Painting Estimating & Invoicing App
Quote the room, note the color and sheen the client picked, invoice with the before-and-after photo, and get paid without chasing the last third.
Estimate
Quote it by room, by the foot, or flat
Painters price jobs differently than most trades. Some quote by the room, some by square foot of wall, some by the gallon, and plenty just give a flat number. Werkly's estimate is a list of editable line items, not a fixed formula, so however you already price a job, it fits. That's the whole app, really: built for one person's business, not a five-person crew running a sales pipeline.
Need a deposit before you start? Write it on the estimate as a note, something like "$200 deposit due at scheduling." Werkly doesn't calculate or collect that deposit for you. It's a line you type, not a number the app works out.
Every estimate has a real lifecycle: draft, then sent, then accepted or declined, with an expiration date if you want one on there. Client says no? Reopen it and send again instead of starting from a blank page.
Accept the estimate and Werkly carries the agreed price and billing style over to the job, ready for when it's time to invoice.
Track
The color they picked, right where you'll need it
Cutting in trim and rolling a wall both go on the same one-tap timer: start it when you get to the job, stop it when you leave. Bill the job Hourly or Fixed, and a fixed-bid job shows your effective hourly rate, so you know whether that flat price on the ceiling actually paid.
Add a note the moment the client picks a color: "Sherwin-Williams SW 7015, eggshell, client-approved." It's sitting right on the job for the second coat, a touch-up six months later, or the client who swears they picked something else.
Shoot Before, During, and After photos straight from the job, tagged and captioned. The crack in the drywall, the old color, the finished wall: all three live on the same record as your notes and your hours, not scattered across a camera roll.
A multi-day repaint doesn't need a second app to track it. Log hours across the whole job, add a note each day if something changes, and keep shooting photos as the rooms get finished. It's the same job record from the first coat to the last.
Invoice
The finished room, right on the bill
Build the invoice on the same job, with tax applied per line item and a document-level discount if you're knocking something off. Every invoice numbers itself, so you're never guessing what you already sent.
On Pro, pick up to 10 job photos, put them in your own order, and they print right on the invoice PDF with their captions. Hand a client a bill with the finished room on it, not just a number.
Nobody selling to a solo painter does both halves of that. The tools that get the paint math right don't put a photo on the document, and the ones with a photo on the document don't know what a gallon of paint is.
Get Paid
Paid in thirds, tracked to a real balance
Multi-day painting jobs get paid in stages. Werkly tracks every one of them.
A lot of painters get paid the same way: something at scheduling, something midway on a bigger job, the rest when the last coat's dry. Record each of those as a payment against the invoice, and Werkly tracks paid-to-date and a real balance, not just paid or unpaid.
It only says PAID IN FULL when the balance actually hits zero. Cash today, a check next week, a Zelle for the rest: whatever comes in, however it comes in.
Add your own payment instructions and they print right on the invoice. The moment a job is marked paid, Werkly sends an automatic review request, worth having in a trade that runs on referrals as much as painting does.
Good to Know
Before You Download
Everything above is live today. Here's where Werkly stops, so you've got the full picture before you download it:
- You price the job you've already walked. Werkly doesn't turn square footage into gallons of paint: quote it by the room, the wall, the gallon, or flat, whichever way you already do it.
- Payment happens your way: note the deposit right on the estimate, then record cash, check, Zelle, or Venmo against a real running balance as each stage comes in. Online payment collection and a hosted approve-online link aren't built yet, but they're on the roadmap. tell us if that's what you're waiting on.
- Werkly tracks the work once it starts, not the date you booked it for. Scheduling and recurring jobs aren't built yet; both are on the roadmap.
- One login, one person, by design. A second painter cutting in trim on a big interior is completely normal, they just don't get their own login. You run the job and account for what you pay them.
- With no signal on site, you can still open saved jobs, notes, photos, and hours. You'll need a connection to add or edit something new. It's an iPhone app today; Android, QuickBooks sync, and exports are all on the roadmap.
This fits a solo painter working one job at a time, priced by the room or the gallon and paid in stages as the work happens. It's not built for a painting company dispatching several crews across job sites at once; that needs a tool made for running a team, and Werkly vs Jobber walks through where that line falls.
Free: 5 jobs a month, 5 photos a job, 1 invoice a job, forever, no card required. Pro is $12.99/mo (or $129.99/yr): unlimited jobs and invoices, 50 photos a job, and up to 10 of those photos on the document itself. If you're comparing cheaper invoicing apps, Werkly vs Joist and the wider roundup both show real prices.
Painting Estimating & Invoicing FAQ
The real details on how Werkly fits a painting business, gaps included.
Is there an app to estimate painting jobs?
Yes. Werkly's estimates are editable line items you price your own way: by room, by square foot, by the gallon, or a flat job price. It's not a paint-quantity calculator, so you're pricing the job, not letting the app guess your coverage.
Does the app calculate how much paint or how many gallons I need?
No, and that's worth knowing before you download it. Werkly has no coverage or takeoff calculator. If you need automatic gallon math from square footage, that's a real gap versus painter-specific estimating tools. Werkly's strength is the job record around the estimate (the notes, the photos, the invoice), not the estimate math itself.
Can I collect a deposit before starting a painting job?
You can note a deposit amount on the estimate, something like "$200 due at scheduling," but Werkly doesn't calculate or collect it online. You collect it however you already do, then record it as a payment on the invoice, where Werkly tracks a real running balance.
Can I put before-and-after photos on the invoice or estimate I send a client?
Yes, on Pro. Pick up to 10 job photos, put them in your own order, and they print on the PDF with their captions. That's a real edge in a trade where the finished wall is the whole pitch.
How do I keep track of the paint color and finish the client picked?
Add it as a note on the job: the color code, the sheen, the product, whatever you need on record. When it's time for a second coat, or the client insists they picked a different color, you've already got the answer on file.
How do I track hours on a painting job?
A one-tap timer per job, or add a past entry by hand if you forgot to start it. Bill Hourly or Fixed per job, and fixed jobs show your effective hourly rate, so you know whether cutting in and rolling that ceiling actually paid what you bid.
Is Werkly built for a solo painter or a painting crew?
One login, by design. A paid helper on a big repaint is fine: you run the job and account for what you pay them. What's not there is a login for anyone else, tracking their hours, or assigning them work. If your crew needs the app themselves, a team tool is the better fit.
Is Werkly only for iPhone?
For now, yes. Werkly is an iPhone app today, and Android is planned, though we're not putting a date on it. If that's the one thing keeping you off it, tell us and we'll let you know when it lands.
Werkly for other trades
Handyman
Price the punch list fairly, invoice before you're back in the truck, and get paid, all from one job.
Drywall
Price it by the foot, the board, or the sheet, hold hang, tape, coat, and sand on one job, and invoice with the before-the-mud photo.
Tile
Price the mosaic and the niche fairly, photograph the membrane before the floor covers it, and invoice with the proof on the bill.
What's inside Werkly
Estimates & Invoices
Estimates and invoices built from the job, with tax, discounts, and a real balance tracked to paid.
Time Tracking
One-tap timer, editable entries, and hours that land on the invoice automatically.
Job Tracking
One record per job: client, notes, photos, hours, and billing, plus a badge showing where each job stands.
Photo Documentation
Every job photo tagged, captioned, and tied to the job record, so it doesn't get lost in your camera roll.
