For decorators

You are up a ladder with a full brush. That is your best customer ringing.

Decorating runs on repeat customers and word of mouth, which makes an unanswered phone expensive in a way that never shows up anywhere you can see it. Adminmate answers, finds out what the job actually involves, and books it.

Sound familiar?

The bits of being a decorator nobody pays you for.

Brush in one hand, ladder under you, and the phone going in a pocket you cannot reach.

Nobody mentions the woodchip that has to come off until the morning you arrive.

Exterior work all lands in the same three months and you cannot answer any of it.

The customer you did last year rings somebody else, because they could not get hold of you.

What it does for you

Built round how decorators work.

  • Asks about paper, woodchip and prep, which is where a decorating quote goes wrong.
  • Answers through the exterior season, when three months of work arrives in about three weeks.
  • Knows the customers you did last year, so a repeat call is never a cold one.
  • Gets the small jobs invoiced instead of leaving them on the seat of the van.
12:40
Adminmate
Quote Mrs Hughes. New shower and two basin taps, one day, parts £320
Quote · Mrs Sarah Hughes
Labour, one day£380.00
Shower and two basin taps£320.00
Fittings and waste£56.00
Total£756.00
From your rate card. Nothing guessed.
Dean's timeForty seconds, from the van.
Add call answering

Hear it answer as a decorator.

Two bedrooms, while you are cutting in.

Woodchip, woodwork, doors and a crack all on the record, a look booked for Tuesday, and Jo never came off the ladder.

An example call, written out. Not a recording.

  1. AssistantHello, Deakin Decorating, this is Jo's assistant. How can I help?
  2. CallerI'd like a price for painting two bedrooms.
  3. AssistantOf course. Are they papered at the moment, or already painted?
  4. CallerOne's painted. The other's got woodchip on it, which I hate.
  5. AssistantNoted, and woodchip does add to it, so it is much better Jo knows now than on the day. Ceilings and woodwork as well, or walls only?
  6. CallerEverything, please. And the doors.
  7. AssistantRight. Any filling or repairs you already know about?
  8. CallerThere's a crack over the window in the back room.
  9. AssistantGood to know. Jo will want ten minutes to look at the woodchip and that crack before he prices it, rather than quote now and change it later. He could call in Tuesday evening. Does that suit?
  10. CallerTuesday's fine.
Questions

Questions decorators ask

Can it quote without seeing the room?

It can draft from your rate card for straightforward work where the sizes and the condition are clear. Where there is paper to strip or prep nobody has mentioned, it books you a look instead, because a quote given blind is the one you end up eating.

Will it recognise somebody I have worked for before?

Yes. Their whole history sits on their record: every job, every quote, every invoice and the conversation with it. A repeat customer never has to explain who they are or what you did last time.

What about colour and materials?

It takes what they tell it and puts it on the job. It does not advise on colour or specify products in your name, because that is your reputation and it is not the assistant's to spend.

Pricing

From £99 a month. Nothing to add.

Two plans, printed in full. No tier you have to call to find out the price.

Solo

You, your van and your phone.

£99a month
  • Quotes from a text, built from your own prices
  • Invoices with VAT, CIS and deposits done right
  • Chasing, politely, until they pay
  • Your diary, kept and confirmed
  • Call answering for the calls you don't pick up
Book a demo

Team

Up to ten of you, ten diaries.

£169a month
  • Everything in Solo
  • A diary each, and work put on the right person
  • One view of who is where and what is owed
Book a demo
  • From £99 a month
  • The price you see is the whole price
  • We set it up with you
  • Cancel any time

Pay for the year at ten months' price. Cancel any time and the unused time is refunded.

Fifteen minutes, and you see it run your office.

A real person shows you it working on a real job, then sets it up around your trade. No pressure, no card details.

Book a demo
  • From £99 a month
  • The price you see is the whole price
  • Cancel any time