Daybook
Painting & decorating
Daybook runs a painting company end to end: measure the walls and pick the coats, and the quote works out the gallons and the painter hours from your own prices and hourly rate; a colour and sheen confirmation and a final walkthrough ride on every repaint, and the job does not close without them; FLHA forms, clock-in and photos come from the crew’s phones. Then the invoice, with GST/HST by province.
The rules the trade lives under
An interior, exterior, cabinet or new-construction job does not close without the wall colour and its code, the sheen, and whether the customer approved the colours.
An interior, exterior, cabinet or commercial job does not close without whether the walkthrough was done with the customer and whether the site was cleaned and the debris removed.
A quote signed at an Ontario client’s home shows them their right to cancel for 10 days, and their copy is emailed with the last day to cancel.
FLHA forms in the crew app, on Crew and up: the hazards, the controls, the conditions and the crew on site, filled in on the phone at the start of the day and filed on the job the moment they land.
Daybook names these so you can see where it helps. It is not a compliance product: it does not test for lead paint, check a product’s label or settle a deficiency. The sheets record what was agreed and what was done, the hazard assessment is yours to fill in, and your province has the last word.
Three things that go wrong
A repaint gets priced fast, by eye, and a number guessed on a Tuesday is the number you live with until the last coat is dry.
In Daybook Pick the job type, put in the wall area and the coats, and the quote builder works out the gallons and the painter hours from your own prices and hourly rate — with the margin beside the price on every line.
The customer said white. There are forty of them, in four sheens, and the argument starts when the second coat is on.
In Daybook The colour and sheen confirmation rides on the job: the wall colour and its code, the trim colour, the sheen, and whether the customer approved them, with room for their signature — and the job is not complete until it is filled in.
The job is done, except for the list — and the list grows by text message for three weeks.
In Daybook The final walkthrough is one sheet, done with the customer: the deficiencies and touch-ups written down, the site cleaned, the photographs after and their sign-off — and the job is not complete until it is answered.
The brief
A job is a week of emails, texts, notes and updates from the crew. Daybook files each one on the job it belongs to and writes the brief: the gate code, the deadline, what the customer asked for, what you owe them and what they owe you — rewritten whenever something new arrives.
The brief and the AssistantTexting comes with the top plan of every rate card (Company, for a trade), from a verified toll-free number of your own.
A real capture of a contractor’s job. Daybook wrote every line of this brief from the messages on the job; only the five teal labels are added. A camp gets the same brief on a booking, a property manager on a work order.
The gate code, pinned. Said once in an email, and now at the top of the job for the crew.
The deadline. What is time-sensitive, and by when.
What the customer asked for. Each request, with the message it came from.
What we owe, and the next step. One next step, and a button that starts it.
What the customer owes. So nobody chases the wrong person.
Real captures of a contractor’s job. Daybook wrote every line of this brief from the messages on the job. A camp gets the same brief on a booking, a property manager on a work order.
On top of everything Daybook does for every one of its 44 trades — the full list is here — painting gets its own tools: a paint takeoff in the quote builder, colour libraries from six paint brands, three painter’s sheets, and drafts, replies and job summaries that say cut in, coats, sheen, prime, and spray and back-roll the way a painter does.
The quote
Pick the job type — interior repaint, exterior repaint, cabinet refinishing, new construction, deck and fence stain, commercial — put in the areas and the coats, and the builder writes the lines: the paint by the gallon, the painter’s hours, the masking, the mobilization. No per-room spreadsheet, and every number yours to change before it goes out.
Colour
Colour libraries from Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr, Dulux, Cloverdale and Beauti-Tone: add a brand library and browse it by colour family, with your own colours and finishes alongside. On Company, the visualizer puts a colour on the customer’s own photo of their own house, and they pick from the swatch rail in their portal.
The request
Every request lands on one board with its job type — interior, exterior, cabinets, commercial — and one button: Schedule visit. Walk the rooms, measure, and build the quote on the job; when the customer approves it in their portal, the job is won and ready to schedule.
The paperwork
A pre-job site assessment for the walk before work begins. A colour and sheen confirmation for what was agreed. A final walkthrough with the touch-ups, the cleanup and the customer’s sign-off. The last two attach themselves to the right jobs, and will not let one close unfinished.
Safety on site
Pick the job and the address and the crew come with it; the day’s conditions, each task with its hazard and its control — submitted from the phone at the start of the day and on the job’s record the moment it lands. Then clock-in, checklists and photos, with no signal if it comes to that.
Getting paid
The invoice is raised off the quote the customer approved — all of it, the part that is finished, or the extra work approved on top. A reminder you set once does the following-up, with a Pay Now link; e-transfers are matched to their invoices for you to confirm. And when the job is finished, its page offers the warranty and closeout package and a review request.
The crew
Field seats are free and unlimited on Crew and Company, so every painter has the app: the day’s jobs, clock-in, the FLHA, the checklists, the photos — and the office sees it the moment it lands.
The economics
Most field-service software charges by the head, in another currency. Daybook charges the office seats, in Canadian dollars, and leaves the people holding the brushes alone.
| Workflow | Field-service platforms priced per user | Daybook |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | Often billed in US dollars — the exchange rate and your card’s foreign fee ride along. | Canadian dollars. Every plan, every add-on, printed on the pricing page. |
| The crew | Typically an extra monthly fee for every field user past the plan’s cap. | Field seats free and unlimited on Crew and Company — every painter gets the app. |
| Painting tools | A generic quote form; the takeoff lives in a spreadsheet. | A paint takeoff in the quote builder, colour libraries from six brands, three painter’s sheets, and a visualizer on Company. |
| Canadian tax and mileage | Usually an accounting add-on, or by hand. | GST/HST by province on every invoice, the Sales Tax report, a mileage log at your own rate, receipts read for you. |
| Your website | Usually a separate builder, or a designer. | A painting site template on every plan, with a colour-consultation page and a quote-request form that mints a real lead. |
Nothing here is a discount, and there is no setup fee.
Painting runs on the trades rate card — every plan the same app, the office seats counted and the crew free from Crew up. Solo $99 / Crew $249 / Company $449 a month CAD. Office seats included on every plan. Field seats are free and unlimited on Crew and Company. Crew and Company include selling online, and Company also includes your own domain and texting — a plan without them can add them.
Switching
There is no importer for another product’s export, and the page does not pretend there is. What there is gets a painting company running in an afternoon.
Upload a CSV or paste it in — names, phones, emails, addresses — and the clients are there. A QuickBooks client list imports straight across.
The painting price list is already labelled, from the painter’s hour to a gallon of primer. Type your own prices in — or, on Crew and up, scan a supplier invoice and the price book fills with your real costs.
The painting template is already written for the work, with a colour-consultation page — your photographs and your words go in, and the quote-request form drops leads straight into Daybook.
From what you measure. Put in the wall area and the coats and the quote builder works out the gallons and the painter hours; ceilings, trim by the linear foot, doors, cabinet doors and drawer fronts, siding and stain each have their own line. Every number is yours to change before the quote goes out.
An interior or exterior repaint and a cabinet job carry two sheets: the colour and sheen confirmation — the wall colour and its code, the sheen, whether the customer approved — and the final walkthrough — whether it was done with the customer, and whether the site was cleaned. New construction carries the first, commercial the second. They are yours to edit.
No. The colour libraries are for browsing and choosing — six brands, by colour family, with your own colours alongside. On Company, the visualizer shows a colour on the customer’s own photo of their house.
Yes. Scan a supplier invoice and the price book updates; put your own products alongside the library; set your own labour rates and markups. The quote builder prices from your numbers, not ours.
Nothing on Crew and Company — field seats are free and unlimited. The office seats are what is counted, and the pricing page prints exactly how many each plan includes.
Clock-in, checklists and photos work with no signal and file themselves when the signal returns. The office sees them the moment they land.
Your own numbers beat any feature list — start the trial, measure a room and let the takeoff price it.
14-day free trial · No credit card · Bring your client list