Business guide

How to Run a Painting Business

Starting is the easy part. Running a painting business means keeping three things moving at once: new bids, jobs in progress, and money coming in. Here are simple systems for each.

The weekly routine

Blocking the same time each week matters more than the exact schedule. Bids and invoices are the first things to slip when you're busy painting.

Bidding: fast, consistent, and followed up

• Use the same pricing every time. A fixed square-foot rate for walls and ceilings, plus line items for prep, trim, and doors. See how to price a paint job.
• Send the estimate the same day. Homeowners often choose the first clear quote they receive. How to write a painting estimate covers what to include.
• Follow up on a schedule. Day 2, day 7, and day 14. The follow-up templates give you the messages.
• Track your close rate. Estimates sent versus jobs won, by month. If it drops, look at your follow-up before your price.

Scheduling jobs and crews

• Book from signed estimates only. A deposit holds the dates; a verbal yes doesn't.
• Leave a buffer. Prep surprises and weather on exterior jobs push schedules. A half day of slack between jobs keeps one delay from wrecking the week.
• Give each crew a job sheet. Address, rooms, colors and sheens, products, and anything the client asked for. Most callbacks come from a crew not knowing what was promised.
• Order materials early. Confirm colors in writing, then order a day or two before the start date.

Job costing: did this job make money?

After every job, compare what you estimated with what it actually took.

Six extra hours on one job is a note. Six extra hours on every job means your production rate is wrong and your square-foot price needs to go up. This one habit fixes underpricing faster than anything else.

Cash flow

• Collect a deposit at signing to cover materials, within your state's limits. California, for example, caps home improvement deposits at 10% or $1,000, whichever is less.
• Invoice the day the job ends. Every day you wait is a day longer to get paid.
• Take cards. Clients pay faster when they can pay on the spot. Build the processing fee into your prices.
• Set aside tax money. Move a fixed percentage of every payment into a separate account. Your accountant can tell you how much.
• Watch the slow season. If winter is quiet in your area, save during busy months and market interior work early.

Keeping clients and getting reviews

• Walk the finished job with the client and fix touch-ups before you leave.
• Leave labeled leftover paint for future touch-ups.
• Ask for a review the same day, with a direct link to your Google Business Profile.
• Check in a year later. Repaints, other rooms, and referrals come from clients who remember you.

Simple tools beat no tools

You don't need expensive software to run this well. A calendar for jobs, a spreadsheet for open estimates and job costing, and a consistent estimate format cover most small painting businesses. Move to field-service software when the number of jobs and crews makes the spreadsheet hard to keep up. See spreadsheet vs. estimating software.