How to Write a Painting Invoice: Deposits, Stages and Tax

A painting invoice should let the client check the job against the estimate they signed. That means listing the rooms or elevations, what prep was done, how many coats went on and what the paint was. "Interior painting: $3,135" invites a phone call. "Living room walls and ceiling, patch and sand, 2 coats eggshell" does not.

This guide covers what to put on the invoice, a worked single-visit invoice, a worked three-stage exterior job (with the California version), how sales tax changes the layout in Texas, and how lead-safe rules affect pre-1978 homes. Prices in the examples are made up to show the arithmetic. They are not market rates.

What should a painting invoice include?

Start with the basics every invoice needs: your business name and contact details, the client, an invoice number, the issue and due dates, line items, the total and how to pay. The how to write an invoice guide covers those. A painting invoice also needs:

• The job address, if it differs from the billing address. Property managers and landlords pay for many addresses.
• One line per room, elevation or surface type. Walls, ceilings, trim and doors are priced differently, so split them.
• The prep level on each line: wash, scrape, sand, caulk, spot-prime, patch. Prep is most of the labour and the part clients forget.
• Coats and sheen, for example "2 coats, eggshell". If the surface needed a third coat or a stain-blocking primer, say why ("water stain, approved by text 14 May").
• The paint product when the client chose it or paid for an upgrade. Naming the product line protects you if they later claim you used a cheaper paint.
• Materials either included in each line (say "materials included") or on their own line. Whichever you choose, match the estimate.
• Change orders as separate lines, with who approved them and when.
• The estimate or contract number, so the client's paperwork lines up.

California's contractor board advises homeowners to expect the contractor's licence number and address in a home improvement contract, and to get every change order in writing (Contractors State License Board consumer guide). Repeating the licence number on the invoice costs nothing and answers the first question a cautious homeowner asks.

Worked example: a three-room interior repaint

Hypothetical example. A homeowner accepts estimate EST-0112 for a living room, a primary bedroom and six interior doors. During prep the painter finds a water stain on the living room ceiling and gets approval by text for a stain-blocking primer. The job is finished on 16 May and invoiced the same evening, due in 7 days.

Check: 1,150 + 780 + 510 + 180 + 95 + 420 = 3,135. The stain-blocker line is the one most likely to be questioned, so it carries the reason and the approval. The notes field lists the colours and products by room, which also gives the client a record for future touch-ups.

How do deposits and progress invoices work on a painting job?

For a job that runs more than a few days, send a separate invoice for each payment stage. Each invoice bills one stage of the contract. Its notes show the contract total, what has been paid and what remains. This keeps you from paying for weeks of labour and paint out of pocket, and each invoice asks for one clear amount.

Hypothetical example. An exterior repaint, contract C-218, priced at $9,200:

Outside California, the payment schedule is whatever your contract says. This contractor's terms are 30% at signing, 40% when prep and priming are complete and 30% after the final walkthrough. These are one contractor's terms, not a standard.

In California, a home improvement contract has two extra limits. The down payment cannot be more than $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less. Each later payment must be listed in the contract and cannot exceed the value of the work already completed or materials already delivered to the home. A licensee with a blanket performance and payment bond on file with the board is exempt from the down payment cap (CSLB consumer guide; CSLB contract and payment rules). The same $9,200 job, scheduled to fit those limits:

The California schedule shifts money to later in the job, so your paint order is funded by your own cash for longer. Price that in when you quote. The deposit invoicing guide and the progress billing guide cover deposit wording and cumulative billing in more depth.

California's minor work exemption from contractor licensing covers jobs up to $1,000 in total, and only if the job needs no permit and the person doing it employs no one. A painter with a helper, or quoting more than $1,000, needs a licence. Before 1 January 2025 the limit was $500 (CSLB industry bulletin 24-07, 31 December 2024).

Do painters charge sales tax?

It depends on the state and on what kind of property you painted. Texas is a useful example because the answer changes with the building type (Texas Comptroller publication 94-116, Real Property Repair and Remodeling):

Texas charges 6.25% state sales tax, and local jurisdictions can add up to 2%, for a combined maximum of 8.25% (Texas Comptroller, Sales and Use Tax). Worked example: a $6,000 dental office repaint at a site whose combined rate is 8.25% carries $495.00 of tax (6,000 × 0.0825), for a total of $6,495.00. The same $6,000 spent repainting a house under a lump-sum contract carries no tax line at all.

Other states draw these lines differently, so check your own state revenue department's guidance for contractors before you add a tax line. This section is general information, not legal or tax advice. Last reviewed: 27 October 2026.

What changes on pre-1978 homes?

Paid work that disturbs paint in a home, apartment or child-occupied facility built before 1978 falls under the US Environmental Protection Agency's Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule. The firm doing it must be EPA-certified, including sole proprietors. Jobs that disturb 6 square feet or less of paint per room inside, or 20 square feet or less outside, are excluded, but window replacement and demolition of painted surfaces are always covered (EPA, RRP Program: Contractors, updated 31 March 2026). The rule also has pre-renovation education requirements; EPA's pamphlet for owners and tenants is Renovate Right.

For the invoice, lead-safe containment, cleaning and verification take time, so price them on the estimate and show them as their own line ("Lead-safe work practices per EPA RRP: containment, cleaning, cleaning verification"). The client then understands why a 1960s house costs more to paint than a 1990s one of the same size.

How should change orders, colour changes and extra coats appear?

Put every change on its own line with the reason and the approval, and never fold it into a room price. Hypothetical example: after the first coat in the bedroom, the client asks for a darker colour. The change order, approved by email on 15 May, adds one extra coat of labour ($260.00) and 2 gallons of the new colour at $62.00 ($124.00), so $384.00 in total. On the final invoice it reads "Change order CO-1 (approved by email 15 May): colour change, primary bedroom, extra coat and 2 gal paint: $384.00".

Do the same for problems found on site: tannin bleed on cedar, failing caulk, or a third coat needed over a strong colour. A line that names the condition ties the extra charge to what you found, not to your own error. Weather days on exterior work are not a charge, but a note such as "2 rain days, schedule moved, no charge" explains a later finish date.

Can you invoice painting jobs in InvoiceQuickly?

Yes, with some limits worth knowing before you start.

Available now:

• Line items with quantity × unit price (up to 100 lines), notes and terms, on every plan. The Free plan includes 5 invoices and 5 clients; Pro is $9/month for unlimited invoices.
• Type or say what you did and an AI draft fills the client, lines and terms into the editor for you to check before saving. Free includes 3 AI drafts.
• One tax percentage and one discount percentage per invoice. Tax is added on top of the discounted subtotal.
• Recording full or partial payments (cash, check, card, bank transfer) and tracking the balance on every plan.
• On Pro: estimates the client can accept in their portal and convert to an invoice, email delivery, scheduled reminders before and after the due date, and Stripe or PayPal payment links using your own account.

How to enter stages: create one invoice per stage, with a single line such as "Stage 2 of 3, contract C-218: prep and priming complete" at the stage amount. Put the running totals in the notes ("Contract $9,200. Paid: $920 on INV-0041. This invoice: $3,180. Remaining after this invoice: $5,100."). Line amounts cannot be negative, so do not try to subtract a deposit as a line. You can also record a deposit as a partial payment against one full-price invoice, but the invoice PDF shows the total, recorded payments, applied credits and remaining balance. The Pro client portal also shows the payment record.

Pro includes projects and time tracking, with a timer or manual entries you can select for a reviewed draft invoice. It does not include a deposit or retainer balance, negative invoice lines, per-line tax, photo or document attachments on invoices, or AIA-style pay applications with retainage.

When is this setup not the right fit?

• Commercial jobs paid through AIA G702/G703 pay applications with retainage. The general contractor's billing format sets the layout, and InvoiceQuickly does not produce it. See the subcontractor invoicing guide for working with a GC's schedule.
• Texas residential separated contracts on a single invoice. You need tax on the materials line only, and InvoiceQuickly applies one tax rate to the whole invoice. Either quote lump-sum, or bill materials on a separate invoice with the tax rate set.
• Jobs where the client expects before-and-after photos attached to the invoice. Send them separately, because invoices cannot carry attachments.

Frequently asked questions

How do I charge for painting a house?

Most residential painters quote a fixed price per room or per job after measuring and assessing prep, and use hourly billing for touch-ups and small repairs. Whatever model you quote, the invoice should repeat it line for line, so the client can match each room or elevation to the estimate.

How much deposit can a painter ask for?

Outside any state limit, it is whatever your contract says. In California, a home improvement contract cannot take a down payment of more than $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less, unless you have a blanket performance and payment bond on file with the Contractors State License Board. Later payments cannot run ahead of the work done.

Should paint be a separate line on the invoice?

Itemise paint when the client chose the product or paid for an upgrade, or when your state taxes materials separately. Include it in each room price when you supply a standard product. Either way, match the estimate. In Texas, a residential separated contract makes the materials line taxable while the labour stays untaxed.

Do I charge sales tax on painting labour?

It depends on the state and the property. In Texas, labour to repaint a home is not taxable, while repainting nonresidential property such as an office is taxable on the total charge unless it is documented, scheduled maintenance. Check your own state's guidance for contractors.

What should I do when the client changes colour mid-job?

Write a change order before you continue, with the extra labour and paint priced, and get approval in writing. Then show it on the invoice as its own line with the change order number and approval date, not inside the room price.

Painting invoice template

Use the painting contractor invoice template for a room-by-room layout, or the deposit invoice template and progress invoice template for staged jobs. For contractor billing in general, see the contractor invoicing guide, and for due dates and late fees, the invoice payment terms guide. More trade guides are on the InvoiceQuickly blog.

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