Short answer
How is painting area measured for doors and grills? Under the Table 1 method of IS 1200 Part 15, a door is measured flat over its frame and multiplied by a factor for each painted side: 1.20 for flush joinery and 1.30 for panelled. A grill is measured flat overall, with no deduction for gaps, at a factor of 1 for painting all over. Coats do not multiply the area. Your contract can set a different rule, so write it down.
On this page (12)
- How are doors and windows measured?
- How are grills, railings and gates measured?
- How is wall area measured?
- Worked example: one room, example not a design
- What does this mean for a whole house?
- What do coats and rates have to do with this?
- Why do these factors differ from a painter’s quote?
- What should I write in the quote?
- What mistakes should I avoid?
- Frequently asked questions
- Related guides
- Sources
A painter quotes per square foot, but square feet of what? Doors, frames, grills and walls are not measured the same way, and most disputes start there. This page explains how the Indian measurement standards work it out, with the factors for doors, windows and grills and a worked room. It deals with area only. It gives no litres, no coverage and no rates. Coverage comes from the paint tin, and the rate comes from your painter.
Two parts of IS 1200 apply. Part 15 covers joinery and steelwork, and it points to Part 13 for building surfaces such as walls. Part 15 is listed as in force, though BIS also lists a Part 15 document as a finalized draft under print, so check for a newer edition. The Part 13 edition we read, from 1994, has been withdrawn and replaced by a 2024 edition that we could not read. So treat the wall rules below as the older text, and ask which edition your contract follows.
IS 1200 applies to your job only if your contract adopts it. A contract can set its own method.
How are doors and windows measured?
Measure the door or window flat, then multiply by the factor. Clause 3.5 gives two routes. Each type of work can be kept as its own item, stating whether it is measured flat or girthed. Or different surfaces can be grouped into one general item, using the factors in Table 1. This page shows the factors.
Flat means height by width, not girthed around every edge. Under the joinery rows, the measurement includes the frame, or chowkat, and edges, chocks and cleats are deemed included. So do not pay for the frame as a separate line on the same item. A flush shutter measured alone does not include the frame.
The factors below are from Table 1 of Part 15. All these are for each side, so painting both sides counts the area twice.
| Work | How it is measured | Factor |
|---|---|---|
| Panelled, framed and braced, or ledged and battened joinery | Flat, including frame | 1.30 each side |
| Flush joinery | Flat, including frame | 1.20 each side |
| Flush shutter | Flat overall | 1.20 each side |
| Fully glazed or gauzed joinery | Flat, including frame | 0.80 each side |
| Partly panelled, partly glazed joinery | Flat, including frame | 1 each side |
| Fully venetianed or louvred joinery | Flat, including frame | 1.80 each side |
| Carved or enriched work | Flat | 2 each side |
| Plain sheet steel doors and windows | Flat, including frame and edges | 1.10 each side |
| Fully glazed or gauzed steel doors and windows | Flat, including frame and edges | 0.50 each side |
| Partly panelled, partly glazed steel doors | Flat, including frame and edges | 0.80 each side |
| Steel roller shutters | Flat, size of opening | 1.10 each side |
The table’s notes cover the awkward cases:
- A composite door of a type not in the table is split at the centre line of the common rail, and each part takes its own factor.
- Iron fittings painted in the same shade are included.
- If the two faces get different finishes, the edges go with one of them.
- A clearance of more than 15 cm at the top or bottom of a shutter is deducted before the factor.
- Factors for other in-between cases may be worked out in line with the table.
How are grills, railings and gates measured?
Measure the grill flat overall. Make no deduction for the gaps, and do not measure the supporting members separately. The factor already covers painting all over, so it is not doubled for two sides.
| Work | How it is measured | Factor |
|---|---|---|
| Guard bars, balustrades, gates, gratings, grills, expanded metal, railings | Flat overall, no deduction for open spaces | 1 all over |
| Gates and open palisade fencing | Flat overall, no deduction for open spaces | 1 all over |
| Trellis or jaffri work | Flat overall, no deduction for open spaces | 2 all over |
| Collapsible gate | Flat, size of opening | 1.50 all over |
This is the mistake we would watch for. A door factor is per side and a grill factor is for all over. Doubling a grill, or billing a door once when both sides are painted, gives the wrong area.
IS 1200 does not say how a grill and a glazed shutter in one opening are handled. Table 13.1 of the specifications of CPWD, the Central Public Works Department, has a row for MS bars in window frames, at a factor of 1 all over. Its Note 11 excludes the frame if that frame’s painting is measured elsewhere, and includes it otherwise. Agree this with your painter.
How is wall area measured?
Walls are worked out from length by height, as executed, and the 1994 text of Part 13 then sets a rule for openings. Walls, ceilings and sloping roofs are kept as separate items. There is no deduction for conduits, pipes or casings fixed on the wall.
| Size of opening | Rule in IS 1200 (Part 13):1994 |
|---|---|
| Up to 0.5 sq m | No deduction, and nothing added for reveals |
| 0.5 to 3 sq m, same finish on both faces | Deduct from one face only |
| 0.5 to 3 sq m, different finishes | Deduct on the side with the narrower reveal. If reveals are equal, deduct 50 percent on each face |
| 0.5 to 3 sq m, frame as wide as the wall or wider | Deduct in full from each face |
| 0.5 to 3 sq m, reveal on one side only | Deduct in full on the face with no reveal, 50 percent on the other |
| 0.5 to 3 sq m, one face treated | Deduct in full if the treated side has the narrower reveal. Otherwise no deduction |
| Above 3 sq m | Deduct the opening, and measure the jambs, soffits and reveals |
A reveal is the side of the opening, from the frame to the wall face. The standard gives no reason for these rules. Our reading is that nothing extra is paid for reveals, so the deduction is reduced to make up for them. That would explain why a frame as wide as the wall, which leaves no reveal, is deducted in full from each face.
CPWD uses the same bands for plaster, and its whitewash clause refers to them for jambs and soffits. For interior plastic emulsion, CPWD says wall surfaces are recorded as per actual. So the rule depends on the finish and the contract.
Worked example: one room, example not a design
These sizes are our own example, not a standard size. Numbers are worked in square metres and converted at the site’s factor. The example uses the 1994 wall rules.
| Assumption | Value |
|---|---|
| Room, clear inside | 3.6 m by 3.0 m, floor to ceiling 3.0 m |
| Door | Flush, 1.00 m by 2.10 m over the frame, painted both sides, in an internal wall with the same finish on both faces |
| Door frame | Narrower than the wall, with a reveal on both sides |
| Window | 1.20 m by 1.20 m in an outside wall, different finish outside, equal reveals |
| Grill | Its own flat size is 1.20 m by 1.20 m |
| Deduction for the door | Taken in this room. The next room takes none |
| Line | Sum | Sq m | Sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall, gross | 2 × (3.6 + 3.0) × 3.0 | 39.60 | 426.25 |
| Less door, one face | 1.00 × 2.10 | 2.10 | 22.60 |
| Less window, 50 percent | 1.20 × 1.20 × 0.5 | 0.72 | 7.75 |
| Walls, net | 36.78 | 395.90 | |
| Ceiling, separate item | 3.6 × 3.0 | 10.80 | 116.25 |
| Flush door, both sides | 1.00 × 2.10 × 1.20 × 2 | 5.04 | 54.25 |
| Grill, all over | 1.20 × 1.20 × 1 | 1.44 | 15.50 |
Keep these as separate lines. They are different items, and steel and wood are measured separately. If the door is panelled, it becomes 5.46 sq m (58.77 sq ft). A glazed wooden window shutter would add 1.20 × 1.20 × 0.80 × 2 = 2.30 sq m (24.80 sq ft), if it is painted and your contract bills it separately. Aluminium and uPVC windows are not painted, so they add nothing.
The standard does not say which room takes the one-face deduction. Our example takes it here, but in this case take it only once. Our plaster calculator uses a simpler rule that takes off every opening above 0.5 sq m in full, so its figure will differ from this one.
What does this mean for a whole house?
The method stays the same, room by room:
- Each door is listed once. Its ”× 2 sides” already covers both rooms.
- Outside walls with a different finish become their own item.
- Railings and balcony grills are measured flat overall.
- Rainwater pipes go in running metres, stating the size or girth. Strips up to 10 cm wide, not next to similar painted work, go in running metres too.
- Small articles up to 0.1 sq m, not next to similar painted work, are counted by number.
- Previously painted surfaces are measured separately from new work.
What do coats and rates have to do with this?
Coats do not multiply the area, on our reading. The standard says the number of coats is stated in the item. So 36.78 sq m with two coats is still 36.78 sq m, and the rate covers the two coats. Paint quantity sums often allow for the number of coats, which is a different sum.
Part 15 also says the item includes scaffolding, protective cover and cleaning stains from floors and glass, unless otherwise stated. Check that your quote says the same.
Why do these factors differ from a painter’s quote?
Because a contract can use another method, or a rough estimate. Web tools often use carpet area times a multiple, or a fixed deduction for each door. Those are estimates for budgeting. They are not a measurement under IS 1200, because the ratio changes with room size and height.
A real contract can differ too. One State Bank of India painting tender bills doors, windows and grills on one face only, with no deduction for glass. That is not wrong. It is that contract’s rule. The bid paints all exposed surfaces but bills one face, so the bidder’s rate has to allow for it. So compare quotes only on the same method.
Some websites print other door factors. Check them against Table 1 of Part 15, which gives 1.30 for each side of a panelled door.
What should I write in the quote?
These are practice points, not code rules.
- The method: IS 1200, CPWD, or the painter’s own. If IS 1200, name the parts and editions.
- Whether the rate is on wall area, not floor area.
- Whether ceilings are included.
- Which openings are deducted.
- How doors, frames, grills and railings are billed.
- The number of coats and the surface preparation.
- That the final bill follows joint measurement, room by room.
See our guides on a bill of quantities and a renovation work list.
What mistakes should I avoid?
- Comparing a rate quoted on wall area with one quoted on floor area.
- Paying for door frames twice.
- Deducting the same door from both rooms when the finish is the same and the frame is narrower than the wall.
- Deducting gaps in a grill, or doubling a grill.
- Multiplying the area by coats on a bill.
- Using these factors to work out litres. For that, read the tin.
Frequently asked questions
What is the factor for a panelled door?
1.30 for each side in IS 1200 Part 15, measured flat over the frame. So 2.60 times the flat area for both sides.
What is the factor for a flush door?
1.20 for each side, for flush joinery measured over the frame. A flush shutter measured alone also takes 1.20 for each side.
Is a grill measured on both sides?
No. It is measured once, flat overall, at a factor of 1 for painting all over.
Are doors and windows deducted from the wall?
Under the 1994 text, it depends on size and finish. Small openings up to 0.5 sq m are not deducted. See the table above, and check your contract.
Can I use these factors to find how much paint I need?
No. They give a measured area for payment. Paint quantity depends on the surface and on the coverage printed on the tin.
Is a ceiling part of the wall area?
No. Ceilings are measured as a separate item.
Related guides
- What is a BOQ? Bill of quantities for a house, with a sample format
- How false ceiling work is measured: what IS 1200 Part 10 says
- Painting interior walls in a new house: the steps, in order
- Whitewash, colour wash and cement paint: what each is, how to apply
This guide is general information. Read the disclaimer. Your written contract decides how the work is measured and paid for.
Sources
- IS 1200 (Part 15):1987, Method of measurement of building and civil engineering works, Part 15 Painting, polishing, varnishing, etc (fourth revision) with Amendment 1 of May 2002: clauses 1.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7, 3.1, 3.1.1, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.7 and Table 1 with Notes 2 to 7 (page images read). BIS lists it as not withdrawn, valid to 2027-09-30.
- IS 1200 (Part 13):1994, Whitewashing, colour washing, distempering and painting of building surfaces (fifth revision): clauses 2.5, 2.8, 2.9, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 (page images read). WITHDRAWN. BIS lists IS 1200 (Part 13):2024, Painting of building surfaces, in its place; we could not read the 2024 text.
- CPWD Specifications 2019, Volume 2, Sub Head 13: clauses 13.1.9.9, 13.14.6.2, 13.23.6.8 and 13.31.2.4, and Table 13.1 row 19 with Note 11. Written for CPWD works (copy on the IIT Bombay website).
- State Bank of India price bid for exterior painting, 2025: mode of measurement (a contract example only).
General information only. It is not a structural design or professional advice. Ask a licensed structural engineer or architect to check your plans and site.