Invoicing for painters

Invoice Koi is an invoice app for painters, where the prep sits on the invoice as its own line at its own price, above the undercoat and the topcoat.

Make an invoice free

The iPhone app is coming to the App Store.

An illustration of a roller and tray, two brushes, an open tin, masking tape and a filling knife, with a koi swimming among them.

The work is easy to describe and hard to price on paper: the customer sees paint, you see two days of filling and sanding before any of it goes on. An invoice that shows the prep is an invoice that does not get argued with.

01On the document

What painters
put on an invoice.

Save these items with your own rates. Tap to add them to an invoice, with the unit, price and totals filled in.

Line	Unit
Decorating day rate	days
Preparation: fill, sand and caulk	room
Undercoat and primer	room
Topcoat, two coats	room
Paint and materials	job
Wallpaper, hang	roll

Set your own prices. The app's starter rates are placeholders. To bill one job today with nothing installed, the free painter invoice template opens in your browser with these lines on it.

A job, grouped Subtotals per section

PREPARATION

Preparation: fill, sand and caulk$340

Paint and materials$285

Subtotal$625

HALL, STAIRS, LANDING

Undercoat and primer$260

Topcoat, two coats$540

Subtotal$800

TWO BEDROOMS

Topcoat, two coats$620

Subtotal$620

Total$2,045

Grouped line items work on all nine templates.

A photograph of a painter in a taped-out room, roller in one hand and phone in the other.

02Why painters use it

Three things that
save the evening.

Prep priced as its own line

Give preparation a heading and a subtotal of its own. The two days before any paint went on stop being invisible.

Per room, per day, per roll

Each price-book line keeps its own unit, so a room rate, a day rate and a per-roll rate all sit in the same book and go on the same invoice.

The trade counter receipt, filed

Photograph it as you leave. Merchant, amount, tax and category are read off it, and the picture is kept against the job either way.

03 · Questions

Asked by painters.

Can I price by the room?

Yes. A price-book line can carry any unit you like, including "room". Keep a room rate and a day rate and use whichever the job wants.

Can I show preparation separately?

Group the lines under your own headings with subtotals. Preparation reads as its own figure rather than disappearing into the total.

Can I put my logo on the invoice?

Yes. Your logo, your accent color and any of the nine templates, with nothing on a higher tier. The preview you see is the PDF the customer gets.

Weighing up apps? Invoice Koi vs Joist and Invoice Koi vs Contractor+ set the features side by side, including where they win. Or see all 12 comparisons.