Trade Guides
The Painter's Guide to AI
Twelve pages for Australian painters on missed calls, unchased quotes, live-priced materials and the texts that fix them. Free.
A painter who quotes eight jobs a week and wins two isn't cheap enough or dear enough. He just never sent the second message.
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Where your week goes
| The job that isn't the job | What it actually looks like | Hours a week |
|---|---|---|
| Quoting | Drive out, measure, count doors and windows, write it up, send it, silence | 5 hrs |
| Missed and returned calls | Roller in hand, on a plank, phone in the other room | 2.5 hrs |
| Colour and product questions | Can you send me the colours again, is it washable, how many coats | 1.5 hrs |
| Scheduling | Job runs long, the next one moves, ring everyone | 1.5 hrs |
| Invoicing and chasing | Sent late, chased twice, paid eventually | 1.5 hrs |
| Customer updates | Which room today, can I use the kitchen, when are you done | 1 hr |
| Marketing you meant to do | Before-and-afters that would win jobs, unposted | 0.5 hrs |
| Time you are not billing | 13.5 hrs |
That's 648 hrs a year, or $27,540 at $85/hr if only half those admin hours became billable time.
These are estimates for a typical 1 to 8 person painter business, not a measurement of yours. Put your own numbers in. Most owners who do this find they were guessing low.
A painter who quotes eight jobs a week and wins two isn't cheap enough or dear enough. He just never sent the second message.
The short version, if you read nothing else
- You're losing more jobs to a missed call than to a competitor. Switch on missed-call text-back today. It's the cheapest thing in the guide and the biggest.
- The quote you never chased was the job you already paid for. Three follow-ups, written once, sent automatically.
- Price the materials off today's prices, put a validity date on the quote, and stop paying for the difference yourself.
- Your job photos are your marketing. One a day, posted on Friday in 20 minutes. Suburb in the caption.
- Your past customers are your quiet months. A message on the right date, in your name, sent for you.
- AI does the admin. It doesn't do the trade, the judgement or the cashflow. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.
The painter who won the job wasn't cheaper. He sent the quote Tuesday and the follow-up Thursday.
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Twelve pages, written for Australian painters. Free.