A painting CRM that turns the walkthrough into a signed job and remembers every color for years.
A painting job is measured in square feet of wall, linear feet of trim, counts of doors and coats, and days of a crew in someone's house. Then it lives on as a color record the customer will ask about in a few years. Generic field software treats all of that as notes. We build it as fields.
Painting is won by the quote that arrives first and kept by the record that lasts longest
The homeowner has several walkthroughs in one week. The painter whose written quote lands that evening, itemized by room and surface, with options she can switch on and off, is the one she can say yes to before the others have driven back to the shop. That takes an estimate built from measurements and your own production rates, not a number typed into a text message. It also takes follow-up on a schedule, because quotes that sit for a week quietly lose to the painter who called back.
Then the job runs for days, sometimes weeks. A crew of two to five moves through rooms in an order the homeowner agreed to, exterior days get pushed by rain, cabinet doors go to the shop and come back, and the customer wants to know who is arriving tomorrow. The office needs to see every job's day-by-day plan, which crew is where, and what was finished and photographed before the crew left.
Finally, paint is the trade with a memory. The color, code and sheen on each surface of each room is the record that brings the customer back for a touch-up, a repaint of the next room, or the whole exterior again in a few years. If that record lives in a painter's phone, it leaves when the painter does.
What a painting CRM has to hold
Each of these is a field on the job in our build, not a line in a notes box.
Estimates from measurements and your own rates
Wall area, ceiling area, trim in linear feet, doors and windows by count, the number of coats and the prep level, each priced at the production rate you set from your own timed jobs, so the number is defensible when the homeowner asks why the hallway costs what it does.
Options the homeowner can toggle before signing
Walls only, walls and ceilings, add the trim, add the closets, add the cabinets, with the total changing live on her phone and the deposit calculated on what she picked. One quote replaces three revisions.
Follow-up that runs without you remembering
A check-in text the day after the quote, a call reminder for the estimator a few days later, and a final note before the quote expires, each logged, each stopping the moment the customer approves or declines.
A multi-day schedule by crew, with weather holds
Jobs broken into days with a crew lead assigned, interior work that can slide into a rained-out exterior day, and a one-tap reschedule that texts every affected customer the new dates.
A color schedule on the property
Brand, color name, code, sheen and product line for every surface in every room, saved to the address rather than the job, so a touch-up five years later and a repaint for the next owner both start from the record.
Hours and gallons against the estimate
Crew hours and material used, entered from the job each day and compared with the estimate, so you see which rooms, surfaces and crew leads run over and your next price sheet gets sharper.
How we build a painting CRM
The first CRM we wrote still runs our own service companies. Yours is shaped around your estimator's walkthrough and your crews' days.
Your price sheet as the estimate template
Your rates for walls, ceilings, trim, doors, cabinet doors and exterior stories, your prep levels and your paint lines go in once. The estimator fills in measurements and the quote writes itself in your words.
Online approval and deposit
The homeowner picks her options, signs and pays the deposit from one link. The server re-prices on approval, so an edited web page cannot change the total, and the signed quote is stored on the job.
A crew app with the day's rooms
Each crew lead sees the day's address, rooms, colors by surface, special notes (dog in the yard, nursery first) and a photo checklist to complete before leaving, with hours entered on the spot.
Lead-safe paperwork on the job
For homes built before 1978, the year built triggers your checklist, and the signed pamphlet receipt and your records are stored on the job for the period the EPA requires. The EPA's program page explains the rule itself.
Owner reporting without a spreadsheet
Close rate by lead source, estimate versus actual hours by crew lead, revenue by job type (interior, exterior, cabinets, commercial) and the open deposits and balances, on one screen.
What you own on day one.
Every account is opened in your company's name with you as the owner. If you ever leave, you change a password, not your business.
- Domain, hosting and the site files
- Phone numbers and call recordings
- The CRM and its database
- Email and text lists, with consent records
- Google Business Profile and every listing
- Analytics and Search Console
Custom CRM for painting, answered.
Can you move our customers and quotes out of Jobber or Housecall Pro?
Yes. We export customers, properties, quotes, invoices and notes, map them into the new fields, and keep the old system readable beside the new one for a few weeks so nothing slips through. Color notes get moved into the color schedule where we can read them.
How does it handle cabinet jobs with shop time?
A cabinet job carries a door and drawer count, the days doors are off site, the booth schedule and the reinstall day, so the kitchen downtime you promised is the downtime the schedule shows.
Our crews are paid by the hour; a sub is paid by the job. Does it cope?
Yes. Each crew lead or subcontractor has a pay basis, and the job shows labor cost either way next to the quoted labor, so margin per job is visible before the invoice goes out.
Will the homeowner see our hours and production rates?
No. The customer sees rooms, surfaces, options and totals. Rates, hours and material costs stay on your side of the record.
Does it work for a one-truck painter?
Yes, and that is who it helps most. The owner is the estimator, the crew lead and the office, and a system that writes the quote, chases it and keeps the colors is the office that owner does not have.
Custom CRM for painting. Owned by you.
Start with the instant website checkup of your current site: your grade and top 3 fixes, no sign-up. Or get a free system quote for the whole painting setup.
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