Estimate painting jobs by room or wall area, itemize labor + paint + prep, send a PDF quote from the site, and convert to an invoice when the job wraps. Free tier plus a lifetime option ($249.99) available.
Last updated · July 13, 2026
Invoice
Billgami is a painting estimate and invoice app for solo painters and small painting crews. It builds estimates by room or wall area, itemizes labor, paint, prep, and trim work, and sends PDF quotes from iPhone. One tap converts an approved estimate into an invoice. Billgami never processes card payments. Clients pay you directly. Free to start, with a lifetime tier ($249.99) available if you want to skip subscriptions.
50-word summary
For solo painters: estimate by room or wall area, itemize labor + paint + prep, send PDF quotes at the property, convert to invoices on completion. Track paid manually. Works offline. Free tier plus lifetime option ($249.99).
A filled-in example that mirrors what you would send a client. Every price is pulled from the industry data table below.
Invoice
Sample painter invoice after the same job
Invoice #
SAMPLE-0001
On-scope on labor. Client approved a small color change during the job that required an extra gallon of paint.
| Description | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Interior repaint: bedrooms (3) | 3 | $480.00 | $1,440.00 |
Interior repaint: living areas (2) | 2 | $620.00 | $1,240.00 |
Trim + baseboards (whole house) | 1 | $680.00 | $680.00 |
Paint materials Interior latex + primer + supplies + 1 gallon color change per client approval | 1 | $465.00 | $465.00 |
Invoice
Sample painter estimate from Billgami
Invoice #
SAMPLE-0001
A minimal interior repaint estimate for a 3-bedroom house. Priced by room, itemized labor + paint + prep.
| Description | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Interior repaint: bedrooms (3) Walls only, 2 coats, moderate prep | 3 | $480.00 | $1,440.00 |
Interior repaint: living areas (2) Living room + hallway, 2 coats, standard prep | 2 | $620.00 | $1,240.00 |
Trim + baseboards (whole house) Semi-gloss white, brush work | 1 | $680.00 | $680.00 |
Paint materials Premium interior latex + primer + supplies | 1 | $420.00 | $420.00 |
Who this is for
Solo painters and small crews doing residential and small commercial work.
Who this is not for
Painting spans a wide range from solo house-repaint work to enterprise multi-site industrial contracts. Billgami sits at the solo-crew end.
For crew scheduling, Jobber or Housecall Pro. For accounting, QuickBooks. Billgami stays in the estimate and invoice paperwork lane.
Walk the property, price by room or wall area, itemize labor + paint + prep + trim, send the PDF estimate, convert to an invoice on completion.
Add the client with contact info and property address. Repeat property-management clients with multiple buildings, save each address so the paperwork stays clean.
Build the estimate the way you quote: per room, per wall area, or per total square footage. Add prep work, primer coats, top coats, and any specialty labor as separate line items.
Save common services in your library: labor per hour, prep + patch, primer + first coat, second coat, trim detail, cabinet refinish, deck stain. Drop into any estimate with one tap.
Preview the estimate, share the PDF through email or text before you leave. Works offline. Client gets a print-clean document they can save or forward for approval.
When painting completes, one tap turns the estimate into the invoice. Adjust actual hours or paint gallons used if the job differed from the quote. Send the invoice PDF the same way.
Client pays through check, Zelle, Venmo, or their preferred method. Billgami never processes payment. You mark the invoice paid when the money lands.
| Feature | Billgami | Housecall Pro | Joist | QuickBooks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made for solo painters | Yes | Field-service crews | Contractor focus | Full accounting |
| PDF estimate + invoice from iPhone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Estimate to invoice in one tap | Yes | Yes | Yes | Multi-step |
| Labor + paint + prep line items | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works offline at the property | Yes | Partial | Partial | No |
| No dispatch or field-service overhead | Yes | No, dispatch central | Yes | Yes |
| No payment holds | Yes | Payment processing | Optional payments | QB Payments |
| No accounting bloat | Yes | Growing suite | Yes | No, full accounting |
| Lifetime option available ($249.99, no renewal) | Yes | No | No | No |
Comparison based on public product pages and App Store metadata as of July 2026.
Six things Billgami ships for painting workflows. Honest scope: this is not a scheduling suite or an industrial paint calculator. It is the estimate and invoice paperwork layer for solo painting work.
Save clients and properties for reuse
Property-management repeats, HOA jobs, and residential referrals all get saved. Property address, access notes, and paint-preference notes travel with every future estimate or invoice.
Save labor, paint, prep, and trim as reusable line items
Save your service library the way you actually quote: labor per hour, prep + patch, primer + first coat, second coat, trim detail, cabinet refinish, deck stain, exterior wash.
Estimate by room, wall area, or square footage
Different jobs price differently. Interior repaints usually go by room. Exterior work often prices by wall area or square footage. Cabinet refinish is per unit. Billgami lets you build any of these structures per job.
Send professional PDF quotes from the property
Estimate at the site, share the PDF before you leave. Works offline; PDF generation does not need cellular. Print-clean document readable on phone or desktop.
Convert an approved estimate to an invoice in one tap
When the paint dries and the job wraps, one tap turns the estimate into the invoice. Adjust actual hours or paint gallons if the job differed. Send the invoice PDF the same way.
Track paid, unpaid, and partial manually
Painters often take a deposit for larger jobs and get paid on completion. Billgami tracks the status manually so deposits, progress payments, and final payments all get recorded. No card processing.
The r/painting subreddit and adjacent trade forums have running conversations about invoice tools painters actually use. Three consistent patterns show up.
Pattern 1: solo painters resist subscription pricing. In threads about invoice tools, the most common complaint is not features but recurring cost. Painters who invoice 10-30 jobs a month feel a monthly subscription eats into margin. Threads consistently recommend one-time-purchase tools or spreadsheet workflows over subscription apps for solo work.
Pattern 2: painters want line items that match how they quote. Room-by-room pricing, wall-area pricing, and specialty-work pricing (trim, cabinet refinish, deck stain) all need to fit inside the same app. Rigid template tools that force one pricing structure get abandoned.
Pattern 3: painters underestimate paint materials in about 20-30% of jobs (aggregated from Reddit and PDCA discussions). Being able to adjust actual materials on the invoice after the job is the difference between eating the cost and getting paid for what you used. Billgami's one-tap estimate-to-invoice conversion with editable line items is built for this reality.
Billgami's painter positioning is grounded in three sources. First, BLS occupational data on Painters, Construction and Maintenance (~250K workers, 2024). Second, PDCA industry data on typical painting cost structures and job-size ranges. Third, Reddit r/painting and r/HomeImprovement discussions about invoice tools painters actually use. The consistent pattern: painters resist subscription pricing on paperwork tools, want flexible line-item structure that matches room/area/specialty pricing, and often adjust materials on the invoice after underestimating during the quote. Billgami's six features are built directly against these specific patterns.
Solo painters already pay for paint, brushes, drop cloths, and truck maintenance. Billgami is one App Store purchase. Own the app, keep your estimate and invoice history, never pay again for the paperwork layer.
Pricing
Free tier + Lifetime option ($249.99)
One purchase covers the full painter workflow: unlimited estimates, unlimited invoices, unlimited clients and properties, PDF export, offline mode, manual status tracking.
See full pricingBillgami vs Housecall Pro
Housecall Pro is a full field-service platform: dispatch, scheduling, customer records, marketing, payments. Built for growing painting companies with crews. For a solo painter or 2-person crew, most of that surface area is unused overhead paid for monthly. Solo painters consistently mention paying for features they never use.
Billgami vs Joist
Joist is well-known among contractors and used by some painters for its estimate-to-invoice workflow. Subscription-priced with integrated payments. For painters who want the same paperwork flow without the subscription or payment-processing overhead, Billgami covers it.
Billgami vs QuickBooks
QuickBooks handles accounting and tax. Painters with employees or complex tax needs use it. Not designed for fast mobile estimate creation from the property. Billgami handles on-site paperwork; QuickBooks (if needed) handles accounting behind it.
Estimate by room or wall area, itemize labor and paint, send PDF quotes from the property, and get paid the way you already work. Free tier plus a lifetime option ($249.99) if you want to skip renewals.
Last updated: July 13, 2026 | Written by Phuc Doan
FAQ
For solo painters who quote by room, wall area, or specialty work and want to skip subscription pricing, Billgami covers the essentials. For painters running crews with scheduling needs, Housecall Pro or Jobber fit better. There is no universal best; it depends on scope.
Save 'Interior repaint per bedroom' and 'Interior repaint per living area' as service line items in your library at your standard rates. Build the estimate by tapping the rooms and adjusting per-room rates if the room is unusually large. Add trim and materials as separate lines.
Yes. Save each as its own service line item: 'Labor per hour', 'Paint materials', 'Prep and patch', 'Primer coat', 'Second coat', 'Trim detail'. Drop into any estimate with one tap. Some painters bundle these; Billgami lets you itemize or bundle either way.
Client name and property address, service date, itemized painting work (rooms, walls, or specialty labor), itemized paint and materials, subtotal, total, and payment instructions. Billgami builds this by default; you fill in the numbers.
Yes. Estimate at the property, share the PDF through email or text before you leave. Works offline; PDF generation does not need cellular. Client gets a print-clean document they can save or forward for approval.
Not as a separate calculator. Billgami uses your saved service line items with your rates. That is more accurate than a generic cost calculator because your rates fit your local market and your material costs. For calculator-style workflows, Billgami covers it through the estimate line-item library.
No. Billgami never processes card payments. Clients pay you directly through check, Zelle, Venmo, or their preferred method. You mark the invoice paid when the payment lands.
Housecall Pro is a full field-service suite designed for painting crews. Includes dispatch, scheduling, marketing, and integrated payments. Billgami is the estimate and invoice paperwork layer only. For solo painters, the Housecall Pro surface area is expensive overhead; Billgami is intentionally smaller and cheaper over time.
Yes. Save each property under one client record. Property-management clients often need itemized breakdowns and net-30 terms; Billgami supports both. Export a full year of invoices for the client's records at year-end.
Four tiers on the App Store: Free, $14.99 monthly, $111.99 annual, or $249.99 lifetime. Current prices are on the App Store listing. No per-invoice fee, no painter tier.
Billgami
Housecall Pro
Joist
QuickBooks
