An estimate is the number you give before the wall is open. It's your best read on what the work will take, written down so the customer can decide, and honest about what might change once you're in there. The difference between an estimate that turns into a job and one that goes quiet is rarely the price. It's whether the customer can read it and feel sure about what they're buying.
This template is for that moment: the tech has looked at the system, the homeowner is standing there, and the question is "so what will this cost?" Fill it in below, print it or download it, or skip to the end to see what the live version does with the same lines.
What an estimate has to say
The customer reads an estimate to answer four questions. Put the answers in this order.
- What's wrong, in plain words. "The blower motor has failed and the capacitor is swollen" tells them you looked. "Service call" tells them nothing.
- What you'll do about it. The scope, one line per thing, in words they'll recognize when the work is done. If there's a choice, say so: repair it now for this, or replace the unit for that.
- What it costs, and what might move. Parts, labor, the total, and a sentence about what could change: "If the heat exchanger shows cracks once the panel is off, that's a separate conversation before we continue."
- What's not included. Permits, drywall repair, hauling the old unit, electrical work by another trade. One short list. The things you leave off this list are the things you'll be arguing about later.
Then two dates and a line. The date you wrote it, the date it's good through, and a place for the customer to approve it.
Estimate or quote
The trades use the words loosely, and the customer doesn't know the difference, so your paperwork has to. An estimate is an approximation: the price can change if the job turns out different from what you could see, and you say so on the page. A quote is a fixed price for a defined scope, good until a date, and once accepted it's a contract. Service and repair work is usually estimated, because you can't see inside the wall or the unit until you're in it. Installs and projects with a settled scope are usually quoted.
This page is the estimate. For a fixed-price offer with options and a signature block, use the quote template. Either way, the customer sees "estimate" on their paperwork for repairs and "quote" for a committed price, and your office knows which is which.
Pricing the lines without underselling the job
Diagnostic first. If you charge to come out and look, the estimate shows that fee and whether it's credited against the work. Most residential shops credit it if the customer goes ahead; say so, it's a reason to say yes.
Flat rate or time and materials. Flat-rate shops put the repair as one line from the price book and list parts by name without separate prices. Time-and-materials shops show hours at a rate and parts at a price. Either way, the customer should be able to see what the number is made of.
A range is honest when the scope is open. "Clear the main line: $275 to $450 depending on what the camera finds" is better than a single number you'll have to walk back. Give the range, name what decides it, and say you'll confirm before going past the low end.
The deposit. For work that needs ordered parts or a scheduled crew, the estimate names a deposit to get on the calendar. A customer who has paid a deposit has decided; one who hasn't is still shopping.
The good-through date
Every estimate expires. Parts prices move, your calendar fills, and an estimate from March shouldn't be binding in August. Thirty days is normal for service work; a week or two is reasonable in a season when prices are moving. Write the actual date, not "30 days," so there's nothing to compute.
The date also gives you a reason to follow up. "Your estimate is good through the 22nd, want me to hold a spot that week?" is a text that gets answered. The silence after an estimate is where most shops lose the job, not the price.
Contracts, notices and the law
An estimate the customer approves and you act on is a contract, whatever the heading says. Two rules shape what it has to carry. The FTC's cooling-off rule gives a customer three business days to cancel most sales made at their home over $25, and you're required to tell them so in writing at the time. California goes further: a written home-improvement contract is required above $500, with the license number, the scope, the schedule and specific notices, and the state's licensing board publishes what it must contain. Several other states, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania among them, have home-improvement acts of their own.
The template has a notices line for that reason. Put your state's required language there, and your license number in the header. If you work across a state line, keep two versions.
Sending it before the truck leaves
The estimate that gets approved is the one the customer sees while you're still there. Fill it in on the tablet or the phone, go through it line by line, and send it by text with a link so they have it in writing before you've backed out. If they want to think about it, the follow-up is already scheduled: a text in two days, another before the good-through date, then a call.
Print it from this page, save a PDF from the print dialog, or download the file for Word or Pages. If you keep a master with your business details, duplicate it per job rather than typing over the last customer's numbers.
When the template stops being enough
A template is fine until you're chasing eleven open estimates from memory. The live version in General Dispatch is the same document created from the job: the lines come from your services and price book, the customer gets a link by text or email, the page shows the options if there are any, and they approve it with a typed or drawn signature and pay the deposit by card on the page into your own Stripe account. Every approval, view and signature is recorded on the job, and the ones that go quiet get the polite follow-up until they say yes or no. It's part of the $97 a month business plan, and it reads exactly like the sheet below.