How to Create a Proposal
Learn how to create a proposal that wins more work.
What it does: Allows you to create a professionally designed proposal that you can send to customers in minutes.
Purpose: Saves time by creating a beautiful, professionally designed proposal in an easy-to-use platform.
- Allows you to add items from your catalog
- Allows you to easily add/remove items from the proposal
- Your customers can sign the proposal digitally from any device
- Close more deals in less time
- Track all proposals and their status in one location
Prerequisites:* None, but a catalog is recommended.
- Requirements to create a proposal.
Available On: Pay-as-you-go (limited availability), Pro(limited availability), Premium & Elite Plans
Creating Your First Proposal
Creating a Proposal without a Measurement Report
Step 1: Click the “Proposals” button on the left side navigation.
Note: If this is your first proposal click the “Create proposal” button. Otherwise, click the “New proposal” button.
Step 2: You’ll be greeted with a modal prompting you to use a Measurement Report for this proposal. For our purposes in this article, we’ll skip this by clicking “Create without measurement.” To learn how to create a Proposal with a Measurement Report, click here.
Step 3: Next, enter the job’s address.
Note: If a job with the same address already exists, you can associate your proposal to that job.
Step 4: After that, click the “Create without template" button.
Step 5: Click “Edit Option” at the top of the estimate
Step 6: To add items to this proposal option you can begin to add line items by clicking the “Add item” button. From there, you can either select an existing item from your catalog, or create a description for a new item and select “Add new item”.
Note: Adding a new item to your proposal does not add it your your catalog. To add an item to your catalog click here.
Note: You can also easily create powerful scope of work quotes using your per square pricing model.
Step 7: Next, if the item is new you’ll need to type in the unit cost per item. For example, if you’re selecting a “Starter Strip Shingle” you would add the cost for only one bundle.
Note: Your “unit cost” is your cost to purchase this item, not the amount you are charging your customer.
Step 8: Select the total quantity needed of the item to complete this job.
Step 9: Next, select the waste percentage you want to assign to this item.
Step 10: Then, select the tax percentage. This is the tax amount you will be charging your customers.
Step 11: Repeat these steps for as many items as you would like to include in your proposal.
Note: Don’t forget, if you add any new items to this proposal, they won’t save under your master catalog.
Set Your Margins and Display Pricing
Step 1: Once you have added in all the items for the estimate option, you can select your margin. This is how much you would like to earn for the job. This can be anywhere from 0-100%. To include individual margins, click the “link” button on the item and update.
To learn how to send a proposal, click here.
Calculating Margin
To calculate the margin, take the subtotal price and remove the unit costs. Then, take that number and divide by the subtotal price again to get your margin. Here’s how to calculate your margin based on your desired profit:
Example:
Unit Cost: $1,500
Desired Profit: $750
Desired Total Revenue: Unit Cost ($1,500) + Desired Profit ($750) = $2,250
Desired Profit ($750) / Desired Total Revenue ($2,250) = 0.333
0.3333 * 100 = 33.3%
Note: To customize how your pricing is shown on the proposal, on the main screen of the estimate, click the gear icon beside “Estimates” to open the settings modal. Here you can toggle the relevant options you want to include. The changes will be reflected immediately.
Once you’re done, click the “Preview and send” button.
Note: When you’re done editing, click save to exit the editor and return to the Estimates section.
