How much does trim and molding cost in 2026?

Crown molding runs $4 to $23 per linear foot installed, with contractor pricing most commonly landing at $14.28 to $21.85. By room that is $460 to $1,100 for a 15 by 14 foot living room and $210 to $570 for a 10 by 10 kitchen. The spread comes from profile size, material and how complicated the room is: a plain rectangular room is quick, while every corner, return and obstruction adds cuts, and crown is cut at compound angles that have to be right the first time.

Baseboard costs $6 to $9 per linear foot installed, and $5 to $7.75 of that is labour. That ratio is the useful fact: on baseboard you are buying someone's time and accuracy, not timber. Upgrading to a taller or more detailed profile changes the total far less than most people expect, so if you like a chunkier baseboard it is usually worth having, because the expensive part — measuring, cutting, coping the internal corners, fixing and filling — is the same either way.

Trim pricing tracks the number of cuts far more than the number of feet. A long straight wall is fast; a room with alcoves, bay windows, returns and doorways is slow, because every internal corner on good work is coped rather than mitred, and every external corner has to be cut and fitted so the joint stays closed as the timber moves. Two rooms with identical perimeters can differ meaningfully in price for this reason, which is why per-foot pricing is a guide rather than a quote.

Painting or staining trim adds $1 to $3.50 per linear foot, and shoe molding at the base of a skirting adds $4 to $6 installed. The cheapest sequence is to have trim primed or pre-finished before it goes up, then fill and touch up the fixings after — far quicker than cutting in against a finished wall and floor. If you are painting the room anyway, doing the trim at the same time avoids paying twice for masking and setup.

Baseboard on straight walls is a reasonable DIY job, and mistakes are forgiving because caulk and filler hide a great deal near the floor. Crown is a different proposition: it is cut at compound angles, installed overhead at arm's reach, and errors are at eye level in the finished room. If you are attempting crown yourself, start in the least visible room and expect to waste material learning the cuts.