How painters normally break the money out
A painter's invoice is usually a price per room or per square foot, prep work priced separately, and paint and sundries either supplied by you or by the customer. Keeping those apart is what stops the customer asking what the total covered.
Step by step
- 1Describe the scope by surface, not by feeling: walls, ceilings, trim, doors, number of coats. "Repaint upstairs" leaves every argument open.
- 2Price prep separately — patching, sanding, caulking, priming. Prep is where the hours go and where customers assume there were none.
- 3Say who supplies the paint. If you do, list product, finish and quantity; if they do, note it so a paint failure is not laid at your door.
- 4For pre-1978 homes, note your lead-safe practices on the invoice. It costs you a line and it documents that the work was done properly.
- 5Bill deposits and progress payments against the same numbered invoice series, and close with a final balance line so the customer can see what is left.
When to send it
A deposit at booking on larger jobs, progress billing weekly on anything running more than a week, and the balance on walkthrough sign-off.
Do the walkthrough with the customer and collect the balance while the work is in front of them. Punch-list items should be a short dated list, not a reason to withhold the whole balance.
Common questions
- Per room or per square foot?
- Per room reads better to homeowners, per square foot reads better to builders and property managers. Show the basis you used either way.
- Should I take a deposit?
- On material-heavy jobs, yes — enough to cover the paint. Some states cap deposits on home improvement contracts, so check your own.
- How many coats should the invoice say?
- Exactly what you did, per surface. Coat count is the most common source of painting disputes.
Make it in the browser instead
Fill in the job, download the PDF. Free, unlimited, no account. Already set up for painting work in US dollars.
Open the free painter invoice generator