Decorating work quoted from your phone

Decorating is priced in the room where the work will happen. You look at the walls and the ceiling and the woodwork and you can see how much prep sits behind the finish. YellowTradie lets you say the job out loud and the priced quote writes itself while you are still in that room.

The day, in the order it happens

The quote by room

You walk the house and name each room as you go. Hall and landing and each bedroom and the kitchen and the bath. For each room you say the area that must be painted and the paint and the prep and the labour. Each line goes into its own place and the total is worked out as you speak. You check the form and tap Make quote. The draft is ready to send from the hall.

The prep time people forget

A finish only holds if the prep was done. Filling and sanding and caulk and undercoat and rubbing down between coats. You price the prep as its own labour lines so the customer can see what the time buys. The job keeps the notes of what was found behind the old paper and the photographs of the wall before it was filled.

The finish nobody sees until the light changes

Some walls look right until the late light hits them. A spray finish and a cut line that must be clean. You quote the finish as you will do it and the timesheet keeps the hours you spent on it. The bill carries the same lines so the customer can see what the price covered.

The touch up

You return for a small fix after the main job. A scuff by a door or a mark where tape pulled the edge. You raise a small quote for that visit or log the hours on the job and add a labour line to the next bill. The job keeps the date and the note of what was touched up.

The second coat

A colour may need one more pass. Cover and dust sheets laid again and the room out of use for another half day. You price the second coat as its own labour and materials or as part of the room's total. The invoice shows the lines and the VAT you set and your bank details and the invoice number as the payment reference.

The bill before you drive home

The tape is off and the floor is clean. You open the finished job and the next step is Invoice it. The bill carries the lines from the quote and the VAT and your bank details and the reference. You send the PDF and the link before you move off.

What decorators need in one place

Your quote, built from speech

Open a quote and tap Talk. Say the customer and the address and the work and the price in any order. Finished sentences are read one by one and each line files itself into Materials and Labour and Travel time and Additional charges. You can type into the same form and you can mix the two. Nothing is saved until you tap Make quote.

A priced quote the customer can answer

Send the quote and the customer gets a link. They open it and press Approve or ask for changes. The answer comes back to your phone. Approval creates the job from the same details. An expiry date guards the price.

The job that keeps the record

The job holds the address and the day and the quote that made it and the invoice and the expenses and the timesheet and the photographs and the spoken notes. The address card lets you call the customer or open a map for the job. The job shows Not Started or In Progress or Completed.

Photos of the work

Walls before fill and after finish and the cut line at the ceiling. The photographs live on the job and stay on your phone. You add them from the Photos tab.

A bill from the job

Invoice it from an accepted quote or from a finished job. The PDF and the customer's link both show your bank details and the reference. Part payments are kept and the balance is what the Home screen and the chase use. The customer can confirm the work is done on the bill link while it is unpaid and unsigned.

Chasing what is still owed

When a sent invoice is past its due date the chase card appears on Home. The message asks for the balance and it carries the bank details and the reference and the link. The wording firms up each time and you choose when to send. The app never chases on its own.

Your money without the spreadsheet

Every payment is a row in the log with the date and the amount and the method and the bill it settled. A refund is a negative row so the cash in figure is the sum of the log. VAT sits on the quote and the bill and in the quarterly report. Tax and Making Tax Digital are on the tax pages.

Details that save a return visit

A note you speak in the room

Say what the walls need while you are looking at them. The note is saved against the job and it stays with the address.

Labour from your hours

Log hours on the job and they come into the invoice as a labour line. A job with no quote still gets its hours billed.

A receipt you photograph

Take a picture of the receipt and set the category. The cost is filed against the job. The photograph leaves the phone only when you ask the app to read it.

One tap to call or map

You can call or open a map straight from the job. You do not have to copy the address into another app.

What it does not do

• It does not issue a compliance certificate. We do not issue any trade certificate. The job keeps your record and the invoice that carries it. The certificate is your work.
• It does not send a quote or a bill on its own. You write it and you send it and you send the chase.
• It does not keep a rate card and fill in your prices. The figures are the ones you say.
• It does not hold customer card numbers. Bank transfer is your own details on the bill. Card when live is taken on your phone with the customer in front of you.
• It does not take a payment on the customer's link. The customer pays you directly and you record it.
• It does not keep the records in the cloud. The jobs and quotes and invoices and photographs are on your phone.

Questions

Can I quote a whole house by room on site?

Yes. Walk each room and say the job for that room. The quote fills itself line by line. Check the total and send the link before you leave.

The customer thinks the finish should have been included. How does the quote help?

The quote shows the prep and each coat as its own line. The customer saw what the price covered before they approved.

Do I need a second quote for a touch up?

You can raise a new small quote for that visit at the same address. Or log the hours and bill the labour line on the next invoice.

A second coat means another half day. Where does that sit?

As labour for that room and the paint used as materials. Add the lines to the quote or to the bill if the job has moved.

What if the customer pays in stages?

Raise the bill for the stage that is done. Each bill has its own reference. The chase follows the balance on each bill.

Related

• The six trades: pick the trade that is yours.
• Quote by talking: speak the job and the form fills itself.
• Quotes: the priced document and the customer's answer.
• Invoices: the bill that comes from the job.

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