Sold in February. Painted in June.
Painters sell exteriors months before the weather lets them start, and every signed customer calls in April to ask when. Redline keeps the sold-but-not-scheduled list in front of you, remembers who referred whom, and brings last year's interior clients back around for the next room.
Managing a painter's book of business
Every lead gets a source
"Add Rachel Kim, kitchen and family room, referred by the Kimballs." The referral goes in her notes, so you know which past clients keep sending work.
Sold jobs wait in Accepted
Signed exteriors sit in Accepted with the deposit and the colors noted. Home's "Sold not scheduled" bucket shows how much work is waiting for a start date.
Give start weeks as the weather allows
Ask for the sold list, decide the order, and have Redline draft each customer a note with their start week, sent from your Gmail.
Past clients, next room
The family that did the living room in March often wants the bedrooms by fall. A date reminder on their file brings them back up when it's time to ask.
Lost quotes stay useful
Move the ones that went elsewhere to Lost with a note on why: price, timing, chose a friend. A season of those notes tells you where you're losing.
Early April, the phone starts ringing
6 exteriors in Accepted with no visit booked, $48,300 in all:
Kimball $9,800 (signed Feb 3), Ruiz $7,400 (Feb 11), Lowell $11,200 (Feb 26), Shah $6,900 (Mar 4), Byrne $5,600 (Mar 10), Okafor $7,400 (Mar 19).
6 drafts ready with each start week. Review each one and tap Approve & send to send it from your Gmail.
Emails go out from your own Gmail only after you review them. Example figures only.
What a painting company keeps track of
Who referred whom
Realtors, designers and past clients each send work. A note on each new lead makes the pattern obvious after a season.
Colors on the client's file
The exact color, brand and sheen per room stay on the job. When they call two years later for a touch-up, you have it.
Quotes gone quiet
The pipeline colors each quote by days in Quoted, amber at 7 and red at 14. See painting estimates for the follow-up.
Your free Pro Page
Quote requests from your Pro Page land in Contacts as leads. Free shows 3 a month in full, paid plans show them all.
The backlog is a customer service problem
A painter with a full summer is a good problem until the customers start calling. They signed in February, paid a deposit, and now it's April and nobody has told them anything. Most of them don't need a date tomorrow. They need to know you haven't forgotten them.
That's a list and an email. Redline gives you the list (everything sold and not scheduled, with when they signed) and drafts the note. Once you've booked the start, the job moves off the list, and you've got one fewer call at 7pm.
Straight answers on painting customer lists
Redline does
- Show sold jobs that aren't scheduled yet
- Keep referral sources and colors on each file
- Draft start-date and follow-up emails from your Gmail
- Remind you when a past client is due to hear from you
- Keep lost quotes on file with the reason
Redline doesn't
- Send email or text campaigns on its own
- Track referral fees or commissions
- Import your client list from a spreadsheet
- Let you add custom pipeline stages
- Ask clients for reviews
Questions contractors ask
Can I add a stage like "Waiting for weather"?
No. The stages are fixed: Lead, Quoted, Accepted, In Progress, Paid and Lost. Keep signed exteriors in Accepted until the first day on site.
Does Redline know about the deposit?
On Solo and up, the deposit invoice and its payment are on the job in Money. Free covers the pipeline, contacts and emails without invoicing.
Will it see replies to my emails?
No. Gmail is connected send-only, so replies land in your inbox as usual. Log anything important on the client's file.
More for painters
Keep reading
- Painting softwareRoom-by-room quotes, deposits for paint, colors on the job and the final after walkthrough.
- Painting estimate appWalls, trim, doors, coats and prep into a bid with a deposit for paint.
- Painting crew dispatch softwareRain sends the exterior crew to an interior job, with the color schedule on their phone.
- Job pipelineEvery job from Lead to Paid, with cards that turn amber and red as they sit.
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.