Free painting invoice generator
Bill by room or by square foot, show prep work separately from finish coats, pass paint through at cost, and download a PDF that explains its own price.
Build your painting invoice
Prefilled with a residential interior repaint. Replace the rooms, coats and materials, then download.
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What is a painting invoice?
A painting invoice bills for surface preparation and finish work at a property. Most of the labour — and most of the quality — is in the preparation, which is exactly the part customers cannot see and therefore undervalue. The invoice is where prep becomes visible.
Pricing is by room, by square foot of surface, or by the day, plus paint and materials. Whichever you use, the number of coats belongs on the line: two coats over a primer is a different product from one coat of refresh, and a customer comparing quotes has no way to know unless it is written down.
Commercial and new-construction work adds the usual layer of process: a purchase order, progress billing against a schedule, and sometimes a punch list held back until the general contractor signs off.
What to include
Everything below is already in the generator above — this is what each part is for.
Property and areas painted
The address, and which rooms, elevations or surfaces were covered. Specific enough to check on site.
Prep work as its own line
Sanding, patching, caulking, scraping, pressure washing and masking — the part that determines the result.
Coats and finish per area
Primer plus how many finish coats, and the sheen. This is what makes two quotes comparable.
Paint and materials
Product, colour and gallons, with sundries — tape, plastic, caulk, filler — at cost or with your markup.
Labor basis
Whether the line is priced per room, per square foot or by the day, with crew hours where relevant.
Warranty and touch-up terms
Your workmanship warranty and whether a touch-up visit is included after settling or cure.
Three steps to a finished PDF
Enter customer and property
Your business and license, the customer, and the property with the work dates in the notes field.
Bill prep, coats and paint
Prep on its own line, then each area with coats and sheen, then paint and sundries. Set your tax rate.
Download and send
Download the PDF the day the job finishes, while the customer can still see the difference.
Pricing paint work
Price the prep, not just the paint
Two coats on well-prepared drywall and two coats over unpatched, glossy trim are entirely different jobs. Quote and invoice prep as its own line with a described scope, and your price stops looking arbitrary next to a cheaper competitor who did not mention it.
Say how many coats
- Put primer and finish coats on the line, along with sheen.
- Colour changes that need an extra coat should be priced when the colour is chosen, not after.
- Deep or saturated colours often need three coats — flag it before you start, not on the invoice.
Pass paint through visibly
Listing product, colour and gallons protects you twice: it justifies the material cost, and it becomes the record the customer needs for touch-ups in three years. If you mark materials up, that is normal — an unexplained lump sum is what generates complaints.
Handle commercial work differently
General contractors pay on Net 30 against a purchase order and often hold retainage or a punch-list amount until sign-off. Ask for the PO before mobilising, bill progress against the schedule, and invoice the punch list separately once it is signed — otherwise the whole invoice waits for the last door frame.
Three mistakes that delay payment
Prep invisible
If prep is not on the invoice, the customer assumes it did not take time.
Coats unstated
A one-coat refresh billed as a repaint is a complaint waiting to happen.
Colour and product not recorded
Touch-ups years later are impossible without the paint details.