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.
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.