Most painting estimate software on the market is primarily made for larger paint contracting companies rather than for small or micro businesses that employ fewer than 10 people. The operational needs of micro businesses are often overlooked due to the fact that they typically don’t have the budget of larger businesses. The lack of affordable software options can lead small business owners to believe that software isn’t needed for the scale of work they provide. As a business owner, perhaps you have even decided that the immediate primary need is to build the business, then look for quality software after further growth.
But is this perception of software still true? Are there affordable estimation and invoicing software options for small businesses that would greatly benefit your business as you grow? The truth is, there is painting estimate software out there, such as Project 2 Payment, that can help your small business succeed and grow without large subscription costs.
How Does Painting Estimate Software Help Your Business?
According to Moneyunder30.com, all you need to start a home painting business is a website, painting supplies, transportation, a business license, and liability insurance. That sounds easy enough, but maybe we should consider adding painting estimate software to that list. Remember the old saying, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well”? Painting estimate software will help your micro business do things well in the following ways:
1. Streamline and organize information.
Using a paper-only system for payments and invoices and tracking projects in a spreadsheet increases the amount of time it takes to process paperwork, payments, and reporting. While at first you might think this option is cheaper and easier than learning a new software tool, in the long run, it ends up costing you and your business more time and money since a manual process requires more maintenance, leaving less time for revenue-producing activities.
The right software will include a way for you to track customers, projects, estimates, and payments digitally within a single, easy-to-use tool. Even if you’re in the field, you can pull up the software on your phone through a web portal or app to see your current project’s estimate or create a new project estimate. It may seem like a small thing, but being able to easily search and find customer and project data when you’re on the go or short on time will make you glad you ditched your paper folders and filing system.
2. Fast and professional communication.
Maybe you’ve put in the effort to make your paper or manually generated estimates and invoices look professional, but without software, that process is not fast. When your business relies on manual processes, you’re likely slower to get bids out which could result in lost work. It’s also a more labor-intensive workflow to manually track project data in excel, draft up a bid and email that bid to client, which means you’re losing out on time you could be spending in the field or at home with your family.
With the right software, flexible, line-itemized quotes are easy to create and track, and they can be sent to customers with the click of a button. Your branding would still be on the estimate and invoice, and everything would arrive in your customer’s inbox from your email address. In this case, you just saved yourself a ton of time while everything appears fast and professional to the customer – which tells them you are serious about providing quality service.
3. Increase cash flow.
With increased demand and short supply of labor, small and micro business owners are forced to choose between spending less time in the field or less time on the business. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, it’s likely you have prioritized revenue-producing activities. This works well until it becomes difficult to keep up with day-to-day business tasks like bidding, billing, and admin – leading to missed project opportunities, reduced cash flow, and customer experience issues.
Software can shorten the time to payment and increase cash flow simply by creating efficiencies. Full or partial invoices can be sent at any point during the project. Skip the drive to the bank or even the time it takes to take a picture of the check to deposit by allowing your customers to pay for your services online, conveniently and securely. Easily and quickly respond to customer inquiries and exceed customer expectations using software that ties together customer records with estimates, invoices, and payments so you never have to worry about forgetting where you left off.
Painting Estimate Software Built for Micro Businesses
Project 2 Payment is specifically built for small and micro contracting businesses, like your paint business. It provides what you need to organize estimates, invoices, and payments without a hefty price tag. Project 2 Payment is an all-in-one software tool ready to manage projects from creation to payment. Once you switch, you’ll notice how much less time you spend on bidding, billing, and reporting, which means you have more time for revenue-producing activities in the field.
Ready to start saving time and money while offering customers a seamless customer experience with more convenient ways to pay?
