Watch a short walkthrough of how your work moves through LMN, from budget to payment. Prefer to read? Each step is below.
How does work flow through LMN?
Your work moves through eight steps:
1. Budget
What it is: Your Budget is your costs and profit goal in one place: sales forecasts, labor, equipment, materials, subcontractors, and overhead.
What it does for you: Your Budget sets up the entire system for success. It is the foundation for your pricing, so your prices cover your costs and your profit.
2. Price List
What it is: Your Price List is a catalog of your labor, equipment, material, and subcontractor items, with production rates and reusable templates.
What it does for you: Your Price List turns your budget into prices your estimators can reuse, so pricing stays consistent.
3. Estimate
What it is: An Estimate is the price and the billing plan for the work you sell to a contact in your CRM.
What it does for you: An Estimate defines what the work costs, what it sells for, and how you will bill for it.
4. Job
What it is: A Job is approved work, turned into tasks for your crew.
What it does for you: A Job carries your estimate forward, including work areas, estimated hours, and crew notes, so nobody rebuilds it.
5. Crew and Time
What it is: Your Crew completes the work and tracks their time in the Crew app.
What it does for you: Crew and Time records what was done, so your office can bill for completed work.
6. Invoice
What it is: An Invoice is a bill that you review, approve, and send. LMN builds it from your completed work or from your billing plan, such as a deposit or milestone.
What it does for you: An Invoice turns finished work into money owed, and customers can open it in the Customer Portal.
7. Payment
What it is: Payment is how your customers pay.
What it does for you: With LMN Pay, customers pay online by card or bank transfer. You can also record payments such as checks and cash.
8. QuickBooks
What it is: QuickBooks is your accounting software.
What it does for you: Your invoices and payments go to QuickBooks Online so your books stay in step with your work.
How will I bill my customers?
It depends on the work you sell. LMN supports two main billing paths:
Recurring service work, such as maintenance. You can bill per season, per visit, or per hour or unit.
Design-build and install work. You can bill a deposit plus milestones, or send a single invoice when the project is complete.
You can mix billing types in one service estimate. For example, you can bill a maintenance contract per season and bill extra work per visit.
FAQs
Do I have to use every part of LMN?
No. We build your setup around your goals, and your onboarding specialist helps you decide what to start with.
What is the difference between a service estimate and a standard estimate?
Use a service estimate for maintenance and recurring work. Use a standard estimate for design-build and install work.
How do my customers pay me?
With LMN Pay, customers open the invoice from their email or the Customer Portal and pay by card or bank transfer. You can also record payments you receive another way, such as checks or cash.
Where does QuickBooks fit in?
QuickBooks comes at the end. After an invoice is sent and paid, the invoice and payment go to QuickBooks Online.