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# Adjust Painting & Prep Hours
PaintScout calculates painting hours automatically from production rates, but you can manually adjust both painting and prep hours on any substrate when the automatic calculations need fine-tuning.
## How do you adjust painting and prep hours?
1. Click the substrate you want to adjust.
2. Make your adjustments in the provided fields:
***
## Things to Note
* The system doesn't automatically calculate prep time; you must add and adjust prep time manually.
* If the variables used in your rate calculation don't involve hours (e.g., sqft/hr, item/hr, etc.), painting hours will not be automatically calculated. In such cases, you'll need to input the hours manually.
## Related articles
* [Adjust Surface Dimensions](/support/estimating/areas-and-rates/how-to-adjust-surface-dimensions.md) — Override measurements for a specific surface.
* [Adjust Number of Coats](/support/estimating/areas-and-rates/how-to-adjust-the-number-of-coats-for-a-substrate.md) — Change coat counts and update pricing automatically.
* [Prep Hours](/support/estimating/areas-and-rates/prep-hours.md) — Add manual prep time with automatic cost calculation.
* [Calculate Your Hourly Rate](/support/customization/pricing-and-rates/how-to-calculate-your-hourly-rate.md) — Build an hourly rate that covers wages, overhead, and profit.
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