Contractor estimating software that quotes on site and chases every open estimate

Contractor estimating software builds a priced quote for a job, sends it to the customer and tracks whether it is won. BRIX builds quotes on site, then follows up every open estimate automatically by text and email. When the customer says yes, the quote becomes a job, then an invoice, then a synced QuickBooks entry.

What does contractor estimating software do?

Contractor estimating software turns what you see on a job into a priced, professional quote the customer can say yes to. The basic jobs are the same for every trade: list the work, price labor and materials, add your markup, send it, and track whether it closes. Where tools differ is what happens after you hit send.

Most estimating apps stop at the PDF. The quote goes out, sits in the customer's inbox, and the owner means to call back on Friday. Friday turns into next week. By then the homeowner has signed with the company that followed up. That's the gap BRIX is built around: the quote is only half the job. The other half is chasing it.

Why do contractors lose estimates they should win?

Contractors mostly lose winnable estimates to slow or missing follow-up, not to price. Customers who ask for three quotes rarely compare them line by line. They pick the company that answered their questions, showed up on time and checked in after the visit. If you never follow up, you're asking them to chase you.

• The quote goes out late. You walk the job Tuesday and type the estimate Thursday night. A competitor sent theirs from the driveway.
• Nobody owns follow-up. The owner is on a roof, the office is on the phone, and open estimates live in a sent folder.
• The numbers are guesses. Without your real labor rate, burden and overhead, a quote can win the job and lose money. See how to price a job.
• The customer has a question and no one to ask. "Does that include haul-away?" goes unanswered, so they call someone else.

How BRIX handles quotes and estimates

1. 1

   Build the quote on site.

   Walk the job, add the line items and price it while you're still standing in the customer's kitchen or driveway. The customer gets the quote before you've backed out of the driveway, not three days later.

2. 2

   Send it with a clear scope.

   Spell out what's included, what isn't, and how long the price holds. Clear scope cuts the back-and-forth that kills deals and heads off disputes after the job. Our estimate template shows what to include.

3. 3

   Follow up automatically.

   BRIX follows up every open estimate by text and email on a schedule you approve, so no quote dies in an inbox. When the customer replies with a question, you see it in the customer's record.

4. 4

   Turn the yes into a job.

   A won quote becomes a scheduled job on the calendar, so the office doesn't retype the scope, the address or the price.

5. 5

   Invoice and sync.

   When the work is done, the job becomes an invoice, and the customer, invoice and payment sync to QuickBooks.

That exchange is the difference between a quote that sits and a job on the board. BRIX sent the nudge without anyone remembering to; the owner only had to answer one question from his phone. The timing and wording of follow-ups are set with you during setup.

What should a contractor estimate include?

A contractor estimate should include your business details, the customer and job address, a plain-language scope, itemized labor and materials (or a flat price per task), taxes where they apply, the total, payment terms and an expiration date. Exclusions matter as much as inclusions, because most job-site disputes start with "I thought that was included."

How do you price a quote so it actually makes money?

Price a quote from your true costs up, not from what the last guy charged. Start with labor hours times a loaded labor rate (wage plus taxes, insurance and benefits), add materials at cost, add a share of overhead, then add profit. The common mistake is marking up costs by a percentage and calling it margin. A 50% markup is a 33% margin, not 50%.

Price = (Labor + Materials + Overhead share) ÷ (1 − Target margin)

Check your numbers with the markup and margin calculator and read markup vs. margin if the two still blur together. If you're not sure what your labor really costs, start with the labor burden calculator.

Should you give customers good, better and best options?

Offering two or three options on a quote gives the customer a choice between your options instead of a choice between you and a competitor. A repair-or-replace pair, or a standard and a premium unit, works well for HVAC, water heaters, roofing and panels. Keep it to three options at most, and make the middle one the one you'd recommend to your own family. More in good-better-best pricing.

What happens after the customer says yes?

This is where BRIX differs from a standalone estimating app. Most quoting tools hand you a signed PDF and leave the rest to you: retype it into the schedule, retype it into the invoice, retype it into QuickBooks. Every retype is a chance to drop a line item or fat-finger a price.

1. Call. The AI receptionist answers, qualifies the caller and books the estimate visit.
2. Quote. You build and send the quote on site.
3. Follow-up. Sales automation chases the open estimate by text and email.
4. Job. The won quote goes on the calendar and scheduling and dispatch assigns the crew.
5. Invoice. The finished job becomes an invoice, and invoicing and payments chases it until it's paid.
6. Books. Customers, invoices and payments sync to QuickBooks.

How does BRIX compare with quoting in other field service apps?

Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan all include quoting, and all three are solid choices if you want a full field service app and are happy to run follow-up yourself. The differences that matter for estimates are what's included in the base plan and what costs extra.

Already happy with quoting in another tool? You don't have to switch. BRIX connects with Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan and can add call answering and follow-up on top.

Quoting by trade