15 Best Apps for Painting Contractors

iOS, Android, and desktop

To reduce the stress of running your painting business, manage your daily operations using Jobber. From the job site or the office, Jobber lets you quote and schedule new work, communicate with customers, and get invoices paid online.

Access important job details from a client’s property (like square footage measurements, before-and-after photos), and even automate your repeatable admin work, including quote follow-ups and visit reminders.

Whether you’re at the office or the job site, the Jobber app lets you:

• Build quotes that let you upsell with add-ons and special service packages
• Dispatch your crews faster with routes optimized automatically by Jobber
• Track painting job progress from start to finish
• Prep for payroll easily by tracking each painter’s work hours in the field
• Easily accept credit card payments in person and online
• Let customers access an online portal to approve quotes and pay invoices
• Team members can use the Jobber app in English or in Spanish to manage day-to-day work in the field

iOS, Android, and desktop

QuickBooks Online helps you efficiently manage your finances. The cloud-based accounting software lets you manage invoices, expenses, income, financial reports, and payroll from any device. You can also integrate with apps like Jobber to run a tighter ship.

READ MORE: Run a better, more profitable painting business by integrating QuickBooks and Jobber.

iOS and Android

Fleetsharp is a fleet management app that helps you map out more efficient routes for your crew to reduce fuel costs and deliver better service by responding to customer calls quicker.

More specifically, you can track vehicle activity, vehicle location, driver behavior (e.g., speeding), mileage, maintenance alerts, and gas levels.

Just like QuickBooks, you can also integrate with Jobber to make smarter, faster scheduling decisions.

iOS and Android

Google provides several free apps (e.g., Gmail, Google Drive, G Suite GoogleDoc, Google Meet, etc.) you can use. For example, Google Drive lets you create, store and collaborate on documents in the cloud from any device.

But if you pay $6/mo, you can get more, including a business email instead of a generic Gmail one, so your business can look even more professional.

iOS and Android

Communication is crucial when your team is out on the road doing a job. Slack lets you communicate via text, audio, or video through what they call “channels.”

Channels help order conversations so that the right information and people are in one place. For example, you could create a channel dedicated to marketing where you discuss all-things marketing or make one for individual clients to chat about special client requests.

READ MORE: 10 best CRM apps for successful small businesses

Free

This free 3-in-1 Profit Margin Calculator by Jobber comes in handy when you’re pricing painting jobs and you want to make sure you’re making a profit.

Use it to get three easy calculations to help you price more profitable jobs, stay on budget, and include markup in your prices. Fill in your information to get access to the calculator webpage, then save it to your bookmarks so you can easily refer to it from anywhere.

READ MORE: Profit Margins: A complete guide for small business owners

iOS and Android

The ColorSnap Visualizer by Sherwin Williams lets you take a photo of a job environment and upload it. The app will then match up to eight colors against the Sherwin-Williams colors and provide details like which colors complement each other.

The new Paint a Scene feature also lets you use augmented reality—simply tap a wall to change its color. Finally, you can save and share your images and color choice with clients, allowing them to visualize what the end product will look like.

READ MORE: Painting equipment list: 50 must-have tools for professional painters

iOS and Android

Similar to ColorSnap, Paint Tester allows you to take and upload an image of a room. You can then paint the walls by choosing a color from the color picker and using the Smart Paint Bucket feature to apply the colors to the wall without overlapping into other areas.

You’ll get a clean and professional image you can send to clients over email.

iOS and Android

The Nix Paint app works with the Nix Mini™ Color Sensor and the Nix Pro™ Color Sensor. Use it for paint matching by placing the sensor on any color for an almost instant paint match on your smartphone. You can then view and swipe between a vast collection of color palettes on their app.

Apps for marketing your painting business

Here are six of the best apps for painting contractors to find clients, grow client relationships, and create stunning and well-edited before and after photos to win more business.

Android

Customers today read online reviews when deciding what painting contractors to use. Reputation management software like NiceJob helps you track, collect, and manage all your reviews across all channels. With NiceJob, you can:

Collect more reviews by sending automatic review requests as soon as a job is complete
Send automated follow-up emails to remind those who haven’t left a review
Convert reviews into stories that are automatically sent to social media

Pro Tip: Integrate NiceJob and Jobber to connect your existing painting clients to streamline your workflow.

iOS and Android

Email marketing is targeted, allows you to easily stay top-of-mind, and has one of the best returns.

Mailchimp email marketing software lets you send targeted emails to big groups instead of writing one email at a time, create different email campaigns, and group your audience together based on specific characteristics.

To get started, use the pre-built templates. If you already use Jobber and have existing painting clients, sync them by integrating Mailchimp and Jobber.

READ MORE: How to get painting contracts and grow your business

Mobile-friendly software, free trial

If your quoting process is inefficient and your proposals are being ignored, it may be time to invest in Responsibid.

Responsibid helps you book more painting jobs by:

1. Making you send quotes faster over your website, phone or email, or in-person
2. Allowing clients to book time slots for jobs that suits them
3. Letting you send automatic follow-ups over text or email

Responsibid integrates with many of your favorite apps like Jobber and Zapier.

iOS and Android

Canva is an easy-to-use DIY design tool. Use it to create marketing materials such as email campaigns, flyers, door-to-door campaigns, business cards, and even social media images.

Canva provides templates and free painting stock images you can use for your painting marketing. You can also upload and edit your own photos, making them ideal for creating before and after shots of painting jobs to “wow” your customers.

iOS and Android

Nextdoor is a hyper-local social media network. Its users, primarily homeowners, join to connect with locals, final business nearby, and talk about local events. As a painting professional, you can use Nextdoor to:

• Introduce yourself to the community
• Offer expert advice and solve customer problems by answering questions
• Respond to any recommendations provided by homeowners
• Get more recommendations by sharing your Nextdoor business page on invoices and emails
• Create Nextdoor ads (sponsorships, local deals, and business posts (free))

READ MORE: Why You Should Advertise on Nextdoor

iOS and Android

Angi, formerly Angie’s List, is a lead generation platform. Platforms like Angi are often hit or miss because success varies based on factors like region, services, and industry. Don’t be afraid to try other lead generation platforms if Angi isn’t working for you.

However, the good news is that Angi offers a paid and free version, making it one of the most affordable options out there to test the waters.

READ MORE: The Best lead Generation Platforms for Contractors

Invest in the right app for your painting business

There’s no shortage of painting apps to help you run and market your painting business, so don’t try them all at once.

Instead, select those apps that address the biggest gaps in your business and add more to your digital toolbox over time.

If you have any other apps you feel we should add to this list, please let us know on Facebook or Instagram!