Painting Estimating Software Built for Subbies
ContractorCounter is painting estimating software for painters and painting contractors who price their own work: take off quantities from the drawings, let the AI suggest rates you review, and send a priced quote — one browser workspace, on site or in the office.
Free account. No card required.
Exports and sharing require a paid plan or eligible card-required trial.
Explore the workspace
Your quantities. Your rates. Your quote.
Click any tool to take over. This is the real workspace.
Sample drawing · scripted AI responses · changes stay in this preview. Reset clears your changes.
Choose ContractorCounter if you are painters pricing your own jobs and you want takeoff, rates, and the quote in one place at US$14/month (or a US$249 one-time one-time license). Stay with a specialist estimating suite like PaintScout if your estimating depends on deep pre-loaded painting databases maintained for you — that depth is real, and we do not pretend to replace it.
01
What a painting estimate is made of here
The quantities come off the drawing, not a spreadsheet. Wall and ceiling areas measured as calibrated polygons per substrate and finish system; Doors, frames, and windows counted per item — each one a unit rate, not a guessed area; Trim — skirting, architrave, handrail — measured as lineal metres by profile; Prep carried as explicit lines where the spec calls it: sealing, patching, high-build on block; Coats and systems recorded per surface, so a two-coat and a three-coat wall never share a rate — each one measured or counted on the calibrated sheet, each one a line in a live Bill of Quantities that stays tied to the markup that produced it.
02
A worked example
A childcare repaint: floor plan and finishes schedule, calibrated against a dimensioned room. Wall polygons per room total 830 m² across two systems (low-sheen acrylic; epoxy to wet areas); ceilings add 310 m²; the AI counts 46 doors-and-frames and traces 260 m of skirting — you review the room-by-room marks and accept. The BoQ prices walls per m² by system, ceilings per m², doors per unit, trim per metre, prep as its own lines — a quote the client can read room by room, every number tied to a shape on the plan. Every number traces back to a markup on the sheet, so when the scope changes the estimate follows.
03
AI takes the first pass — you keep the judgement
The AI agent can count the repetitive items, measure runs, and set the drawing scale, with every result reviewed before it commits. Then the rate side: ask for a rate on "prepare and paint plasterboard walls, two coats low-sheen, per m²" and it proposes one with reasoning — interpretation, labour-and-material basis, your market — anchored to your existing painting rates. Never a bare number — a proposal you accept, revise, or dismiss.
04
Honest about PaintScout, Estimate Rocket, PlanSwift
PaintScout — residential repaint sales workflows with production rates and proposals tuned for US painting companies. Estimate Rocket — service-business quoting with follow-up automation more than drawing-based takeoff. PlanSwift — desktop plan takeoff with painting assemblies for offices already licensed. ContractorCounter wins on the other side of that trade-off: speed to a priced quote, working anywhere, and a price a painters outfit can carry (US$14/month) instead of an enterprise licence.
See whether it fits your next job.
Start with your own drawing and check the workflow.
Try the tools on a real drawing.
Explore the example below, or take over the workspace and try it yourself. No signup needed for this demo.
Questions about Painting estimating
Is this full painting estimating software or just takeoff?
Both halves, in one flow: measure and count on the calibrated drawings (the [painting takeoff](/construction-takeoff-software) side), then price the resulting Bill of Quantities with your own rates or AI-suggested ones, and issue the quote. What it is not: a pre-loaded painting cost database — your rates are yours.
Do the AI suggestions replace my painting rates?
No. Every AI count, measurement, and rate is a proposal you accept, revise, or dismiss — with the reasoning shown. Your painting rates stay yours; the AI removes the repetitive clicking, not the judgement about what a painting item is worth in your market.
What does painting estimating software cost compared to PaintScout?
US$14/month, or a US$249 one-time one-time license, with your first workspace free and no card required; exports and sharing need a paid plan or eligible card-required trial. Compare specialist painting suites like PaintScout, Estimate Rocket, PlanSwift if their maintained databases and assemblies are central to how you price. Here the focus is a small team working from its own rates.
Can it separate paint systems and coats?
Yes — measure each system's surfaces separately (colour-coded), and the bill carries a line per system with your rate for that build-up. A two-coat acrylic wall and a three-coat epoxy wall never blend, and the finishes schedule stays auditable against the drawing.