Locale, currency, and units
Surfacely is built for painting businesses across multiple countries. Your locale is set by the country you chose during business setup — and from that, nearly everything adapts automatically.
What changes per locale
- Currency — all amounts display in $. Your Surfacely subscription is also billed in your local currency.
- Units — Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Canada use metric (m², m, L). The US uses imperial (ft², ft, gal).
- Tax label — GST is the term shown on your quotes and invoices. Surfacely selects the correct label automatically.
- Spelling — colour vs color, metre vs meter, postcode vs ZIP. Client-facing documents use the correct regional spelling.
- Production rate benchmarks — the suggested rate ranges in company pricing are calibrated to your market's typical labour costs and conditions.
- Terms and conditions — locale-appropriate baseline T&Cs are pre-loaded. UK consumer quotes automatically include a statutory cooling-off period clause.
Sales tax by job location (US and Canada)
In the US and Canada, the tax on a job depends on where the job is. Surfacely never adds that tax on its own. The first time a job is in a state or province you haven't said you collect tax in, the job asks: Do you collect sales tax there? It shows the rate it found for the address.
- Yes — the tax is charged on this job, and the state or province is added to Where you collect tax in your tax settings, so the next job there doesn't ask.
- Not here — no tax on this job. You can change it from the job later.
Until you answer, the quote shows no tax and says the question is open, and the quote or proposal can't be sent and no invoice can be raised for the job. In Australia, New Zealand and the UK, GST is a single national rate, so nothing is asked.
Subscription billing currencies
Your Surfacely subscription is charged in your local currency through Stripe:
- Australia — AUD
- New Zealand — NZD
- United States — USD
- United Kingdom — GBP
- Canada — CAD
Stripe adds GST automatically where applicable based on your billing address.
How measurement storage works
All measurements are stored in metric internally — metres and litres. If you're in the US, you enter dimensions in feet and gallons and Surfacely converts them to metric for storage, then back to imperial for display. This means your data is portable if your business operates across markets.
Changing your locale
Your locale is determined by the country field in Settings → Business & Brand. Changing your country updates how new measurements and amounts display. Existing stored values remain unchanged internally — they display using the updated locale's units and currency going forward.
Why it matters: a painting business in Auckland shouldn't see dollar signs and miles, and one in Houston shouldn't see metres and litres. Every number on every client-facing document should look natural to the person receiving it.