How to make an app for a paint shop

Paint shop customers come back months later asking for 'the same shade as last time' to touch up a wall, and painters buy on credit for several houses at once. An app saves each customer's shade codes and finishes, works out a rough quantity from room sizes, and keeps painter accounts and pack-size stock in order.

Updated 2026-11-09

Who uses the app

The owner and counter staff, and sometimes painters checking their balance. If one counter phone runs it, data can stay there. If staff use their own phones, or painters see their account or a catalogue, connect your own Supabase database.

The screens a paint shop app needs

Estimate: Enter rooms with length, width and height, doors and windows, and coats; see a rough quantity of paint, primer and putty
Customers: Each customer with the shade codes, finishes and rooms they bought for, by date
Painters: Painters and contractors with purchases on credit by site, payments and balance
New sale: Product, base, pack size, shade code, quantity, payment mode, and which customer or painter
Stock: Products by finish and base in each pack size, with a minimum and a reorder list
Quotation: Products and quantities from an estimate, shared as a PDF on WhatsApp

Features worth asking for

Quantity estimate from room sizes, using the coverage per litre you set for each product
Shade code and finish saved on every customer sale, so a touch-up matches
Painter credit split by site, with a monthly statement as a PDF
Stock by base and pack size: 1 L, 4 L, 10 L and 20 L
A quotation PDF made from the estimate in one tap
A 'Pay via UPI' button on painter statements
A phone reminder before the monsoon to call last year's waterproofing customers

Where the data lives

If one counter phone runs the app, data stays on that phone. If staff bill on their own phones, or painters see their balance or a catalogue, connect your own Supabase database; for payments recorded in the app, connect your Razorpay account too.

How to make it with AppCub, step by step

Decide what the app does. List the screens you need, for example: Estimate, Customers, Painters, New sale, Stock.
Describe it to AppCub. Paste the request below, changed to your own business and details.
Check the plan. AppCub shows the screens and features it will build. Change them in the chat until they are right; seeing the plan is free.
Try it on your phone. The app runs live next to the chat. Scan the QR code to install it, and ask for changes.
Share it. Share it as a web link, an APK file, or publish it on Google Play from your own developer account.

Copy this request, change the details to match your paint shop, and paste it into AppCub:

Make an app for my paint shop, Patel Paints and Hardware in Ahmedabad. Screens: estimate, customers, painters, new sale, stock and quotation. The estimate takes rooms with length, width, height, doors, windows and number of coats, and uses coverage per litre I set for each product to show paint, primer and putty needed; turn it into a quotation PDF. Save shade code and finish on every sale. Painters buy on credit by site, with a monthly statement PDF and a Pay via UPI button. Stock by base and pack size with a reorder list. WhatsApp 98XXXXXXXX. White and sky blue colours.

Tips for a paint shop app

Set the coverage per litre for each product from its pack, and say on every estimate that it is approximate.
Save the shade code on every sale, even small ones; the touch-up customer will come back.
Ask each painter for their site names once, so credit is tagged by site from the start.
Start stock with your fast-moving bases and pack sizes; add the rest when you restock.
Check the first month's painter statements against your register before you send them.

What it costs

Describing your app and seeing AppCub’s plan for it is free.
A new app usually takes 60 to 110 credits. Start with the 2-day trial for ₹99 (150 credits, enough for one app and a few changes) or the one-time App Pack for ₹499. Starter is ₹1,599 a month for 700 credits.
Google Play needs a paid plan (it includes the Play Store bundle and your app’s signing key) and your own Google Play developer account, a one-time US$25 fee to Google.
Work that fails or is rolled back costs no credits.

See all plans

Good to know

AppCub doesn't connect to tinting machines, colour scanners or billing software, and it doesn't send statements by itself. Shade codes are typed in, and messages go out when you tap the WhatsApp button and send.
AppCub builds Android apps. You can also share the app as a web link that opens on any phone; for the iPhone App Store, AppCub’s team can do it for you.

Questions

Can the app work out how much paint a house needs?

Yes, roughly. Enter each room's sizes, doors, windows and coats, and the app uses the coverage per litre you set to show the quantity. Tell customers it is an estimate.

Can I save the shade a customer bought last year?

Yes. Each sale saves the shade code, base and finish, so when the customer asks for the same shade you search by name or phone.

Does the app connect to my tinting machine?

No. You type the shade code into the sale. The app keeps the record; the machine works as it does today.

Can painters see what they owe?

Yes, with your Supabase database and sign-in. Each painter sees purchases by site, payments and the balance.

Can I make a quotation from an estimate?

Yes. The estimate becomes a list of products and pack sizes with prices, shared as a PDF on WhatsApp.

Can the app track stock by pack size?

Yes. Ask for each product and base in 1 L, 4 L, 10 L and 20 L packs, each with its own count and minimum.

Make your paint shop app

Seeing the plan is free. Building starts with a 2-day trial for ₹99.

Start building