Build, customize, and send service estimates right from the LMN Crew app. You can walk the property, price out the work, and put a proposal in your client's hands before you leave the driveway.
In this article:
Before you begin
Service Mobile Estimates are available for users with estimating permissions. If a user doesn't have one of the three estimate permissions (Only their Estimates, All Estimates, or All & Unlock Estimates), the estimating feature won't appear in the Crew app.
To check, go to Settings > Users & Staff > Manage Users & Staff, select a user, and click View All Permissions
Find your estimates
Open the LMN Crew app and sign in.
Tap the navigation icon (three horizontal lines, top left) > My Estimates
Your list now shows standard and service estimates together, with the most recent at the top. It includes estimates assigned to you as the estimator, and each card shows the contact name, jobsite address, status, and total price.
Filter the list:
Created | Look back 30 days, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year. (The list is no longer limited to 90 days.) |
Type | Show standard estimates or service estimates only. |
Status | Once you pick a Type, narrow the list by estimate status. |
Your filters are saved, so the list looks the same next time you open the app.
Create a Service Estimate
On My Estimates, tap Create Estimate, then select Service Estimate.
Choose a contact, or tap Create New Contact to add one on the spot.
Confirm the jobsite address. We fill it in from the contact when we can, but you can switch to another jobsite or add a new one.
Select a Division
Tap Save Estimate. You're set as the estimator and salesperson.
Add services and items
Tap Add Service
Choose Template to start from a work area template in your price list, or New to build one from scratch.
For a new service, pick the Service Type and Billing Type, set the # of Visits (defaults to 1), and add a Cost Code if you use them.
Tap Add Item to choose from your price list (All, Labor, Equipment, Materials, Subs, and Other tabs). Select as many items as you need.
Set the quantity and sales tax for each item.
You can also use a calculator to set quantity: Tap the calculator icon on an item to figure out its quantity.
Production rate calculators are available for labor items. Pick a calculator, enter your measurements, adjust the production rates if needed, and we total the hours for you.
Installation rate calculators are available for any item added from a template that has an installation rate set up. Enter a measurement, like square feet, and we suggest the quantity.
Tap Save to apply the result to the item's quantity.
💡You can still adjust the quantity afterward by using Edit Items to update quantity and tax across all items at once or clicking into one specific item.
Add Client Notes and Crew Notes to any service, and use the financial summary at the top of the estimate to keep an eye on cost, price, profit, and labor hours as you build.
Add Photos & Files
Show clients what you saw on site. Attach photos and files to a service estimate so the details travel with the estimate, from the walkthrough to the proposal.
Open your estimate and go to Estimate Files
Tap the + button
Take a new photo or choose a photo or file from your device.
Markup a photo to call out what matters, like the bed edge you'll re-cut or the sprinkler head that needs repairing.
Save. You can view or delete attachments from the same screen.
💡You can add up to 20 files, and you can view or delete any of them from the same screen. When you are offline, the photos will wait in the queue to be synced.
Mark up a photo
Markup lets you draw directly on a photo so your client knows exactly what you're pricing. Annotate the photo, save it, and the marked-up version is what goes with the estimate. Once you markup a photo and save, we cannot revert that photo back to the original version, so make sure you’re completely finished before saving.
💡Take your photos and markup during the walkthrough. It's faster than trying to remember what you meant to point out once you're back at the truck, and your client sees the same details you noticed.
What your client sees
Photos and files you add appear in the Proposal Preview and in the client-facing web proposal, so you can check them before you send.
💡Photos and files stay in sync with the web app. Attachments you add in the Crew app are available on the estimate in LMN on your computer, and the other way around. To add or manage files from the web, see Client Estimate Files in Service Web Proposals.
Make a Service Optional
Give your client choices without building multiple proposals. Mark any service as Optional and your client decides whether they want it.
Open the service (or tap Add Service).
Turn ON the Optional toggle.
Tap Add Service or Save
How it works:
New services default to Required
Optional services show a checkbox and an Optional badge on the client's web proposal. Required services don't have a checkbox.
Your client's total updates on the proposal as they select or clear optional services.
Unselected optional services don't count toward your estimate's financial summary until your client accepts them.
When your client approves, required and accepted optional services move to the job. Declined ones don't.
💡 Want to recommend a service without requiring it? Pre-select it in the estimator preview before you send. Your client sees it selected and can still clear it.
For the full picture, including what happens after approval, see Optional Work Areas and Services.
Customize the Client View by Billing Type
Every service estimate is different, and so is what your client needs to see. Tap Customize Client View to choose what shows on the proposal. We only show the settings that apply to the billing types on your estimate, so you're never scrolling through options you can't use.
Billing type | What you can show or hide |
Billed Per Month | Price per month, # of months, # of visits, and total (turn them on or off together with the Service toggle, or expand All details to choose individually). Taxes, monthly total, and contract total are separate toggles. |
Billed Per Visit & Hourly | Price per visit and # of visits and contract total toggled together. |
Other | Payment schedule: coming soon! |
💡Good to know:
If your estimate mixes billing types, you'll see a group for each one.
Your selections carry through to the proposal preview and what your client sees on the web proposal.
Use Save as Default on web to keep your preferred settings for future estimates. It isn't available on mobile.
Preview & Send
Tap Preview and Send to see the draft web proposal exactly as your client will.
Tap Send Estimate (top right).
Confirm the Send To email. It fills in with the contact's primary email, and you can add more from the contact or type in a new one.
Edit the subject if you'd like, then send.
Sign on site
Close the deal while you're still standing on the property. When your client is ready to say yes, they can approve and sign right from your device, with no PDF to download and no account to create.
Open your estimate and tap Preview and Send to bring up the proposal exactly as your client sees it.
Hand your device to your client so they can review the services, pricing, photos, and files.
If you've included optional services, your client can select or clear them. The total updates as they go.
Your client taps Approve & Sign and completes the electronic signature.
💡 Not ready to sign on the spot? Tap Send Estimate and your client can review and sign from the link in their email whenever they're ready.
⚠️ Nothing is final until your client submits Approve & Sign, Request Changes, or Decline. If you change the estimate after your client has signed, resend the proposal so they see the update.
What's Not Available on Mobile Yet?
Creating or editing estimate templates
Billing setup
Creating new items from scratch
Locking estimates
Scheduling estimates
PDF generation for mobile estimates
Tablet-optimized layouts