Measure the walls, say the coats, and the quote rolls itself into Xero. Speak the wall and ceiling area, the prep, the number of coats, the paint, and your labour into a voice memo, and FlowSpec drafts a priced quote into Xero in about 30 seconds, every line at your own Xero sell prices. Area and coats both come through clean.
See a spoken job become a priced Xero draft in about 30 seconds.
The Painter Quoting Squeeze
A repaint carries prep, coats, paint, and labour spread across every room, and pricing it the old way means a second shift after dinner. Here is the squeeze, and the way out.
You walk the rooms and measure the wall and ceiling area, note the prep each surface needs, count the coats, then drive home and turn it all into a quote. The walls go in by square metre, the ceilings by square metre, the prep as its own line, then a coat of undercoat and the top coats over the top, the paint by the litre, and your labour to finish. By the time you have keyed each line into a spreadsheet or into Xero by hand and checked your margin, the evening is gone and the homeowner is still waiting.
Speed wins the job. The painter who gets a clear, priced quote back the same afternoon is the one who books the repaint. FlowSpec hands you that speed. Say the takeoff into your phone before you leave site, and the quote is sitting in Xero as a draft by the time you reach the ute. Your evening stays yours, and the homeowner has a number while the colour chat is still fresh.
Every line carries your own Xero sell price, so the quote that lands holds your margin on the paint and your hourly rate. FlowSpec is purpose-built for Australian trades, and it fits the way painters actually call out an area and a coat. Chippies on Xero quote the same way over on the carpenter quoting software page, and the wider Xero flow is on the voice quoting for Xero in Australia page.
Area And Coats
A painting takeoff runs on square metres and on the coats you put over them. FlowSpec keeps each part where it belongs.
Walls and ceilings read naturally by area. Say 96 square metres of wall and 42 square metres of ceiling and FlowSpec carries each figure against your matching Xero item at your own rate per square metre. Walls and ceilings stay on their own lines, so a low-sheen wall area and a flat ceiling area come through separately, each priced the way you quote it. Trim and skirting ride along by the lineal metre when you call them out.
Wash and sand, fill and patch, a coat of sealer or undercoat, then the top coats. Each one is its own line. Say the prep and FlowSpec puts it on at your prep rate over the area you measured, then each coat carries that same area at your coat rate. A two-coat repaint over patched walls comes through with the prep, the undercoat, and both finish coats itemised, so the homeowner sees the work and you hold your margin on every step.
Paint goes in by the litre or the can, masking and drop sheets by the roll or the pack, and your labour by the hour. Whatever unit you keep on the item in Xero is the unit FlowSpec quotes on. Weighing FlowSpec against other tools? The comparison hub lines the spoken Xero quote up against the rest.
A Worked Repaint
Here is a real interior repaint, spoken on site and rolled into Xero. Three bedrooms, wall and ceiling area, prep, two coats, paint, and labour, all in one go.
Said in one breath, walking back to the ute. About 30 seconds of talking.
Seven lines, wall and ceiling area, prep and coats, paint and labour, and your margin on every row, drafted into Xero as a real quote you open and send. The walls and ceilings came through as area, the prep and the coats came through as their own lines, and the paint and labour came through by litre and by hour. You measured the walls, said the coats, and the quote rolled itself in.
Your Xero Price List
FlowSpec reads the items you have in Xero and turns them into the price list it quotes from. Your numbers, kept in one place.
Your per-square-metre rates for prep, undercoat, and top coats, your wall and ceiling rates, your paint by the litre, your masking and sheeting, and your labour rate already live in Xero as items with your own sell prices. FlowSpec syncs them in as the price list it quotes from. Set up once, and your catalogue is ready to speak against.
Say “two top coats of low-sheen” or “ceiling white” and FlowSpec matches the words to the right Xero item and the right unit. It reads painting terms like prep, undercoat, sealer, top coat, low-sheen, gloss, semi-gloss, ceiling white, cutting in, and skirting, and it learns the names you use as you go.
Each matched line carries your own Xero sell price, so the rate you set on a square metre of two-coat work is the rate on the page. Update a price in Xero and the next quote picks it up. Your cost-and-margin maths stays in Xero where you already run it, and the quote shows the homeowner your sell number.
FAQ
For a painter who runs Xero, FlowSpec is built for the job. You measure the walls and say the coats, and FlowSpec drafts the quote into Xero, priced from your own Xero items, with the client matched or created, account codes set, and tax types applied. It handles painting takeoffs spoken by square metre of wall and ceiling, by prep and number of coats, with paint and labour priced by area, and it learns how you phrase your jobs over time. A handful of voice-quoting apps have appeared, and FlowSpec is the one that lives inside the Xero you already run and quotes from your own sell prices.
Yes. Say the area the way you measure it. Square metres of wall, square metres of ceiling, lineal metres of trim and skirting, and FlowSpec carries each figure as the quantity against your matching Xero item at your own sell rate per square metre. A 48 square metre wall area and a 32 square metre ceiling sit as separate lines on the same quote, each at the rate you price them on, so the area you spoke is the area that lands in Xero.
Yes. Say the prep and the coats and FlowSpec reads them as their own lines. Wash and sand, fill and patch, a coat of sealer or undercoat, then two top coats over the wall and ceiling area you measured. Prep goes on as its own line at your prep rate, and each coat carries the area it covers at your coat rate, so a two-coat repaint over patched walls comes through with the prep, the undercoat, and both finish coats all itemised the way you quote them.
Yes, and Xero is the heart of it. FlowSpec drafts the quote straight into your Xero account as a real draft quote, with line items, the client matched or created, account codes, and tax types already set. It syncs your Xero items in as your price list, so every quote uses your own numbers. You will need a Xero subscription to use FlowSpec.
Yes. FlowSpec prices every line from your own Xero items, which means your own sell prices, the ones you have already set. When you update an item in Xero, FlowSpec picks up the change. So a repaint comes out at your margin, with the prep, the undercoat, the finish coats, the paint, and your labour rate all at the numbers you quote on.
Lining FlowSpec up against other tools? Browse the full comparison hub to see how the spoken Xero quote sits beside the rest.
FlowSpec is the clear pick for painters who quote on Xero. Speak the job by area and coats, and the priced draft lands in your books ready to send.
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