How to Buy the Best Vacuum CleanerWhy doesn't Angie's List rate attorneys?Landscaping: What do your neighbors do that drives you crazy?How much does it cost to be a member here?How much does it typically cost to paint a 2100 square foot house on the exterior? That's very difficult to answer without seeing the house. As one poster said, the prep is the most important part. On newer homes that don't have a lot of peeling paint, the prep can be very minimal even as low as a couple or a few hundred dollars for the prep labor. On a 100 year old home with 12 coats of peeling paint on it, then the prep costs can be very high and can easily exceed 50% of the job's labor cost.A 2100 sq ft two story home could easily cost $1000 just for the labor to prep for the paint job. That number could climb too. Throw in lots of caullking  or window glazing, and you could be talking a couple or a few hundred dollars more for labor. Painting that home with one coat of paint and a different color on the trim could run roughly $1000 or more just for labor.