How a quote gets from site visit to installed

What you get as an installer

• The quote is ready on-site. The price updates as you add each opening, so you can send the quote before you leave the driveway.
• You type each measurement once. The same numbers go on the quote, the PDF, the customer's page and the crew's install screen.
• You know when they opened it. The job shows the date and time the customer first opened the link.
• Reminders go out without you. If a quote sits unopened or unanswered, the customer gets up to 2 reminder emails.
• You get a clear yes. The customer accepts with one tap, and the job records the date and time.
• You can see which jobs need chasing. Every job shows its stage. Filter the list by stage, or by won and lost.
• You can see who changed what. The job keeps every status change with the date, the time and the person who made it.
• Your crew doesn't cost extra. Installer seats are free. The crew opens released jobs and marks them installed.

What your customer gets

• Nothing to set up. The quote opens from a private link in their phone's browser. There's no account and no app.
• Every opening, itemized. Each window or door has its own drawing, size, product and price.
• The whole price on one page. Installation, disposal, any discount, sales tax, the total, the deposit and the balance due.
• One tap to accept. There's no form to fill in and nothing to print or sign.
• A way to pay monthly. If you offer financing, the quote has an “Apply for financing” button.
• Your terms in the same place. Your warranty, lead time and terms are under the price.

What you do, in six steps

1. Create the job

Enter the customer's name, site address, phone and email, and the date of the job. The job gets its first status, Created.

2. Measure the openings

Add each opening with a label, a width, a height and a product. The line price appears as you type. It comes from the rate and minimum price in your own catalogue. See united-inch pricing, explained for the arithmetic.

Everything saves as you go. Once you've measured the first opening, the job becomes Planned.

3. Review the numbers

The review screen lists every opening and its price. Under them you set installation, disposal, a discount and the deposit. Sales tax follows the province you chose in Settings. The screen shows the total, and the balance left after the deposit.

Generate PDF builds the same quote as a PDF with your logo, your terms and your GST/HST registration number.

4. Send it

You can send it two ways. Both give the customer the same private link.

• Email quote. The app sends an email under your business name with a “View your quote” button. If the customer replies, the reply goes to your business email.
• Text quote. Your phone's messaging app opens with the message and the link filled in. You press send, so the text comes from your own number.

Either one sets the job to Quoted. After that you can also tap Copy link and paste the link into any other app.

5. Follow up

Once the customer has looked at the quote, the job shows “Opened” with the date and time. Until they accept, the app emails them a reminder:

• 3 days after you sent the quote, if they haven't opened it.
• 5 days after they opened it, if they haven't accepted.

A quote gets at most 2 reminders, at least 3 days apart. They stop when the customer accepts or you close the job. Reminders go by email, so the customer needs an email address on the job. You can also tap Send reminder yourself.

6. Release the job to your crew

When the customer accepts, the job becomes Accepted. When you're ready to go ahead, tick Released. The job now counts as won, and it appears on your crew's list. When the work is finished, you or the crew tick Installed.

What the customer does, in five steps

1. They get the quote

The email's subject is “Your window quote from” followed by your business name. It gives the quote number, the total and a “View your quote” button. A text has the same link.

2. They open it

The link opens the quote in their phone's browser. The customer sees:

• Your logo, business name and phone number
• The estimate number and the site address
• Each opening with a drawing, its size, its product and its price
• Installation, disposal, any discount, sales tax and the total
• The deposit, and the balance due after it
• Your warranty, lead time and terms

3. They accept

An Accept quote button stays at the bottom of the page. One tap accepts the quote. The page confirms it and tells the customer you'll be in touch to schedule the installation. In your list, the job moves to Accepted.

4. They pay the deposit

The quote shows the deposit and the balance due, so you've both agreed the amount before any money moves. Quote for Windows doesn't take the payment and doesn't record it. Collect the deposit the way you already do: e-transfer, cheque or your own card payment link. Say how in your terms.

If you tick Released only when the deposit lands, Released means “deposit in, go ahead”.

5. They can apply for financing

Add your financing application link in Settings and the quote shows an “Apply for financing” button. It opens your financing provider's own application page. The application and the funds stay between the customer and the provider.

Job statuses

A job can have several statuses at once. A job you've quoted, the customer has accepted and you've released has all three, and your list shows the furthest one.

Four of them go in order. You can't tick one until the one before it is ticked.

Quoted → Accepted → Released → Installed

Created and Planned happen on their own. Closed has no order, so you can close a job at any point.

Won and lost

The app works out won and lost from the boxes that are ticked.

• A job is won once Released is ticked.
• A job is lost if Closed is ticked and Released isn't.
• Any other job is still open.

That means an accepted job stays open until you release it. A closed job shows in your list as “Closed — Won” or “Closed — Lost”.

Changing a status by hand

Open the job. Under Set job status, the seven statuses are checkboxes. Tick a box to set a status. Clear it to remove the status.

A box you can't change tells you why, for example “Quoted must be set first” or “Remove Released first”. Statuses come off in reverse order: Installed, then Released, then Accepted, then Quoted. You can't clear Created or Planned.

Use the boxes when something happens outside the app. If a customer says yes on the phone, tick Accepted yourself.

Changing a quote after you sent it

You can't edit a quote while Quoted or Accepted is ticked. To change it:

• Clear Accepted, if it's ticked, and then clear Quoted.
• Make your changes.
• Send the quote again. That ticks Quoted again.

The link stays the same, and it always shows the current numbers. While Quoted is cleared, the customer can read the quote but can't accept it. The page tells them the quote is being updated.

Cancelling a quote

If the customer goes with someone else, tick Closed. A job you close without releasing counts as lost. If you'd already released it, clear Released before you close it.

Closing a job doesn't switch off the customer's link. To stop them accepting from it, clear Quoted too. To reopen a job, clear Closed.

Marking a job as won

Tick Released. Quoted and Accepted have to be ticked first. After the work is done, tick Installed and then Closed, and the job shows as “Closed — Won”.

The status history

Under the checkboxes, Status history lists every change on the job, newest first. Each line gives what happened, the date and time, and who did it:

• The email address of the person on your team who ticked or cleared the box
• “System” for Created and Planned
• “Client, via the quote link” when the customer accepted

When you clear a status, the history adds a line such as “Removed - Released”. You can't edit or delete anything in the history.

Tracking your jobs

The jobs list shows each job's customer, address, total and status. Tap Filter to pick one or more stages, or won and lost. Each one has a count beside it. The calendar shows the same jobs by date, with the same filter.

Working as a team

Quoting users create jobs, send quotes and change statuses. Installers see only released jobs. They see the openings, sizes and products you quoted, and they can tick Installed.

One person edits a job at a time. Anyone else who opens it sees who has it and can take over.

Try it on your next visit

Quote for Windows is free during the beta, and you don't need a card. See the features or what it costs.

Questions