Other surfaces — adding anything beyond the Common row
The Common row on the area screen covers what you paint most. For everything else, tap Other surfaces. It opens a sheet where you can find nearly anything painted in or around a building, in your own market's word, and start from sensible rates without typing a thing.
Finding a surface
- Search box — at the top of the sheet. Type part of a name and the list narrows as you type.
- Your usual — the surfaces your business adds most, once you have added a few. It is the same list for everyone in the business, on every device.
- Groups — Trim & mouldings, Stairs, Doors & openings, Panelling, Siding & cladding, Outdoor structures, Metal & masonry, and Floors & coatings. Only surfaces that suit the area you are in are shown, inside or outside.
Each row shows whether the surface is measured by area, by length or by count, so you know what Surfacely will ask for.
Adding several at once
Tick as many rows as you like, then tap Add N surfaces at the bottom. Surfacely takes you through measuring them one at a time, the same way it does for the Common row. Anything already in the area is marked as added.
Seen it called something else? Search finds every market's word
The same thing has different names around the world. Search knows them: type "baseboard" or "skirting", "casing" or "architrave", "baluster" or "spindle", and you land on the right surface. Each surface then shows under the word your market uses.
When the word is part of a surface you already have
Some words name a part of a surface rather than a surface of their own: architrave (casing in the US), jamb, stringer, sill, sash. Adding these separately would charge for the same timber twice, so search shows a row like "part of Doors — opens it" instead. Tap it and you go to the door, window or stairs, where that part is already a switch.
When nothing matches
If search finds nothing, you are offered Add as Custom surface with the words you typed as its name. You then set its rates yourself.
Counted items
Things you count rather than measure (newel posts, shutters, a garage door, closet doors, gates, columns) are priced per piece. Surfacely fills in starting minutes for prep and for painting, and a paint amount for each piece. You type how many. If your pieces take longer or shorter than the starting figures, change the minutes on the surface; you can also set your own starting figures for the whole business in Settings → Surfaces.
Stairs and handrails
- Stairs now ask What's painted: treads and risers, risers only or treads only. Stringers (skirt boards in the US) and the landing have their own switches.
- Balustrades and handrails can be added inside, so a staircase gets its handrails, newel posts and spindles without leaving the area.
Hiding surfaces you never paint
If a surface never applies to your business, switch it off in Settings → Surfaces. It disappears from the sheet for everyone in the business. A hidden surface that is already on a job stays there.
Quoting a full repaint? Tick the lot in one visit: casings, chair rail, newel posts and the garage door, then measure each in turn. It is quicker than adding them one by one from the Common row.