Creating Your First Estimate
Step-by-step guide to building and sending a residential estimate to your first customer.
Creating Your First Estimate
This guide walks you through building a residential estimate from scratch: entering the customer, selecting services, and sending the finished proposal. The whole process takes about two minutes.
Start a New Estimate
Click the New Estimate button in the top navigation bar or the sidebar. The Residential Estimate Wizard opens. It has three steps shown as a progress bar across the top:
- Client & Property
- Services & Pricing
- Review & Send
Step 1: Client & Property
This step collects customer information and property details.
Customer Information
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Name | Yes | First and last name. |
| Lead Source | No | Dropdown: Google, Referral, Facebook, Door Knock, etc. |
| No | Needed to send the estimate by email. | |
| Phone | No | Needed to send the estimate by SMS. |
Property Details
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Address | Start typing and select from the Google Places autocomplete dropdown. |
| City, State, ZIP | Auto-filled when you select an address from autocomplete. |
| Property Sqft | Auto-fills from property lookup. You can override it. |
| Stories | Select 1, 2, or 3. Affects multipliers. |
| Lot Size | Square footage of the lot. |
| Year Built | Helps estimate condition. |
| Roof Sqft | Auto-fills if available. Override as needed. |
| Gutter Linear Ft | Estimated linear feet of gutter. |
| Siding Type | Dropdown: Vinyl, Brick, Stucco, Wood, Hardie, etc. |
| Roof Type | Dropdown: Asphalt, Metal, Tile, Slate. Affects roof cleaning multiplier. |
After entering the address, click Auto-fill Property. The system pulls public property records and fills in square footage, stories, year built, and roof details when available.
Review the auto-filled values. Adjust anything that looks off. Click Next to continue.
If you launch New Estimate from a client shortcut that includes client_id, the wizard now preloads that client and keeps the finished estimate linked to the same CRM record instead of trying to re-create the customer during save.
Step 2: Services & Pricing
This step is where you build the scope of work and see the price update in real time.
Selecting Services
Each service has a toggle switch. Turn on the services the customer needs:
- House Wash
- Windows
- Gutters
- Roof Cleaning
- Driveway
- Sidewalks
- Deck / Patio
- Fence
When you toggle a service on, its detail fields appear. Fill in the specifics.
Service-Specific Fields
Each service shows fields relevant to that job. Examples:
- House Wash — Square footage, stories, dirtiness level.
- Windows — Number of windows, interior + exterior toggle.
- Driveway — Square footage.
- Gutters — Linear feet.
Dirtiness Level
For applicable services, select a dirtiness level: Light, Moderate, or Heavy. This adjusts the price based on the extra time and materials needed.
Add-Ons
Below the main services, an Add-Ons section lists optional extras. Toggle any that apply.
Custom Line Items
Need something not on the list? Click + Add Custom Item. Enter a Description, Quantity, and Unit Price. The item adds to the total.
Maintenance Plan
Toggle the Maintenance Plan option to offer recurring service. The plan uses the discount percentages you set in the Pricing Manager.
Running Total
The right panel shows a running price breakdown as you add services. It updates instantly.
Click Next when the scope and price look right.
Step 3: Review & Send
This step shows everything in one view so you can verify before sending.
Review Summary
You see the customer name, property address, a full list of services with prices, add-ons, custom items, subtotal, tax, and total.
Your Options
You have three buttons at the bottom:
| Button | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Save as Draft | Saves the estimate without sending. Find it later on the Estimates page. |
| Preview | Opens a PDF preview so you can see exactly what the customer receives. |
| Send Estimate | Opens the send dialog. |
Successful first-time draft saves now stay on the happy path even if the database write finishes before the API can hydrate the full saved row back into the response. In that edge case, CE Pro reloads the saved estimate summary instead of showing a false server-error toast after the draft is already stored.
Sending the Estimate
Click Send Estimate. A dialog opens with these options:
- Delivery Method — Toggle between Email, SMS, or Both.
- Subject — Pre-filled. Edit if you want.
- Message Body — Pre-filled with a professional template. Edit to personalize.
- Send — Sends the estimate.
Click Send. The estimate is queued for delivery and moves to "Sent" status on your Estimates page.
The estimate record moves to Sent immediately. PDF generation, email delivery, SMS delivery, linked maintenance proposal sends, and any connected legacy sync tasks continue in the background and may take a short moment to finish.
If secure estimate links are not configured yet, CE Pro still lets the office send the email with the PDF attached. In that case the send step shows a warning that the online browser link is unavailable instead of failing the entire send action.
What the Customer Receives
By Email
The customer gets an email with:
- A summary of services and prices.
- A PDF attachment of the full estimate.
- A View Full Estimate button that opens the estimate in their browser.
By SMS
The customer gets a text message with a short summary and a link to view the full estimate online.
After Sending
Once sent, you can track the estimate from the Estimates page. You see its status: Draft, Sent, Viewed, Accepted, Declined, or Expired.
Behind the scenes, delivery work can move through these async states:
- Queued -- CE Pro accepted the send request and is preparing PDF, email, SMS, and sync tasks.
- Processing -- One or more background delivery tasks are currently running.
- Sent -- All queued delivery tasks finished successfully.
- Failed or Partial Failure -- At least one delivery task needs attention.
Open the estimate detail page when you are ready to collect money. The Payments card on the estimate lets you:
- Record a deposit
- Charge a keyed credit card through Stripe
- Send a Stripe pay link
- Record cash, check, or bank transfer
- Split the balance into multiple payments
The estimate detail page also includes:
- Photos for before, during, and after image sets
- Attachments for extra photos, PDFs, permits, contracts, and scope documents
- Assigned Rep controls so office staff can reassign the estimate to another active workspace member
- Appointment scheduling so owners and managers can set or reschedule an on-site estimate visit
- View Job once the estimate has been converted
- View Invoice once billing has been created from the estimate
- Delete Estimate in the detail page danger zone for drafts, test records, or mistakes
If attachments have not been enabled in the workspace database yet, the detail page now shows a setup notice instead of a fatal error toast.
Attachment and photo reads now use the same plain-language error handling too. If uploads or estimate-detail media loads fail, the office team sees a cleaner action/setup message instead of raw storage or database text.
Estimate attachments now support images, PDFs, TXT and CSV files, plus common Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. The upload is checked before it is saved, so renamed or mismatched files are rejected instead of quietly landing on the estimate.
Estimate appointments now reject past dates and invalid time windows before they save. Estimate rep reassignment also verifies that the selected user still belongs to the active workspace, so an archived or cross-org user cannot be assigned accidentally.
Owners and managers can delete any estimate. Sales reps can delete only estimates assigned to them. If an estimate has already been converted into a job, CE Pro blocks the delete until that job is removed first.
Next Steps
- Setting Up Your Default Pricing — Fine-tune your rates.
- Adding Your Team — Let your sales reps create estimates too.
Was this article helpful?
Still need help? Contact support