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Painting Contractors

Site and material software for painting contractors

Every coat disappears under the next one. Only the last is visible.

Putty, primer and two finish coats go on the same wall, and by handover only the last one shows. Paint leaves the store by the bucket and is thinned on site, the area covered each day is what you bill, and the client judges shade, evenness and edges on the day they walk through.

Painting ContractorsHow a day runs on buildcontrol
1
Material is issued to the site
Paint, putty and primer booked against the site, with shade details.
2
Crews are marked present
Painters, helpers and subcontract gangs, per person per day.
3
The day’s work is logged
Area covered, floor by floor, recorded from site.
4
Each coat is checked before the next
Surface, primer and coats photographed against the site.
5
Snags are cleared before handover
The list, the photographs and the touch-ups sit on the project.
The problem

What actually goes wrong

These are the four things that come up in almost every conversation with a painting contractor.

Paint never matches the estimateBuckets leave the store, get thinned on site, shared between floors and carried to the next job. Coverage per litre is only worked out at the end, when nothing can be done about it.
A coat cannot be checked once the next one is onPutty and primer decide how the finish lasts, but by the time anyone looks, they are two coats down and invisible.
Billing waits on measurementThe area covered each day is the bill. Reported by phone and measured later, payment slips while both sides re-measure.
Snags arrive as one long listPatchy shade, roller marks and damaged edges all surface at handover, with no record of what was checked while the work was running.
Modules that matter most

Start with these four

buildcontrol has eleven modules, but you do not need all of them on day one. For a painting contractor, these carry the weight.

Material Management

Paint, putty and primer issued to each site with shade and batch details, and returns booked against the same job, so consumption per site is visible while the work is still running.

Explore module

Daily Worksheet

A dated log of the area covered each day, floor by floor and coat by coat, so what you report and bill comes from the site record.

Explore module

Quality Control

Surface and coat checks with dated photographs before the next coat goes on, and a snag list raised and cleared before handover.

Explore module

Attendance Management

Painters, helpers and subcontract gangs marked per person per day, so wages and gang bills are checked against a record instead of a headcount.

Explore module
Add later, once the first four are running
  • Payment Management, for supplier dues and subcontractor payments against each project
  • Equipment Management, for spray machines, sanders and scaffolding moving between sites
  • Task Management, where finish schedules and shade cards sit with the task they belong to
Probably not for you: CRM rarely applies to a painting contractor, since it is built for developers selling units rather than for winning and running contract work.
How it runs

One day, end to end

1

Material goes out against the site

Paint, putty and primer are issued from the store to a named site, with shade details recorded as they go out.

2

Crews are marked in the morning

Painters, helpers and gang members are recorded per person, per site, per day.

3

The day’s work is logged from site

The supervisor records the area covered and which coat it was, with photographs, as the work happens.

4

Each coat is signed off before the next

Surface preparation, primer and finish coats are recorded against the site, so a problem is caught while it can still be corrected cheaply.

5

Handover is already documented

Snags, touch-ups and photographs are on the project when the client walks through.

Who uses it

Every role, one system

Access is controlled by role, so people see what they need and nothing else.

RoleWhat they do in buildcontrol
Proprietor / DirectorEvery site, material consumption and dues in one view
Project ManagerProgress by site, crews deployed, snags outstanding
Site Supervisor / ForemanDaily area log, attendance, coat checks with photographs
StorekeeperPaint and putty received, issued to site and returned
AccountsSupplier and subcontractor dues, payments made
Client / Main ContractorRead-only progress and quality visibility
Questions

Questions we get from painting contractors

No, and it is not meant to. Estimation and shade selection stay with you and your supplier. buildcontrol records what happened on site — material issued, area covered, coats checked and snags cleared — so the job is documented as it is built.
Yes. Material is issued against the site it goes to, and returns are booked against the same site, so consumption per site comes from the issue record rather than a stock count at the end of the job.
Yes. Shade and batch are recorded with the material issued to a site, so a question about a patchy wall months later is answered from the record rather than from memory.
Yes. Inspections in Quality Control carry checklists and dated photographs, so surface preparation and each coat stay on the project even though only the last one is visible.
Yes. Each site is its own project with its own material, crews and records, and reports run across all of them, so you can see every site without opening each one.
Other solutions

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