Moving a Painting Company From Spreadsheets to Software
Most painting companies do not switch software because they love change. They switch because the spreadsheet broke: two crews booked at the same house, an estimate nobody followed up on, or a month of invoices that never went out. Moving is easier than it looks if you do it in the right order.
Start With Customers
Export your customer list from wherever it lives today, even if it is a spreadsheet with inconsistent columns, and import it as a CSV. Name, phone, email and address are enough to start. Each address becomes a property you can attach jobs and notes to. If you have past color codes for a customer, add them to the property notes; they will save a phone call when the customer wants a touch-up.
Build Your Service List
Your service list is what every estimate and invoice is built from. Keep it close to how you actually price: Interior Room Painting, Whole-House Interior Repaint, Exterior House Painting, Cabinet Painting, Trim & Door Painting, Accent Wall, Ceiling Painting, Drywall Repair & Paint, Deck & Fence Staining, Unit Turnover Repaint, Color Consultation. Give each a default price where you have one. Jobs priced by the square foot can be priced from measurements on the property. See Setting Up a Painting Service List.
Add Crews and Painters
Add each crew or van, then each painter with their own PIN. The crew app login is shared by the company; the PIN tells you which painter did what.
Move Open Work First
Do not try to import five years of history on day one. Enter the estimates that are still open and the jobs already sold. Sold jobs go on the Waiting List; open estimates get sent from the system so follow-ups start working for you.
Run Two Weeks Side by Side
For the first two weeks, keep the old calendar on the wall but book everything new in PaintingBossPro. By the second Friday, most companies stop looking at the wall.
Turn On the Texts Last
Once the schedule is reliable, turn on night-before and on-the-way texts. Customers notice those first, and you want them going out on accurate dates.
More on this topic: the Painting Contractor Software page and the rest of its guides.
Set It Up in an Afternoon
Import your customers, add your services and crews, and send your first estimate the same day.
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