Tender & Estimating Software for Painters

A painting takeoff is the measured area of every surface to be painted, broken down by surface type and number of coats so it can be priced with materials and labour. A complete painting takeoff typically covers:

• Internal walls and ceilings — measured area by room, net of door, window and other opening deductions.
• External walls, eaves and fascia — measured area by surface type, accounting for texture and substrate.
• Doors, windows and trim — counted and measured separately, since they are usually priced per item or per lineal metre rather than by area.
• Surface preparation — filling, sanding, stripping and priming required before topcoats, which varies with the condition of the existing surface.
• Coat count and finish — the number of coats and the specified finish (low-sheen, semi-gloss, gloss) for each surface, which directly drives the material quantity.

My Trade Hub’s estimation engine reads your plans and performs the measured takeoff automatically — calculating wall and ceiling areas room by room, deducting openings, and counting doors, windows and trim — instead of you measuring every surface by hand.

Because the takeoff is automated rather than manual, it is 60-75% faster than measuring the same job room by room, so a multi-room repaint or a new-build painting package can be quantified the same day you receive the plans rather than over several evenings.

The output is a structured, itemised list of painting quantities by room and surface type — not a single square-metre guess — so you can check every area and coat count before a rate is applied.

Once quantities are measured, pricing a painting job means applying a material rate and a labour rate to every surface, factoring in coat count and surface preparation — the takeoff gives you the area, but the condition of the existing surface still drives a large share of the real cost.

Labour is usually the larger cost on a repaint, and it varies with surface condition, ceiling height and access, and how much preparation — filling, sanding, stripping — is needed before the first coat goes on, so a rate based on a straightforward new-build wall will not hold on a tired, heavily patched repaint.

On top of materials and labour, add your overheads and margin, and build in a realistic allowance for protection of floors and fittings, and any make-good to surfaces damaged by other trades.

With the painting quantities measured and priced, the next step is turning that pricing into a document a client or builder can act on — a clear, professional quote for a residential repaint, or a complete tender submission for a new-build or commercial painting package.

My Trade Hub turns the priced takeoff straight into a client-ready quote or tender, with your branding and terms attached, so you are not re-typing room-by-room areas into a separate spreadsheet or Word document.

Because the slow part — measuring every surface — is already done, producing the quote itself takes minutes, which means you can get a number back to a client while they are still comparing painters.

Most painting contractors move between two quite different pricing situations, and knowing which one applies changes how the job is priced and documented.

A residential repaint or a small commercial refresh is usually priced directly for the homeowner or business owner as a fixed price with a clear list of rooms, surfaces and coats included. New-build residential and larger commercial painting packages are more often won by formal tender, priced against a builder’s drawings and specification, sometimes alongside other painting contractors bidding the identical scope of work.

The estimating principle is the same either way — measure the surfaces accurately, then price them — but a tender typically demands a tighter program and more documentation around finishes and product data sheets than a straightforward repaint quote.

Most painting under-quotes come down to a short list of recurring mistakes, all avoidable with a consistent takeoff process.

• Under-estimating surface preparation, particularly on older properties where filling and sanding can take longer than the painting itself.
• Forgetting to deduct openings correctly, which overstates wall area, or conversely missing that a heavily glazed wall needs less paint than its footprint suggests.
• Pricing a single coat rate when the surface or specification actually requires two coats to achieve proper coverage and finish.
• Not allowing for protection of floors, fixtures and fittings, especially in occupied homes or fitted-out commercial spaces.
• Quoting from an early floor plan rather than the final specification, so room finishes or feature walls no longer match what is actually required.

On most residential repaints, the painter who will do the work also prices it — walking through the property, measuring rooms and building the quote themselves, since a separate estimator is rarely justified for a job of that size.

On larger new-build or commercial painting contracts, a painting business may have a dedicated estimator working from a builder’s drawings and specification and a head contractor’s program, rather than a physical walkthrough alone.

Either way, the same bottleneck applies: someone has to manually measure every wall, ceiling and opening before a rate can be applied, which is exactly the step My Trade Hub automates.