What is the labor cost for painting a house exterior?

Everything depends on location, size of house, climate and siding. For cedar shake, vs. stucco or asbestos tiles there will be a much different price. I have one house that after I purchased, the insurance wanted it painted right away. Mostly distressed cedar shake on 3 levels with dormers, for scraping, priming with oil based paint and two top coats the total was $11,500 and it was the middle estimate. This is for a 3 color paint job.

For another house with asbestos siding that was never painted, with metal trim already painted, I had it bleached, then sealed with a cement sealer (clear) and two top coats of blue, it was grey. This cost only $1,900 with paint and labor - but the prep was almost none.

The last house, like the first was distressed cedar shake and I painted it myself, stripping it down to bare wood, then oil base primer with Penetrol to make it take longer to dry so it seeps into the distressed wood. On top, 2 coats of latex with a BenMoore lifetime guarantee (whatever that means). This took about 600 hours total and without labor, the materials including gloves, masks and scrapers and tarps were $4,400.

Porches are also a big factor.

You can see the three houses in the external links posted below.