Creating Your First Estimate

Current V2 creates every estimate for an existing customer and builds the full scope on one screen. The V1 three-step Residential Estimate Wizard was intentionally retired; its useful estimating capabilities are being preserved in the V2 builder without wizard navigation.

Before You Start

• Add the customer from Clients > New client and save a complete service address.
• Configure residential defaults from Settings > Pricing configuration when you plan to use the residential builder.
• Configure the workspace SMS sending number before relying on text delivery.
• Complete Settings > Payments (Stripe) before requiring an online deposit.

Create the Estimate

You can also start from a saved office lead. Open the lead detail page and choose New Estimate. The existing handoff carries the saved lead's client, service property, location, assigned rep, and lead lineage into the selected single-screen builder. It refuses an unsaved or out-of-scope lead instead of silently creating a detached estimate. The builder reliably loads that saved context before editing begins, so the estimate opens with the same client, property, location, and lead lineage.

1. Open Estimates in the Work section of the sidebar.
2. Select New estimate.
3. Choose Residential, Generic quote, Commercial, or Holiday lights.
4. Choose the service location.
5. Search for and select an existing customer.
6. Choose one of that customer's saved properties when the work belongs to a specific service address.
7. Select Create estimate.

When the selected location has exactly one active property for that customer, V2 selects it for you. With several properties, choose the intended address; V2 does not guess which one the work uses. Returning from Create client reopens the new-estimate dialog with that customer selected.

When you create a client from estimate search, the exact search text pre-fills the existing First name field in Create client. CE Pro does not split it across name fields or change Household or Business type. After save, the new client is selected in the estimate.

When you start New estimate from a client profile, CE Pro selects a property only when exactly one active property matches the selected service location. An already selected property stays selected when it still matches; changing to a location it does not match clears that choice.

Changing the location clears the selected customer because customer visibility is location-scoped. Choose the customer again from the new location rather than carrying an unverified record across service locations.

Build the Scope on One Screen

The builder changes its inputs for the estimate type:

• Residential: choose supported services, enter their quantities and service-specific details, set dirtiness, review any authorized price overrides, and choose whether to include the generated maintenance option.
• Generic quote: add named line items, descriptions, quantities, unit prices, estimated hours, tax, and a discount when needed.
• Commercial: add building or service zones, their measurements, access and condition details, pricing method, rates, and frequency.
• Holiday lights: add installation zones, quantities or linear footage, roof pitch, and agreement term.

The server calculates all money. A draft autosaves shortly after a field changes and the page shows Saving scope while the write is in progress. If another browser window changes the same draft, V2 pauses editing and asks you to reload instead of silently overwriting the other change.

Opening an unchanged draft does not create an autosave or change its Updated time. Invalid negative measurements show a field error and block autosave and send. Commercial daily rates are identified as rates per crew-day, and the quote shows the server-derived crew days alongside the hourly or production-rate context.

When measurement tools are enabled for the workspace, use the builder's property visual controls to apply supported map or photo measurements to the matching service or zone. The saved measurement and pricing recomputation stay tied to the same draft.

Review Terms and Send

Outgoing email delivery remains paused. The current send flow still requires an eligible delivery channel; SMS requires the configured workspace sender and customer consent. Copy link is available after a proposal has already been issued, not as a copy-only issue path.

The right rail shows the server-calculated service breakdown, subtotal, tax, total, floor status, and a send-readiness checklist.

Generic and commercial price floors are currently unconfigured by owner choice. The checklist says No price floor configured rather than implying an approval threshold exists. This does not introduce a new price-floor rule.

1. Review the scope and price.
2. Set Expires in (days).
3. Choose No deposit, 25% deposit, 50% deposit, or Paid in full.
4. Select Review & send.
5. Confirm the exact active email address and mobile number. Choose **Email and

text, Email only, or Text only**.

1. Review or edit the email Subject and Message and/or the **SMS

preview, then select Confirm & send**.

The secure proposal link is added automatically after the editable message and cannot be removed. These message edits apply only to this send. Any scheduled unanswered-proposal follow-up continues to use the standard follow-up template.

An unavailable channel cannot be selected. Add or correct the customer's active contact method and transactional consent before trying that channel again. If the customer record changes while Review & Send is open, V2 refuses the stale selection and asks you to review the current recipient instead of silently sending the secure link somewhere else.

Below-floor pricing can require approval before delivery. The estimate page names the pending state and links authorized reviewers to Approvals.

When the revision is issued and its selected delivery work is queued, the page shows the current secure customer link. Use Copy link when you need to share that exact revision manually, or View customer page to verify the customer experience. Sent on the estimate is a lifecycle state; check Messages for provider delivery or failure status.

If Stripe charges are not enabled, V2 removes a standard one-time deposit requirement during send and explains that Stripe must be connected. It does not publish an unusable checkout requirement. An explicitly added monthly membership is different: sending stays blocked until Stripe can collect the signup payment and create the required recurring billing schedule.

What the Customer Receives

The secure proposal presents the immutable sent revision and its full supported scope. When all three choices are eligible, the customer compares them in this order: As requested, the recommended Suds Club or maintenance option, and Complete Property Care. A proposal can instead show one or two choices when the property cannot safely price a membership or has no measured Complete Property Care additions. The same semantic order stacks on mobile, with the recommendation clearly labeled when it is available.

The customer chooses one option and signs. If that revision requires an upfront payment, the accepted proposal then offers Stripe-hosted checkout for the server-calculated amount. The proposal and downloadable PDF preserve the scope, pricing, terms, accepted option, signature, and recorded payment context for that revision.

Track, Resend, or Change Status

Return to Estimates to search and filter the catalog, then open the estimate detail page.

• Drafts remain editable on the single-screen builder.
• Sent or declined estimates can be sent again after V2 refreshes current

pricing. Select Review & resend, confirm the current recipients and channel choice, review or edit the email/SMS copy, then select Confirm & resend. The new revision rotates the secure customer link.

• The Change status control offers only lifecycle transitions allowed from the current status.
• Accepted estimates are locked to the signed revision.
• Customer view and decline details appear on the office record when available.

Current V2 exposes a standalone Business > Invoices workspace with email, secure customer/PDF views, and Stripe balance collection. Office keyed-card and offline payment recording, job-detail invoice actions, and explicit job/estimate-to-invoice accounting remain required V1 parity. Proposal deposits stay on the immutable accepted estimate instead of silently becoming invoice payments.

V1 Estimate Workflow Reference

V1 used Quick Start > Estimate, a three-step wizard, inline customer creation, editable email/text previews in Review & Send, and additional office payment and invoice controls. V2 has restored recipient/channel review and editable email/text copy to the single-screen builder. V2 deliberately keeps the secure proposal link outside the editable text so it cannot be accidentally removed or replaced. Treat any other missing non-wizard capability as required V2 parity rather than an intentionally removed feature.

Next Steps

• Set Up Current V2 Pricing
• Connect Stripe for Proposal Deposits
• Manage the Current V2 Jobs and Schedule Workspace