MakeHay
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For exterior painting contractors

Exterior painting software that's actually free

Paint has rules: 50°F and climbing, and no rain before it cures. Break them and you're re-coating a wall for free. MakeHay reads the forecast for every job so you're not gambling a topcoat on a radar app, and it costs $0.

Start free, no card required

Free forever. No credit card. Set up in minutes.

Exterior painting work in progress

Free forever. No monthly plan, no seat fees, no trial clock.

Built for exterior painting

What a painting contractor gets, for $0.

  • Square foot or per side

    Siding per square foot, trim per linear foot, doors each, prep and primer as their own lines.

    Quoting

  • Coat packages

    One coat, two coats, and two coats plus trim and doors as three tiers on one quote.

    Quoting

  • Paint day and cure day

    A painting rule checks rain the day of and the day after, and the high against your minimum.

    Scheduling

  • Deposits and draws

    A deposit at approval that credits automatically; draws as progress invoices and the balance on the final invoice, each with a pay link.

    Invoicing & payments

  • Change orders

    The garage door added mid-job goes on the invoice as its own labeled section.

    Invoicing & payments

  • Per-house forecasts

    Two or three repaints a week, each with its own forecast, sequenced on one calendar.

    Scheduling

  • Photos from the ladder

    Send photos of the prepped siding; the homeowner gets an email and a portal gallery.

    Customers & portal

  • Visit reminders

    The day-before reminder goes out automatically; edit its wording to ask for cars moved and gates unlocked.

    Automations

What changes with MakeHay

Quote, schedule, get paid, come back.

Schedule around the weather, not despite it

Most exterior coatings want 50°F and rising, a dry surface, and hours of cure time before rain lands on them. MakeHay checks the forecast for each job's address and flags the days that break the rules (rain on the schedule, temps below the window), so you sequence sides and jobs around the sky instead of betting a finish coat against it.

  • Rain warnings for the job day and the cure hours after
  • Low-temperature flags when the day won't clear paint's minimums
  • Per-address forecasts for sequencing multi-day repaints
Two weeks of an exterior painter's MakeHay calendar with eight days of forecast: green days with low rain chances, a red 72% rain day and the red day before it, a rain flag on the visit booked on each red day, and more visits booked through the second week.
Step 1

Quote it before you leave the site

Measure the walls, price by the square foot or by the side, line-item the prep and primer, and put one coat and two coats side by side as packages. Email the quote from the driveway while the homeowner's still standing there, one tap and it's approved.

A MakeHay painting quote with its packages side by side, One coat at $3,583.50 and Two coats at $4,818.50 marked recommended, above the first line: 110 sq ft of primer on bare and patched wood, in all packages.
Step 2

Get paid without chasing

Deposit by card at approval, balance at the final walkthrough as a pay link the homeowner settles by card or bank transfer. Automatic reminders chase the balance so you never have to make that call twice.

An exterior painting invoice as the customer sees it: 1,640 sq ft of siding at two coats, 360 linear feet of trim and fascia, a front door and three pairs of shutters, and 90 sq ft of primer where bare, the balance due, and a Pay online button.
Step 3

Keep every customer for the re-do

Exteriors come due again: the sun side fades first, trim peels early, and decks want re-staining long before the full repaint. With every job's surfaces and history saved, the follow-up work lands with you instead of the next door-hanger.

A homeowner in MakeHay with the Jobs tab open: lifetime value, a scheduled rental deck stain, and three completed painting and deck staining jobs with their amounts.
Step 4

Give every customer a portal

One private link per customer: messages with photos, documents you request, a heads-up on any contract waiting for their e-signature, and invoices they pay. No app, no password, free.

A job update in the customer's MakeHay portal: the note on a finished exterior repaint of the siding and trim, and photos of peeling siding and window trim before the work, a painter with an extension pole at the porch eave, and freshly painted siding and window trim.

Want a website too? Our team of experienced web developers builds one from your account: a page per service in your price book, a page per town you serve, your photos, and your request form as the contact page, so every lead lands in Requests. Optional, $197 a month, your domain free for the first year. See the Website add-on

Set up in ten minutes

What a exterior painting business puts in on day one.

A starting point that matches how the trade bids and runs. Every item, rule, and follow-up is yours to rename, reprice, or switch off.

Price book

  • Siding, two coatsper sq ft
  • Trim and fasciaper linear ft
  • Doors and shutterseach
  • Power wash and prepflat
  • Primer where bareper sq ft
  • Deck stainper sq ft

Weather rules

  • Painting: rain under 20% the day of and the day after, high above 50°F
  • Staining: rain under 20% with a dry day after
  • Prep and wash days: rain under 60%, since scraping can take a drizzle

Follow-ups that run themselves

  • Quote follow-up three days after an unanswered estimate
  • Visit reminder the day before, so cars are moved and gates unlocked
  • Overdue reminders on the last draw, then a review request when it's paid

The honest math

Compare the bill, not the brochure.

MakeHay

$0/mo

Free is the plan, not a trial of one

  • Every feature, every user, from day one
  • No per-seat pricing, no feature gates
  • No credit card to sign up, nothing to cancel

The usual field-service subscription

$29 to 399/mo

plus per-user fees on top

  • Per-seat pricing that climbs as your crew grows
  • The features you actually need gated to higher tiers
  • An annual bill whether it rained all month or not

FAQ

Exterior painting questions, answered straight.

Is it really free for painting contractors?

Yes. Unlimited customers, quotes, scheduling, and invoices, free forever, not a trial. No monthly plan, no seat fees, and no credit card to start.

What's the catch for an exterior painting business?

No catch. Software features cost us almost nothing to run, so they're free. Card and ACH payments taken online carry processing costs, as they would with any provider.

Does it know when it's too cold or wet to paint?

Yes. Every scheduled job carries the National Weather Service forecast for its own address, and the calendar flags rain and low temperatures against your painting days, so you move the topcoat before the weather moves it for you.

Can a painting company take its data if it leaves?

It's yours. Ask and we'll export everything (customers, jobs, quotes, invoices, payment history) and we delete what's left as laid out in our privacy policy.

Do I need a credit card to start quoting paint jobs?

No. Sign up with an email and send your first painting quote the same day. No trial clock, no upsell ladder.

See every trade we build for on the industries page, browse the full feature list, check pricing (it's free), or measure your next job on the free satellite measurement tool, no account needed.

Paint on the good days. Pay $0 on all of them.

Square-foot quoting, cure-safe scheduling, and online deposits and draws for exterior painters. Free forever.

Start free, no card required

Free forever. No credit card. Set up in minutes.