Most of my cost is labor. How does that get onto a job?

As labor entries confirmed to the job at the burdened hourly rate, split between prep and paint if you want to see where the hours went. The labor burden calculator finds the rate; Obra does not run a time clock.

The crew buys paint on my store account. Do I still need receipts?

Yes, and the store's emailed invoice is the receipt: forward it and Obra reads it into a draft on the job. Splitting one invoice across jobs takes seconds when confirming.

Does Obra estimate by square foot?

No. Estimate however you do today; Obra records what the job was sold for, what it cost, what was collected, and where the margin landed.

We do a lot of small jobs. Is a project per job too much?

A project takes a minute to open, and the Free plan covers one active job at a time. Painters running many small jobs usually move to Pro so each one keeps its own margin.

Obra for Painting contractors

Job costing for painting contractors: labor is the job, and the receipts are the rest

Expense tracking for painting contractors, where labor is most of the cost and the margin hides in prep hours, extra coats and product upgrades. Sample budget and codes.

Start free See the sample budget

Painting is a labor business with some material attached. On a typical interior repaint, wages are half or more of the cost, the paint is a fifth, and the margin is decided by hours: the prep the walkthrough missed, the extra coat the color needed, the hallway the client mentioned in passing. None of those show up on a receipt. They show up, or don't, on the job's ledger.

Obra records labor on each job at its burdened rate, split between prep and paint if you want the detail, and treats every extra as a change order the day it's asked for. Paint-store invoices arrive by email and are read into drafts; sundries bought at the counter arrive by WhatsApp photo. The page shows each job's expected margin while there's still a wall to negotiate over.

The rate that decides everything

A painter paid $24 an hour costs the business closer to $35 once taxes, insurance, downtime and the truck are counted. Bidding at $24 is the most common way a painting company underprices itself. The labor burden calculator finds the real number in a few minutes, and Obra uses it for every labor entry, so the margin on the page is the one the bank sees.

Prep is a change order waiting to happen

The walkthrough said "good condition." The walls said otherwise. Two extra days of prep on a $14,200 job is $1,200 of labor. Written up as a change order on the first morning, with a photo of the nail pops, it's billable; discovered by the client in the invoice at the end, it's an argument. The change order guide takes five minutes and can be sent from the driveway.

Many small jobs, one honest picture

Painting companies run dozens of jobs a year, and the temptation is to track them in one pile. The pile hides the losers. A project per job, with the same six cost codes on each, takes a minute to open and shows, at year end, which kinds of work made money. The profit margins page has the benchmarks to hold the blend against.

What Obra isn't for a painter

Not an estimating tool, not a scheduler, not payroll. Obra is the money on each job, from the crew's receipts and hours, in English and Spanish, with exports the accountant can use.

Sample budget

Interior repaint, 2,400 sq ft, Oak Hollow

Line item	Budget
Paint and primer	$1,900
Sundries: tape, plastic, caulk, sandpaper	$450
Drywall repair materials	$300
Equipment: sprayer, ladders, lift	$350
Crew labor, prep	$2,600
Crew labor, paint	$4,300
Direct cost budget	$9,900
Contract value	$14,200
Gross margin budgeted	$4,300

Illustrative figures in US dollars for a fictional project; use them to see the shape of the budget, not to price a job.

The cost codes this trade actually uses

01 Paint and primer
02 Sundries and consumables
03 Repair materials
04 Equipment and rentals
05 Crew labor, prep
06 Crew labor, paint
07 Subcontract (drywall, wallpaper)
08 Vehicle and transport

The change orders that eat the margin

The prep the walls actually needed: Two coats of primer on a wall the walkthrough didn't reveal, skim coating, nail pops in every room. Prep hours are where painting jobs bleed, and they're billable only if they're written up before the finish coat.
The product upgrade: The client chooses the premium line at $85 a gallon over the $48 bid. Thirty gallons is $1,100 and a change order, or it's a decision you paid for.
Rooms and ceilings added on site: "Can you do the hallway while you're here?" The hallway is four hours and two gallons. Recorded when asked, it's a change order; done as a favor, it's a favor.

Questions people ask

Most of my cost is labor. How does that get onto a job?: As labor entries confirmed to the job at the burdened hourly rate, split between prep and paint if you want to see where the hours went. The labor burden calculator finds the rate; Obra does not run a time clock.
The crew buys paint on my store account. Do I still need receipts?: Yes, and the store's emailed invoice is the receipt: forward it and Obra reads it into a draft on the job. Splitting one invoice across jobs takes seconds when confirming.
Does Obra estimate by square foot?: No. Estimate however you do today; Obra records what the job was sold for, what it cost, what was collected, and where the margin landed.
We do a lot of small jobs. Is a project per job too much?: A project takes a minute to open, and the Free plan covers one active job at a time. Painters running many small jobs usually move to Pro so each one keeps its own margin.

Free download

Not ready for an app? Start with our free Excel template.

A ready-made spreadsheet to track costs and income per project — with categories and the totals already set up.