AI made simple for painters
Cutting in a ceiling.
Brush in hand.
Booked picks up.
Estimate calls come in while you're up the ladder. Booked answers in your company's name and puts the walkthrough on your calendar.
Free demo. No signup. The demo line is a sample plumbing shop. Yours answers as your business.
What your callers hear
Here’s how a call goes. Short, friendly, and the job ends up on the schedule.
- Gets the name, number and address
- Offers only your open windows
- Sends you the job the second it’s booked
An AI receptionist for painting contractors
Painting is an estimate business. The phone rings while you're cutting in a ceiling or halfway up an extension ladder, and the homeowner on the other end is calling three painters off the same search. The first one to set a time to come look usually gets the walkthrough, and the walkthrough is where the job is won.
Booked answers those calls in your company's name. It finds out what they want painted, gets their name, number and address, and books an estimate visit into one of the windows you've left open. You get a push alert and an email with the details before you've climbed down.
It won't price a job over the phone unless you tell it what to say. Most painters price after they see the walls, the trim and the prep, and Booked repeats whatever line you give it, like "estimates are free and take about 30 minutes." Commercial bids, jobs outside your area and anything you don't do become messages for you to return.
Painting calls, and what Booked does with each
Each caller is asked what they want painted, their name, a callback number and the property address with the city. What happens next depends on the kind of call.
Interior repaint estimates
EstimateThe most common call. Booked notes the rooms and anything the caller mentions, like vaulted ceilings, wallpaper to strip or a lot of furniture to move, then offers two of your open windows and books the one they pick.
Your settings: Leave open only the windows that fit around production days, like early morning before the crew starts or late afternoon after.
Exterior painting estimates
EstimateBooked books the walkthrough and records the details that change your number when the caller offers them: stories, siding type, peeling areas, and whether there's a locked gate or a dog in the yard.
Your settings: Add a line about what you don't take on, like three-story homes, so the caller hears it before a walkthrough is booked.
Cabinet painting and refinishing
EstimateCabinet callers often want a number on the spot. Booked repeats your pricing note, such as "cabinet jobs are priced per door after we see them," and books a visit so you can count doors and check the existing finish.
Your settings: Write the one sentence about cabinet pricing you'd say yourself, and nothing more specific than you'd stand behind.
Small jobs: touch-ups, one room, drywall patches
BookedIf you take small jobs, Booked books them straight into an open window like any service call. If you have a minimum, it states it word for word so nobody is surprised when you pull up.
Your settings: Put your minimum in your pricing note, like "our minimum is a half day," or leave small jobs off your list and get them as messages.
Repaints after a leak or a fire
EstimateBooked books an estimate and notes any insurance details the caller shares. Its urgent rules key on words, so a caller who mentions smoke or says it's an emergency gets flagged urgent, hears your safety step and is offered your soonest windows.
Your settings: Write a safety step that fits a painter, like "if water is still coming through the ceiling, call a plumber first; we paint once it's dry."
Commercial, HOA and property manager bids
MessageBid work usually needs you on the phone. Booked takes the caller's name, number and what they need bid, and sends it to you as a message instead of booking a residential walkthrough.
Your settings: If you do want these booked, list commercial estimates as their own service.
Past customers: touch-ups, warranty, complaints
MessageA customer calling about a spot you missed, or peeling on last year's job, becomes a message with their name, number and what they're seeing. Booked doesn't promise a return visit. You decide.
Your settings: If you stand behind your work for a set period, say so in your notes so past customers hear it right away.
The same words always get the same handling, and every call comes with a transcript you can read before you call anyone back.
The painting year, and when estimate calls pile up
Timing shifts with your climate, but these are the stretches when a missed estimate call hurts most.
- Late winter to spring
Exterior booking season
Homeowners start looking at peeling trim as soon as the weather turns, and many want a spot on your summer schedule. Estimate calls stack up weeks before you can paint outside, and the painters who walk jobs early fill their calendars first.
- Summer
Production crunch
Crews are on exteriors from early morning, you're driving between jobs, and the phone keeps ringing with estimates for later in the season. This is when calls go to voicemail most.
- Moving season
Move-outs and listing prep
Realtors and landlords want vacant homes and units painted fast, usually with a closing or move-in date attached. These callers rarely wait for a callback.
- Fall
Interiors before the holidays
Once exteriors wind down, people want living rooms, stairwells and guest rooms done before family visits. The window is short and the callers have a date in mind.
- Winter
Cabinets and slow-season fill
In cold markets exterior work stops, and cabinet refinishing, interiors and commercial repaints carry the calendar. The calls are fewer, which makes each one worth more.
What unbooked estimate calls can cost a painter
Painting jobs are won at the estimate, so count the estimate requests that never got a walkthrough. Look back at one busy month and put in your own numbers.
- Calls that went to voicemail in a busy month
- 10
- Say 6 were estimate requests that never got booked
- 6
- Say you close 1 in 3 estimates you actually walk
- 2 jobs
- Your average painting job (use yours)
- $2,500
- Lost that month
- $5,000
Over a six-month busy seasonabout $30,000
These are example numbers. Your close rate and average job decide the real figure. The math also leaves out the next room, next spring's exterior, and the neighbor who asks who painted the house.
Set up in 5 minutes
No tech skills needed. Hear your receptionist yourself before a single customer does.
- Keep your number
- Turn it off with one dial code
- No contract. Cancel anytime.
- Tell it about your businessServices, service area, hours, what to say about price.
- Forward your missed callsKeep your number. One dial code and unanswered calls roll to Booked. See the codes for your carrier.
- Get jobs on your phoneName, address, problem and arrival window, the second it’s booked.
One plan
$15 to activate, then
No contract. Cancel anytime.
Painting FAQ
Can Booked give painting estimates over the phone?
No. It only quotes the numbers you give it. It repeats the pricing line you write, like "we price every job after a free walkthrough," and then offers to book that walkthrough. If you've written a general range you're comfortable with, it reads that range and nothing else.
Can I keep estimate visits to certain times of day?
Yes. Booked only offers arrival windows you've left open, two at a time. If you want walkthroughs only before or after production hours, set your open windows that way and callers will only hear those times.
What does Booked ask someone who wants their house painted?
It asks what they want done, their name, the best number and the property address with the city, one question at a time. It also notes details they mention that affect your visit or your price, like a gate code, a dog, peeling on the south side or a tall two-story entry.
Will it book painting jobs or only estimates?
Whatever you list. Most painters let Booked book estimates, then schedule production themselves after the customer signs. If you take small jobs like a single room or touch-ups without a walkthrough, list those too and it books them into your open windows.
What about lead paint questions on older homes?
Booked only repeats what you write in your notes. If you're EPA RRP certified and want callers with pre-1978 homes to hear that, add it. It won't give lead-safe advice on its own, and a caller with detailed questions becomes a message for you to call back.
Does it work for a one-person painting company?
That's the painter it helps most: the owner who does the estimates, buys the paint and still cuts in the ceilings. It keeps the phone from pulling you off a wall, and you read the job details on your break instead of returning a pile of voicemails at night.
What happens with painting calls on weekends?
You pick how it runs after hours: keep booking into open windows, book only emergencies, or take messages for the morning. Many painters keep booking on, because weekends are when homeowners walk around the house and finally notice the trim.
Do I keep my number?
Yes. You forward calls you don’t pick up to your Booked line. Turn it off anytime with one dial code.
How long does my phone ring first?
Your phone rings first. On AT&T and T‑Mobile you pick 2, 3 or 5 rings. Verizon rings 4 to 6 times, or tap decline to send it to Booked right away. You can also have it answer every call.
Will customers know it’s AI?
It sounds natural and keeps it short. If someone asks, it tells them it’s the virtual receptionist. Honesty builds trust.
Painting business guides
Straight answers to the questions painters ask about pricing, hiring, calls and growth.
- How to price interior painting jobsHow to price interior painting jobs: the three common methods, a room-by-room worked example with labeled numbers, and the prep lines that protect your margin.
- How to price exterior painting jobsHow to price exterior painting: a table of what moves the hours (height, siding, prep, access), common ranges, and how weather and lead rules change a bid.
- How to qualify painting estimate requests on the phoneA phone script for painting estimate requests: the six questions that tell you whether a walkthrough is worth the drive, plus how to book it and what to skip.
From Booked Learn
- Painting in cold weather: how cold is too cold?How cold is too cold to paint outside? Check the label minimum and the wall's real temperature, and stop in time to beat the dew. Includes a sample fall day.
- Painting prep: the line items that protect your priceWhy a higher painting bid loses to a one-line quote, and the prep lines to spell out: wash, scrape, sand, prime, caulk, coats and the exact product.