including dropcloths and brushes and rollers and blue
masking tape.

Anthony wrote:
is there a formula professionals use. I have a 15x20 room that needs a
basic orange peel texture.Can anyone help me with a ballpark figure on how
much this will set me back?

Since no one wants to chime in. I did a 12x24' room last week. It took
about 2/3 - 3/4 of a 48lbs box of "topping joint compound" (I don't know
if that's a brand name or not.) The box cost something like $8.50 to
$9.00 at the local bigbox construction material joint. I rented the
equipment to do the spraying (compressor, hose and hopper) there also
for about $60.00/24hours, and mixed the compound with water until it was
about pancake dough consistency. This was my first attempt at it and it
didn't come out to bad. I'd watched it done twice before in the last 6
months (different rooms) by contractors. I takes about 30 minutes max
to do the spraying and much longer to do the cleanup. The next day I
sprayed a primer coat and followed that, again the next day, with two
coats of paint.