Estimating: Pricing Work and Sending Estimates
Billed publishes these estimating articles. They're grouped by what you're trying to do, with a line on what each one covers.
Choosing the right document
Estimates, quotes, proposals and invoices, and when each one fits.
- Estimate, quote or proposal
How the three documents differ, what a written estimate should include, whether a quote or estimate is a contract, and one job priced all three ways.
- Estimates and invoices
How an estimate and an invoice differ, when to send an estimate first, and how to carry an accepted estimate and its changes through to the final invoice.
- Writing a business proposal
Solicited and unsolicited proposals, the sections to include, writing the scope, acceptance and validity, and a sample pricing section.
Pricing the work
Working out the hours, the costs and the price before you send anything.
- Creating a project estimate
Scoping the work into line items, estimating the hours, pricing each item, adding pass-through costs and a contingency for named risks, and stating assumptions, with a sample estimate.
- Estimating project hours
Breaking the work into tasks, three-point estimates, checking the total against past projects, setting contingency from your own track record, and tracking actual hours.
- Construction estimating basics
The cost buckets in a construction estimate, quantity takeoff, labor from production rates, AACE estimate classes, overhead and profit, and a worked example for a basement room.
- Pricing house cleaning
Estimating the time, adding up labor, supplies and overhead, adding a profit, and choosing an hourly or flat price, with BLS wage figures for cleaners and a sample price.
Sending estimates and handling changes
What to put in the estimate, and what to do after it goes out.
- Writing an estimate a client can accept
What an estimate should cover, from the job and scope to pricing options, terms and an expiry date, with templates by project type.
- Following up on an estimate
When to check in, what to say in each message, how to handle price questions and when to stop, with a sample schedule tied to the estimate's expiry date.
- Handling estimate revisions
Ways to revise depending on where the job stands, when a change order should become a new estimate, telling the client about a cost change, and pricing change orders.
- Canceling a signed quote
Withdrawing a quote before it's signed, when cooling-off rules let a client cancel in the US and UK, when you can cancel, what happens to deposits and work done, and cancellation terms for your quotes.
Estimates in Billed
Step-by-step help articles for estimates in the Billed app.
- Creating an estimate in Billed
Starting an estimate, choosing the client, adding line items, discounts and tax, adding notes and terms, then saving, sending and getting the client's approval.
- Managing your estimates in Billed
The More Actions menu, editing an estimate, keeping track of where each one stands, converting an accepted estimate to an invoice, and exporting estimates.