The supplier order is due, but the customer has only asked for a warm white. No product, colour reference, base or sheen has been recorded. Painting contractor colour approval turns that loose instruction into an order-ready specification.
Treat the approval as a handoff. The customer accepts the appearance. You check the product against the surface and quoted work. The person with financial authority approves any extra cost. Only then does the selection reach the supplier and crew.
Name the selection approver and the change order approver
Read the accepted quote, proposal, contract or work order before asking for colour choices. Record who can approve appearance and who can approve a change to price or scope.
Those roles may belong to the same customer on a residential repaint. They may be split on work controlled by a general contractor. A homeowner or designer might choose the colour while the general contractor controls the work order and approves extra cost.
Record both names, roles and contact methods. Do not assume that the person pointing at a sample can authorize another delivery, extra preparation or repainting.
Record how approvals must reach you
Write down how decisions must reach you. That could be an approved email address, a signed record or another written method named in the contract.
If the authority is unclear, check the accepted contract. Get confirmation from the party authorized under that contract before recording either approver. Keep the affected paint line pending while you wait.
Stop when instructions conflict
The homeowner approves one sample. The general contractor tells you to order another. Do not pick a winner on site.
Record both instructions. Send the conflict to the person named in the contract. Keep the surface pending until the recorded selection approver gives a clear answer and the financial approver deals with any cost effect.
For projects with several decision-makers, use a weekly site decision routine to give unanswered choices an owner and a due date.
Match the paint selection record to the accepted quote
Copy the room and surface names from the accepted quote. Keep those names through approval, purchasing, labelling, application and closeout.
If the quote says “main bedroom walls,” use that wording on the supplier order and crew notes. Switching between names is how paint reaches the wrong wall.
Give walls, ceilings, trim, doors and feature areas separate lines unless the record clearly applies the same specification to each surface. Write “excluded” or “existing finish retained” where no painting is included. A blank field looks like a missed decision.
Add the job reference, customer, site address, province or territory and postal code. Link the record to the accepted quote or work order so the crew can trace the selection back to the sold scope.
A colour name alone does not identify a paint order. Record the manufacturer, complete product name, exact base, colour name, colour reference or formula, and the manufacturer's exact sheen wording.
Copy technical wording from the current product or supplier record. Do not turn it into office shorthand such as “normal wall paint” or “standard eggshell.” The supplier and crew need the actual order description.
Prepare a representative sample for paint colour sign-off
Use an identified physical chip to discuss colour. Use a labelled coated sample when the customer must approve the visible sheen and the appearance of the specified product after application.
A chip does not demonstrate the finished product and sheen. A photograph can show where you placed a sample, but it should not replace the physical sample. Cameras, screens and room lighting change what people see.
The coated sample must represent the proposed coating system if it is being used for sheen approval. Record the preparation, primer, coat count and application method used. If those details differ from the proposed work, label the sample as a colour reference only and leave sheen pending.
Give the board or site sample a reference. Put that reference on the sample and the paint selection record. Name the room, surface and exact sample location.
A sheen approval form can be a separate page or a section of the main record. Either way, connect the coated sample to the product, colour, sheen, preparation, primer, coat count, application method and named surface.
Ask the customer to inspect the sample under the site conditions available to them. Record what they approved. Do not claim that the sample will look identical under every lamp, at every time of day or on a different surface.
Keep appearance approval separate from technical checks
Customer approval covers appearance. It does not replace your inspection of the substrate, existing coating, preparation or product compatibility.
Inspect the surface. Read the selected product's current manufacturer instructions. Compare those instructions with the preparation and coating system in the accepted quote.
If the requested product conflicts with the surface or quoted preparation, hold the selection. Explain the conflict in plain language. Offer a suitable route to the requested appearance, then price any changed work before ordering.
Do not prescribe the same coating system for every job. The right preparation depends on the actual substrate, existing finish and selected product.
Use painting contractor colour approval as the release gate
Approved and ready to order are not the same thing. A customer can approve the appearance while the line remains blocked by a technical issue, incomplete scope decision or unapproved cost change.
Name the owner or project manager responsible for releasing paint orders. That person marks a surface Released only after checking all of the following:
- The surface specification is complete, including product, base, colour reference and sheen
- The identified chip or coated sample has the required paint colour sign-off
- The substrate, preparation and product compatibility checks are complete
- The change order has been approved where the selection changes price or scope
- The revision on the record is the current revision
Record who released it, the release date, the supplier-order reference and the revision sent to the crew. Only Released means buy the paint.
Use these states on every surface line:
| Status | What your team does |
|---|---|
| Pending | Wait for a complete selection or approval. |
| Approved | Record that the named approver accepted the appearance. |
| Held | Stop purchasing because a technical, scope or cost issue remains. |
| Released | Send the current specification to the supplier and crew. |
| Superseded | Keep the old revision as history but do not use it. |
| Applied | Record that the released product was used on the named surface. |
Release complete surface lines without guessing the rest. If the walls are ready but the ceiling and feature wall are blank, order only the released wall specification when that approach fits the job and supplier order.
Before sending the order, work through the painter material ordering checklist. Match each purchasing line to a released selection rather than rebuilding the order from texts and site conversations.
Copy-ready Canadian paint selection record
PAINT SELECTION RECORD Job reference: [job number] Customer: [customer name] Site address: [street, municipality, province or territory, postal code] Accepted quote or work order: [reference] Selection approver: [name and role] Selection approval contact: [approved email address or other method] Change order approver: [name and role] Change order approval contact: [approved email address or other method] Contract authority reference: [contract section or written confirmation] Revision: [revision reference] Revision date: [date] ROOM OR WORK AREA: [use the accepted quote wording] SURFACE: [walls, ceiling, trim, doors or named feature] MANUFACTURER: [name] COMPLETE PRODUCT NAME: [exact wording] EXACT BASE: [supplier or manufacturer wording] COLOUR NAME: [name] COLOUR REFERENCE OR FORMULA: [reference] MANUFACTURER SHEEN: [exact wording] QUOTED PREPARATION OR SYSTEM: [scope reference] PHYSICAL CHIP OR COATED SAMPLE: [reference] SAMPLE SUBSTRATE OR BOARD: [material] SAMPLE PREPARATION: [preparation used] SAMPLE PRIMER: [product used or not used] SAMPLE COAT COUNT: [your own figures] SAMPLE APPLICATION METHOD: [method used] SAMPLE LOCATION: [exact location or sample-board reference] APPROVAL SCOPE: [surfaces and areas covered] EXCLUSIONS: [surfaces or decisions not covered] CURRENT STATUS: [Pending, Approved, Held, Released, Superseded or Applied] Appearance approval: I approve the recorded colour against the identified physical sample. Where a labelled coated sample is listed, I also approve the visible sheen shown for the named room and surface. This approval does not replace the contractor's technical checks or change the accepted job documents. Selection approver name: [name] Approval method: [signature or recorded written approval] Approval date: [date] CHANGE ORDER REQUIRED: [yes or no] CHANGE ORDER REFERENCE: [reference or not required] CHANGE ORDER APPROVER: [name or not required] CHANGE ORDER APPROVAL METHOD: [method or not required] CHANGE ORDER APPROVAL DATE: [date or not required] RELEASED BY: [name and role] RELEASE DATE: [date] SUPPLIER-ORDER REFERENCE: [reference] CREW REVISION: [revision issued to the crew]
Repeat the surface block for every paint line. Keep old revisions. Mark them Superseded instead of deleting or overwriting the original approval.
Compare the released choice with the quoted work
Put the approved selection beside the accepted quote before buying paint. Look for changes to materials, labour, preparation, protection, access and crew sequence.
Ask direct questions:
- Is this the product and sheen allowed for in the quote?
- Does it change the surface preparation?
- Does it add a separate colour break or application stage?
- Has paint already been ordered, opened or applied?
- Will the old selection leave unused material?
- Does the crew need to protect or repaint completed work?
- Will another order, delivery or site visit be required?
The crew has started applying the approved product when the customer asks for a different sheen. Stop the affected work. Record what has been opened and applied. Do not bury that labour and material inside the original quote.
Attach unused paint, extra protection, changed labour and rework to the new revision in your cost tracking. The guide to tracking painting labour, paint and rework shows how to keep those costs against the job that caused them.
Issue a Canadian change order for changed work
Use a change order when a revised selection changes the agreed price, scope, preparation, access or work sequence. Do not call it a variation on a Canadian job.
Start a new revision. Record the old selection, the new selection, affected surfaces and the stage already reached. State what work will be removed, added or repeated.
Build the price from your actual costs:
- Add changed paint and other materials.
- Add labour already used and labour still required because of the change.
- Add changed preparation, protection and access costs.
- Add delivery, disposal and other direct job costs caused by the revision.
- Allocate overhead using your own figures.
- Apply your markup to the cost base used by your business.
Do not use a made-up allowance or a rate copied from another job. Supplier cost, crew time and site conditions belong to this job.
Send the change order to the recorded financial approver using the approved email address or other method named in the contract. Get written approval. Then update the paint selection record and move the revised line from Held to Released.
Worked example: record the change before invoicing it
The Oak Street house example is electrical, but the control sequence is the same. Quote Q-1847 for R. Chen at 14 Oak Street was 1,105 for a bathroom exhaust fan and four LED downlights. The ceiling was lined, and the quote excluded chasing.
Extra cable and chasing became an approved 160 change order. The 160 change was approved and recorded separately before Invoice INV-1847 reached 1,265. All figures are sample currency units, not a rate card.
Use that sequence for a late paint change: stop, describe the changed selection, price its effect, get approval, release the current revision and then continue.
For questions about showing GST/HST on a changed invoice, check the Canada Revenue Agency GST/HST receipt and invoice guidance (opens in a new tab). Keep the approved change order connected to the final invoice.
Keep bilingual Canadian records exact
Keep the manufacturer's exact Canadian product, colour and sheen wording on the supplier order. Add a plain-language English or French description for the customer in a separate field when needed.
Do not let the translated description replace the manufacturer wording, base or colour reference. Keep both descriptions with the current revision so the supplier receives the product that the customer approved.
Send the current revision to the supplier and crew
Use the released painting contractor colour approval record to prepare the supplier order. Match the job reference, room, surface, manufacturer, product, base, colour reference and sheen before sending it.
When the paint arrives, read the container labels against the released order before it leaves the shop or gets opened on site. Set aside anything that does not match. Do not ask the crew to decide whether a substitute is close enough.
Give the crew the same room and surface names used in the quote and record the revision they received. When application starts, mark the line Applied and file the final label against the job.