Job Management Software Built for Decorators

Managing decorating jobs is where many businesses come unstuck. You have quotes to follow up, jobs to book, materials to order, teams to coordinate, clients to keep informed and snagging to track — all at the same time. A missed appointment or a forgotten snag can damage your reputation and cost you money.

Trade Assist is job management software built specifically for painters and decorators. It tracks every job from quote to payment, with statuses and terminology that reflect how decorators actually work. You always know exactly where each project stands and what needs to happen next.

For Business plan users, the Job Progress feature adds powerful team and progress management — area-by-area task tracking, daily site updates, progress photos, material requests, variations and snagging — giving you complete control over every job in progress.

Track Every Job from Quote to Payment

Trade Assist tracks every job through its full lifecycle with decorating-specific statuses: Quoted, Booked, Ready to Start, Started, In Progress, Waiting, Snagging, Completed, Invoiced and Paid. These statuses reflect the real stages of a decorating job, not generic project management phases.

The job dashboard shows all your jobs in one view, filterable by status. You can see at a glance what is quoted, what is booked, what is in progress and what needs attention. No more losing track of where a job is in the pipeline.

Every job is linked to its quote and its client, giving you full traceability from first enquiry to final payment. When a client calls about a job, you have all the details at your fingertips.

Schedule Jobs and Coordinate Your Team

The schedule view shows all your jobs in a clear timeline. Set start and end dates for every job, see what is coming up this week and next month, and plan your season with confidence. Never double-book or forget a job again.

For Business plan users, assign jobs to your team members. Everyone sees their own schedule and knows where they need to be and what they need to do. Update job statuses from your phone on site — everyone stays informed in real time.

The team workload view shows who is assigned to which jobs, so you can balance the workload and avoid overcommitting any individual.

Job Progress: Area-by-Area Task Tracking

The Job Progress feature — available on the Business plan — breaks each job down into areas (Kitchen, Living Room, Hallway, etc.) and tracks tasks within each area. Preparation, filling, first coat, second coat — every task is tracked from Not Started to In Progress to Completed.

The overall job progress percentage is calculated automatically from completed tasks, so you always know how far along a job is. You can manually override the percentage if needed.

This granular tracking means you can see exactly what has been done and what remains, without relying on phone calls or guesswork. It also provides a clear record for the client if they ask about progress.

Daily Site Updates from Your Team

Team members can submit daily site updates from their phones — what work was completed, which area was worked on, progress made, any problems encountered and materials required. Photos can be attached to each update.

These updates create a complete record of the job progress, day by day. You can review them from your phone or computer, and they provide valuable documentation if any questions arise later about what was done and when.

No more relying on end-of-day phone calls or WhatsApp messages that get lost. Every update is stored against the job permanently.

Progress Photos and Documentation

Upload before, progress and completion photos directly from your phone. Photos are categorised and stored against the job and the area, creating a visual timeline of the project.

These photos are valuable for showing clients the quality of your work, documenting prep work that is now hidden under paint, and providing evidence if any disputes arise about the condition of surfaces before you started.

For commercial jobs, photo documentation is often a contractual requirement. Trade Assist makes it effortless.

Material Requests and Ordering

Team members can raise material requests from site — product, quantity, area and required date. The request is tracked from Required to Ordered to Collected to Delivered to On Site.

This means you can order materials without leaving the job site, and you have a clear record of what was requested, by whom and when. No more running out of paint mid-job because nobody mentioned it was low.

Material requests also help with expense tracking — every material ordered for a job can be logged as an expense automatically.

Variations and Extra Work

When a client asks for additional work during a job, Trade Assist lets you record it as a variation. Describe the extra work, set the additional price and track the status — Proposed, Awaiting Approval, Approved, Declined or Completed.

Approved variations can be added to the final invoice with one click, so you never forget to charge for extra work. The variation history is stored against the job permanently.

This professional approach to variations protects your profit and keeps the client informed about additional costs before they are incurred.

Snagging Management

Snagging is a critical part of any decorating job. Trade Assist lets you log snag items — description, area, photo, assigned person, date raised and due date — and track them from Open to In Progress to Resolved.

No more forgetting snag items or having to return to a job multiple times. The snag list is visible to your team, so everyone knows what needs to be fixed before the job is complete.

When all snags are resolved, you can confidently mark the job as complete and move to invoicing.

Job Completion Reports

When a job is complete, Trade Assist can generate a professional completion report — a PDF document summarising the job, areas completed, variations, snagging status and customer sign-off.

The completion report includes the customer sign-off name, date and comments, providing formal confirmation that the work was completed to their satisfaction. This is valuable for commercial jobs and for protecting yourself against payment disputes.

After completion, convert the job to a final invoice with one click. All the details carry over, including any approved variations.

Frequently Asked Questions