Painting software that keeps the colors straight.
The quote said Pale Oak in eggshell. The crew rolled it in satin. Redline puts the color, sheen and coats on every line, hands the crew the schedule without the prices, and turns the walkthrough into a paid invoice.
An interior quote after the walkthrough
Drafted for Amy Kimball: prep and patch, walls 820 sq ft (Pale Oak, eggshell, 2 coats), ceilings 340 sq ft (flat white), trim 180 linear ft and 5 doors (semi-gloss), furniture moving and protection. $4,180 with your usual one-third deposit, $1,393.33. Review it?
Second quote drafted with the stairwell walls added, 300 sq ft, for $5,260 total. Approve both and they save to her file as drafts.
Quotes are drafts you check before anything goes to the customer.
How Redline fits a paint crew
Room-by-room quotes
Walls and ceilings by the square foot, trim by the linear foot, doors and windows by the each, prep as its own line. Redline uses the rates it remembers. See painting estimates.
Deposit to buy paint
Put a deposit on the quote, then bill it when they sign so the paint is paid for and the dates are locked. On Solo and up.
Colors on the crew's phone
On Team and up, the job notes carry the color schedule ("hall: Pale Oak, eggshell, 2 coats") and your crew sees them on the tech app, without the job price.
Change orders before they're forgotten
The extra coat on the accent wall gets a note on the job the moment it's agreed, so it's right there when you invoice: "invoice Kimball, add the extra coat in the hall, $380".
Exterior weather
Ask "what's Thursday look like in Needham?" and Redline looks up the forecast in the chat. If it's wet, one message moves the exterior job.
Quotes still out
Painting is competitive and quotes go quiet. Home lists them, and Redline drafts a follow-up from your Gmail before the customer picks someone else.
A painting contractor's real week
A painting company spends its evenings measuring. Every walkthrough turns into walls, ceilings, trim, doors and a prep list, and the quote needs to go out fast because the homeowner got three. Then comes the deposit to buy paint, a schedule that moves with exterior weather, and a crew that needs the color schedule room by room.
The mix-ups are what cost money: the wrong sheen in the hall, the extra coat nobody wrote down, the accent wall that got added on day two and never made the final bill. Redline puts the color, sheen and coats on the quote lines and the crew's job notes, and keeps the change orders on the job until invoice time.
Older homes add paperwork Redline doesn't handle. Lead-safe (EPA RRP) records for pre-1978 houses stay in your own files, though a photo of the test results can live on the job.
Redline for painters, plainly
Redline does
- Quote by the square foot, linear foot and door
- Bill deposits and finals with card pay links (Solo and up)
- Put the color schedule on the crew's phones (Team and up)
- Keep change orders on the job for the final invoice
- Follow up on quotes that went quiet
Redline doesn't
- Measure rooms from photos or floor plans
- Keep EPA RRP lead-safe records
- Match or order paint
- Let customers sign the quote online
- Track painters' hours (no time tracking)
Questions contractors ask
Can I price per room instead of per square foot?
Yes. Tell Redline your room prices ("standard bedroom, walls only, is $450") and it uses them. Mix both on the same quote if you like.
Can I see if a job made money?
On Solo and up, file the paint and supply receipts against the job and Reports shows profit per job after materials. Labor isn't tracked, so subtract your crew cost yourself.
Does my crew see the price?
No. On Team and up, painters see their jobs, checklists and notes. Quotes, invoices and job values stay with the owner and office.
How does the customer get the quote?
It's saved on their file and Redline can email the numbers from your own Gmail. Online approval isn't available right now, so when they say yes, move the job to Accepted.
Painting paperwork and tools
- Painting estimate templateWalls, ceilings, trim and doors with a deposit
- Painting invoice templateFinal bill with change orders and the deposit applied
- Painting estimate appFrom walkthrough to quote by chat
- Painting CRMExteriors sold in winter and past clients due for the next room
- Painting crew dispatch softwareRain sends the exterior crew to an interior job
- Job profit calculatorWhat a repaint nets after paint and labor
Keep reading
- Painting estimate appWalls, trim, doors, coats and prep into a bid with a deposit for paint.
- Quotes and estimatesItemized quotes by chat or from a photo, with a deposit. Options and tax in the composer.
- Drywall softwareBook trips around drying time, quote by finish level and chase slow-paying GCs.
- Remodeling softwareQuotes with allowances and finish options, long-cycle follow-up and milestone billing.
Run your business by chat.
Redline is free to start. Tell it about the job and it handles the quote, the schedule, the invoice and the follow-up.