How to Bid Parking Lot Striping Jobs
Five steps that get every line on the lot into the price: count the stalls, walk the lot, take off each marking, price it, and present it. Worked on one 60,000 sq ft commercial lot, bid two ways.
Same lot · same crew · same per-stall rate
Stalls only
$1,410
168 stalls + trip
Full scope
$2,215
+ accessible spaces, arrows
$805 apart: the full scope is 57% more than the stalls-only bid. Its extra lines come from the walk in step 2.
Count the stalls and measure the line feet
Two numbers carry a striping bid. The stall count sets the price, because owners compare striping bids per stall. The line feet decide the paint you buy and give you a second way to check the price. Get both before anyone quotes you a figure from memory.
Measure the paved area on satellite imagery, then count the stalls row by row where the old lines still show. Tracing lands within 1–3% of a measuring wheel where the pavement edge is visible, and a lot takes a few minutes. That is fast enough to bid a property manager's whole portfolio in one sitting.
With no lines to count, as on a new lot or one sealed black, work the count out from the geometry. A 9 by 18 ft stall on a two-way aisle is the common layout, and the parking lot layout calculator returns the stalls and line feet for a lot of any size. In SurfaceMeasure, a measured lot shows an estimate of both under the area: a starting takeoff from a standard layout, not a count of that lot's stalls.
Walk the lot for what the count misses
The stall count gives you the base of the bid. The walk gives you everything else on it, and that is where a striping bid makes or loses its margin. Six things to check, on site or on recent street-level photos.
How faded the old layout is
Lines you can still see are a restripe at a restripe price. Lines that are gone are a new layout, with a premium and a layout line, even though the lot was striped before.
The accessible spaces
Restriping counts as an alteration, so the lot has to come out of it with the accessible spaces the 2010 ADA Standards require for its stall count. Here that is 6, 1 of them van accessible. Count what is there before you price.
Arrows, bars and crosswalks
Every directional arrow, stop bar and crosswalk is its own line at its own unit price. Count them on the imagery and confirm them on the walk; faded ones are easy to miss from above.
Curbs and fire lanes
Painted curb is priced by the foot and fire-lane lettering by the stencil. Ask whether the fire marshal has asked for anything specific, because that becomes part of the scope.
Whether the surface can take paint
Paint over loose, cracked or oily asphalt fails early, and the callback is yours. Fresh asphalt needs about 4 weeks before standard paint, fresh sealer about 24 hours. Note what needs cleaning or repair first.
When the lot can be empty
A store open until midnight and an office empty all weekend are different jobs. Find out when the cars are gone and who moves the ones that stay; it sets the crew schedule and an exclusion.
The accessible-space rules, the van count and the sign heights are on the ADA parking requirements page, with the count for any lot size.
Take off every line item
Write each kind of marking down with its own quantity before any price exists. A takeoff that says "restripe lot" cannot be checked, by you or by the customer.
- 1StallsThe count after any accessible spaces go in, since they take the room of standard stalls.
- 2Accessible spacesThe symbol on each, the hatched access aisles, and van-accessible markings.
- 3Arrows and stop barsEach one counted, at a unit price.
- 4CrosswalksEach one counted, at a unit price.
- 5Curb and fire laneLinear feet of painted curb, and lettering by the stencil.
- 6LayoutDesign and snapping lines, only when there are no old lines to follow.
- 7MobilizationThe trip, the setup and the cleanup, as one line.
On the worked lot, 6 accessible spaces and their aisles take the room of 8 standard stalls. The lot goes from 168 stalls to 166, and 166 still requires 6. Bid the count the lot will have, not the one it has now.
Price it by the stall and check it by the foot
Put a price on each line of the takeoff, then check the total two ways before it goes out. The published ranges are on the parking lot striping cost page; your own rate should come from what your crew and paint cost you.
- Stalls
stalls × your per-stall rate
166 × $7.50 = $1,245
- Markings
count × unit price, one line per kind
6 symbols × $70, 8 arrows × $50
- Trip
one mobilization line
$150
- Check by the foot
line feet × per-foot band
3,740 ft × $0.20-$0.50 = $748 to $1,870
- Check the paint
line feet ÷ feet per gallon
about 11.7 gal for one coat of 4 in line at 15 mils
The per-stall rate is the middle of the published $5-$10 restripe band, the symbol and arrow prices the middles of $40-$100 and $25-$75, and the trip the low end of $150-$350. They are examples. Yours belong in their place.
The two checks catch different mistakes. A stall total outside the per-foot range means the count or the rate is off. A paint and crew cost that eats most of the price means the rate is too low for how you work. What one restripe leaves after paint and labor is worked out on the starting a striping business guide.
Carry a minimum. The trip to a twenty-stall lot costs what the trip to a two-hundred-stall lot costs. A mobilization line, or a job minimum, keeps small lots paying.
Present the bid line by line
A manager with three striping bids on the desk can compare a priced list. One total with no lines gets compared on price alone. Seven things belong on the page.
- 1Measured scopeThe lot's area, the stall count after the accessible spaces, and the line feet.
- 2A line per itemStalls, accessible spaces, each kind of marking and the trip, each with quantity and price.
- 3Paint and widthThe paint type and line width, so a cheaper bid can be compared like for like.
- 4ScheduleWhen the crew works, how long the lot is closed, and who moves the cars.
- 5ExclusionsSigns, wheel stops, crack repair, cleaning and traffic control, named.
- 6Price holds untilA date, because paint prices and your calendar both change.
- 7Site imageThe satellite view with the lot outlined.
Measure the lot and send the quote from one screenTrace the lot in SurfaceMeasure's Parking Lot mode for the area, with a starting estimate of the stalls and line feet under it. The quote is priced as a rate on the area: divide your bid by the square feet, or set a square-foot rate that covers the stalls and add the symbols, arrows and trip as extra lines. Send it as a branded PDF or a link the customer can accept.
Worked Example: One Lot, Bid Two Ways
A 60,000 sq ft commercial lot: 168 stalls on a standard 90° layout, 4 drive aisles, about 3,740 ft of line, and no accessible spaces left visible. Both bids use the same per-stall rate and the same trip. The left one is the bid written from the stall count alone. The right one is written after the walk.
Bid from the stall count
Every stall and the trip. The lot comes out of the job with no accessible spaces, which the owner will hear about from someone else.
Bid after the walk
6 accessible spaces (1 van) take the room of 8 stalls, and one arrow marks each end of each aisle. $805 more, for paint the crew was going to put down anyway.
Stalls lost to the accessible row
8 for 6
Wider spaces plus shared access aisles. The lot still needs 6 at 166 stalls.
By the foot
$748 to $1,870
The stall lines, about $1,245, sit inside the per-foot range for about 3,740 ft, so the count and the rate agree.
Paint
about 11.7 gal
One coat of 4 in line at 15 mils wet, before symbols and arrows. Buy by the pail and round up.
The arrow count is an example; the walk decides yours. The same lot is the worked restripe on the starting a striping business guide, where the stalls-only price is set against the paint and the crew.
Where Striping Bids Lose Money
Two more that the steps above do not cover.
Using the owner's stall count
It comes from a site plan drawn before the last two restripes. Count the lot yourself before a price exists.
No exclusions
Signs, wheel stops, crack repair and moving cars are all things a customer may assume you are doing. Name them out.
Striping Bid FAQ
Estimates and bids, stall or foot, remote bids, finding work, new layouts, exclusions.
An estimate is your own working: the stall count, the line feet, the paint, the crew hours and what the job costs you. A bid is what the customer signs: the scope, a price for each line, the schedule, the exclusions and how long the price holds. Build the estimate first and send only the bid. A property manager comparing three striping bids is reading the scope as much as the total, and a bid that lists every marking is the one that can be compared fairly.
By the stall for a restripe of an existing layout, because that is how owners count and compare, and by the foot for long runs that have no stalls: curbs, fire lanes, road edges. Price a lot by the stall, then multiply its line feet by your per-foot rate as a check: when the two disagree, the count or the rate is wrong.
You can measure it and count it without driving there: the area traces from satellite, and recent imagery usually shows the old stall lines well enough to count. What imagery cannot tell you is how faded the paint is, whether the accessible spaces are signed and sloped right, or whether the asphalt needs crack repair first. Send a remote bid with a site-walk clause, or price it after one visit and bid every lot after that the same day.
Property managers and owners of retail, office and apartment lots, who usually restripe on a cycle; sealcoating and paving contractors, who sub out the striping after they seal or pave; and public bid boards, where cities, school districts and counties post striping work with a bid date and a spec. Public bids usually want a bid bond, insurance certificates and prevailing wage, so read the spec before you price.
Price it higher and price the design on its own line. A new layout on bare or sealed asphalt has no old lines to follow: someone has to set the stall geometry, the aisles and the accessible spaces, snap every line and paint it. The published premium for a new layout, and what layout design is quoted at, are on the striping cost page. Work the stall count out on the layout calculator before you price, because it is often fewer than the owner expects.
Everything the crew does not do, named. Signs and posts, wheel stops, crack filling and patching, sweeping or pressure washing before paint, moving parked cars, traffic control on public roads, and removal of old markings by grinding or blasting. Each one is either a priced line or an exclusion. When it is neither, the customer assumes it is included.
Sources
Read October 2026. Published price bands are references, not recommendations. The bands and their sources are on the parking lot striping cost page, the paint figures on the line painting guide.
- U.S. Department of Justice: ADA Compliance Brief, Restriping Parking SpacesA business that restripes must provide the accessible spaces the 2010 ADA Standards require.
- 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, 208.2 and 502The required count of accessible spaces by lot size, van spaces, and access-aisle widths.
- U.S. Department of Justice: ADA Update, a Primer for Small BusinessRestriping a parking lot is considered an alteration.
- Sherwin-Williams: Setfast Waterborne Traffic Marking Paint, PDS 123.08Film thickness and the coverage a gallon gives at 15 mils wet.
The Rest of the Striping Guides
The prices, the paint and the geometry behind the bid.
Bid the Next Lot Before You Drive to It
Measure the lot from satellite, get the stalls and line feet to start from, and send a branded quote the customer can accept. Card required, cancel anytime.