Business Genie

Industries / Painting

Painting contractor software, from estimate to final payment

Business Genie is painting contractor software for residential and commercial crews: send the estimate with a deposit, schedule and route your crews, track their hours, then invoice and take the final payment. On the web and in the iOS and Android app.

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Plans from $50 a month · One month free · No credit card

Sample jobThu · estimate
Labor hours2 painters
Estimated
44 h
Clocked
–
0.0 h over

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The estimate visit

A painting job is won on the estimate, and most of a painting estimate is hours. On the walk around this house the owner measures 62 feet of front wall, rings the cracks in the stucco and the sun-faded west end, and prices the labor line by line: 44 hours for two painters, 20 gallons of paint, $5,600. In Business Genie the estimate goes to the homeowner as a proposal. More on the painting estimate software page, or start from the free painting estimate template.

The sample estimate, line by line
Prep: wash, scrape, caulk, mask12 h
Stucco body, two coats20 h
Fascia, eaves and window trim8 h
Garage door and front door3 h
Touch-up and walkthrough1 h
Labor44 h
Paint and materials$980
Price$5,600

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A deposit that buys the paint

The proposal asks for 30% when it is accepted. The homeowner accepts on Friday and pays $1,680 into the job, which is more than the $980 of paint and materials the crew picks up on Monday morning: the paint is paid for before the first coat. The other $3,920 is invoiced when the job is done. Estimates, the deposit and payments are all in the same app.

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Monday: prep, on the clock

The job is on the crew’s calendar Monday to Wednesday, and the painters see it in the iOS or Android app (see painting scheduling software). Both clock in on the job at 6:30 with GPS time tracking and out at 3:00. Monday is prep: the house pressure-washed first thing and dry by late morning, then scraped and every crack caulked. That is 17 hours on the timesheet, and the estimate gave all of prep, masking included, 12. On a painting job labor is most of the cost, so these are the hours to watch.

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Tuesday: two coats on the stucco

By seven the windows, the front door and the garage door are masked, and the body is sprayed and back-rolled. In the dry heat the second coat goes on the same afternoon. Another 17 hours, 34 in all, against the 32 the estimate gave prep and the body together: the spray day came in under its 20 hours and took back most of what Monday ran over.

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Wednesday: trim, walkthrough, final invoice

The fascia, eaves and window trim are brushed, the doors rolled, and the tape comes off. At noon the owner walks the house with the homeowner, marks two touch-ups, and sends the final invoice from the driveway: $3,920. The homeowner pays it online that afternoon (card, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo and Cash App are all taken), so the job is paid in full, $5,600, the day it is finished, and the invoice syncs to QuickBooks Online. The painters clock out at 12:30 and 1:00: 47.5 hours on a 44-hour estimate. Automated follow-ups and review requests go out after the job.

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What the job cost

Job costing sets what the job cost you against what you charged. Here: 47.5 hours clocked against 44 estimated, 3.5 over, which is $140 at a loaded $40 an hour. Labor $1,900, paint and materials $980, and $2,720 left of the $5,600. The hours went on Monday, so the next stucco repaint’s prep is priced from 17 hours, not 12. The homeowner stays in the CRM for when they call about the inside.

Sample job, simulated: a one-story stucco house, two painters, three days. Hours are clock-in to clock-out; labor at a loaded $40 an hour; the deposit is 30% ($1,680), the final invoice $3,920.

The owner’s day of estimate visits, routed

A painting crew spends the day on one house; the owner is the one who drives. While the repaint is finished, the owner’s Wednesday is 7 stops: estimates booked around when each homeowner is home, a commercial bid walked with a property manager, the paint store, and the walkthrough on the repaint at noon. Booked as the calls came in, that is 55 miles and 1 h 58 min of driving. Route optimization puts the same stops in 41 miles and 1 h 28 min and keeps every homeowner’s window. It re-routes the day when you add a stop and gives turn-by-turn directions, on every plan.

As booked55 miAs routed
41 mi
14 mi, 30 min less driving

Sample day, simulated: one owner, seven stops, on a one-mile street grid at 28 mph.

Interior, exterior, cabinet and commercial painting

Business Genie runs every kind of painting job the same way: an estimate with a deposit, a place on the crew’s schedule, the hours the painters clock, and a final invoice. Wallpaper removal, texture and epoxy floors go in the same way. What changes from one kind of work to the next is what the estimate visit measures and where the hours go, which is what a painting estimate is made of. See painting estimate software.

A painter in overalls rolling yellow paint onto an interior wall
Interior work. Rolling the walls is the quick part.

Interior painting

Whole-home repaints, accent walls, ceilings, trim and woodwork.

Measured on the visit
Room by room: the walls and ceilings measured, the patching and stains noted, the trim and doors counted.
Where the hours go
Moving furniture, patching and cutting in around the trim. Rolling the walls is the quick part.
On the schedule
A room or a floor at a time, around when the family is home.

Exterior painting

House exteriors and stucco, fascia and eaves, decks and fences.

Measured on the visit
Walked with a tape: the walls measured, the stucco checked for cracks and chalking, the fascia for rot, the openings counted.
Where the hours go
Prep: washing, scraping, caulking and masking, priced from what the walk found. It is where the repaint above ran over.
On the schedule
One crew, several days in a row on one house, starting early in the summer.

Cabinet refinishing

Kitchen and bathroom cabinets, doors and drawer fronts.

Measured on the visit
The doors and drawer fronts counted, the old finish checked for grease and peel, a sample door looked at for grain.
Where the hours go
Door by door: degreasing, sanding, and the dry time between coats.
On the schedule
Often split: the doors taken away to be sprayed, the boxes done in the kitchen.

Commercial painting

Offices, retail, restaurants, HOA walls and multi-family buildings.

Measured on the visit
A bid walk with the property manager: the square footage, the access, the hours the work may be done in, who signs off.
Where the hours go
Access and hours: lifts and ladders, nights and weekends, working around tenants.
On the schedule
Crews across a site for weeks, often after hours.

Questions painting contractors ask

Can I take a deposit on a painting estimate?

Yes. Estimates and proposals in Business Genie can carry a deposit, so the customer pays part of the job before you buy paint and materials. The rest is invoiced when the job is done.

Can I track my painters’ hours on each job?

Yes. GPS time tracking records when each painter clocks in and out on the job, and job costing shows what the job cost you against what you charged for it.

Does it work for residential and commercial painting?

Yes. A bedroom repaint and an office building each go into Business Genie as a job, and are estimated, scheduled, routed and invoiced the same way.

Does it work with QuickBooks?

Yes. Business Genie syncs with QuickBooks Online, so invoices you send from the job do not have to be typed into your books a second time.

Is there a free trial for painting contractors?

Yes. The first month is free and you do not need a credit card to start. Our team sets up your account and moves your data over for free. Plans start at $50 a month after the trial.

More for painting contractors

Proposal · your next painting jobDraft
Prep: wash, scrape, caulk, maskh
Walls, two coatsh
Trim and doorsh
Paint and materials$
Price$Deposit on acceptance%
  1. 1Estimate
  2. 2Deposit
  3. 3The job
  4. Paid

Start with your next estimate

Send your next painting estimate from Business Genie, with a deposit on it, and run the job through to the final payment. The first month is free and needs no credit card, the team sets up your account and moves your customers over for free, and plans start at $50 a month.

Start free trialSee pricing

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