1. Introduction
In this guide, I'll be going step by step through building a quote template in ProLine that can automatically price jobs and generate stunning quotes that wow customers.
Properly setting up ProLine quotes, or any quoting system, is a time-consuming process. We’ve done everything we can to make this easy, but accurate quoting is a highly complex process.
ProLine has the power to automatically and accurately price jobs for you, but you have to put in the work on the front end to set it up.
If you offer multiple services, I strongly recommend building out a quote template for one service at a time. You can always combine templates for different services later. However, building out automated quoting for multiple services simultaneously will be overwhelming. Build out one at a time.
2. Configure Measurement Fields & Sub-Calculations
Configuring ProLine to quote jobs starts with project measurements and sub-calculations.
Project measurements and sub-calculations are the building blocks that we will use later to have ProLine auto-calculate quantities and, ultimately, the price of our quotes.
Go to company settings, go to the projects tab, then open the project measurements area. ProLine supports up to 75 different measurement values per project. Only the fields with labels will show in your projects.
Next, look at the Project Sub-Calculations section.
Sub-calculations are formulas that calculate commonly used values from your measurement fields. You can reference these later when we work on actual line-item calculations.
By default, ProLine has Total Square, Hip & Ridge Square, and Starter Square Sub-Calculations. ProLine supports a total of 5 sub-calculations. Change or add more if you need them.
Each sub-calculation has a formula used to calculate its value. This is edited through the quantity calculation editor. Sub-calculations cannot reference other sub-calculations, only project measurements.
Once any additional measurement fields or sub-calculations are added, it’s time to build out your price list.
3. Build Out Your Price List
Go to company settings > quotes > price list.
You can have separate price lists for different locations by selecting the location from the dropdown. This is rarely needed, but it is there if required.
You can import your price list via CSV if you want. This will create all new price list items, so it can’t be used for updating, but it can speed up the initial upload of your price list if you have it in CSV format.
To manually add a price, click Add Price, then add a name.
Fill out the price, unit of measurement, and whether or not it is a material or labor.
Repeat this until all your price list items are inputted.
You will need to go in and update your pricing on this list periodically.
Each item on your price list has a description that you can set. This description will appear under quote line items created with the price list item, but they can also be customized for each individual quote. Add customer-facing descriptions as needed.
Each item in your price list also has a default quantity calculation used by all quote line items that reference it. This can be overridden in individual quote templates if needed, but this is rare. This is edited using the Quantity Calculation Editor.
4. Add Quantity Calculation Formulas
Quantity calculation formulas are how you tell ProLine how to calculate the quantity for each type of material or labor when creating a quote.
If you’ve done quoting using an Excel document or Google sheet before, then this concept should be familiar. ProLine calculation formulas follow a pattern similar to spreadsheet formulas.
ProLine calculation formulas are made up of a very specific list of possible characters and operations. These include:
Numbers: You can add any number, including decimals, into formulas.
Project Measurement Tokens: You will see a list of these values on the right-hand side in the Measurement Token Reference area. By adding one of these tokens, you are telling ProLine to take the value of that measurement field for the project you are quoting and pull that number into the formula. For example, by putting in {{M1}} you can pull in the value for the waste factor and use that in your formula.
Sub-Calculation Tokens: At the bottom of the Measurement Token Reference, you will also find your Sub-Calculations. Unlike measurements, referencing a sub-calculation actually pulls the formula from that sub-calculation into the calculation for whatever you are editing. This is a big time saver and a way to keep calculations more organized by putting commonly used ones (like the calculations for total roof squares) into a single token for the sub-calculation.
Math Operations: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division. These should be fairly self-explanatory. Just use the correct symbol as listed.
Parentheses: To control the order of operations.
Quantity calculation formula order of operations:
1. Parentheses: 1 + 2 * 3 + 4 = 1+ 6 + 4 = 11 vs (1+2) * (3+4) = (3) * (7) = 21
2. Division and Multiplication (from left to right) 1 / 2 * 4 = 2
3. Addition and Subtractions. (from left to right) 3 + 6 - 5 + 1 = 5
Let’s start with creating a calculation formula for a couple of these line items. Now, the final version of these formulas will use sub-calculations, but starting without using sub-calculations illustrates why sub-calculations are useful.
Calculation shingles (No Sub-Calculations): ({{M11}}/100)*(1+({{M1}}/100))
Calculation for coil nails (No Sub-Calculations): ((({{M11}}/100)*(1+({{M1}}/100)))+((({{M2}}+{{M3}})/25)/3)+(({{M7}}/60)/3))/18
These formulas will work but are a bit of a mess to manage. Let's use sub-calculations to clean up and organize them.
Add a sub-calculation “{{C1}}” for total squares: ({{M11}}/100)*(1+({{M1}}/100))
Add a sub-calculation “{{C2}}” for hip & ridge squares: (({{M2}}+{{M3}})/25)/3
Add a sub-calculation “{{C3}}” for starter squares: ({{M7}}/60)/3
Note: You can’t reference sub-calculations in their own formulas or the formulas of other sub-calculations. Sub-calculation tokens can only be added to the formulas for price items or quote line items.
Now with those sub-calculations, let's set new calculations formulas for our price list items:
Calculation shingles (With Sub-Calculations): {{C1}}
Calculation for coil nails (With Sub-Calculations): ({{C1}}+{{C2}}+{{C3}})/18
So much cleaner and easier to see what's going on! It's also easy to update the sub-calculations instead of tracking down the same formula in many different places.
If possible, only use the quantity calculations on your price list. However, if you need to, you can override these and add unique formulas to specific quote line items. This will make it more complicated if you need to go back and change calculations, but the option is there if you need it.
You can also set a minimum value for calculations. This is useful for some items, like OSB Board, where you want to include two sheets at every job, even if the quantity calculated comes out to less than that.
5. Add Quote Template Pages
Go to Company Settings > Quotes and click “Add Quote Template”. Choose a name for the quote template, and then click "Create."
Note: You can use the “Add Template from Library” to pull in pre-built templates, but keep in mind that this will add all new price list items, so if you already built out your price list, don’t use this.
Open/edit your new quote template by clicking the pencil icon.
Click "Add Page" to add a page to your quote. Add as many pages as you need in any type to build the quote layout you're looking for.
Make sure to add a signature page if you need the quote signed. Customize the signing fields to collect any required info.
Use a text page for terms and conditions. Add terms and conditions text and use the [INITIAL] token to apply the signer’s initials when signing.
6. Build Out Quote Options & Upgrades
Click on an option/upgrade to open it.
Click “Add Line Item” and search the price list for an item to add. Once you select one, click “Add”.
Repeat this for all the items needed in the option/upgrade.
Use the icon button on each line item as needed:
Quantity Calculation Editor: Each quote line item defaults to using the formula from the price list item, but you can override this if needed and edit it here. Generally, you’ll want to leave it using the default from the price list item.
Line Item Replacement: If you need to swap out this line item for a different item on your price list, you can do that using this icon.
Visibility Toggle: Line items hidden using this icon will still be calculated and added to the option price, but they won’t appear as a line item on the quote. This is useful for generic items like OSB board that aren’t necessary to explain to the customer but still need to factor into the price.
Delete Line Item: Self-explanatory.
If you need to reorder line items, use the drag handle to move them up or down.
Use the duplicate button on options/upgrade to quickly duplicate them inside the quote template or even onto another quote template entirely.
Add optional descriptions and header images.
7. Configure Quote Template Settings
Navigate to the quote template. Company Settings > Quotes > Template Name (Pencil Icon).
Default Quote Settings
Most of these settings can be overridden or tweaked for individual quotes, but we will set defaults here.
Set a name for quotes created with this template; this is visible to customers.
Set the color theme for this template.
Set financing offer for this template.
Set default profit margin and allowed ranges for managers and basic team members.
Set default deposit amount.
Set default discounts.
Set default line item visibility settings
Send Quote Actions
There are three things to customize here:
Stage to move the project to when the quote is sent.
Text message to send when sending quotes.
Email to send when sending quotes.
Signed Quote Actions
There are three things to customize here:
Stage to move project to when signed.
Send a text message when the quote is signed.
Email to send when the quote is signed.
Billing Settings That Affect Quotes
There are some settings over in Billing (that control invoicing and payments) that also affect quotes in two ways:
By enabling the “Build Into Margin Option,” ProLine will automatically add an additional 3.2% + $0.25 to every quote to compensate for merchant fees for card processing.
If you choose the option to pass fees to your customers (in addition to building them into quotes), ProLine will automatically add a “Cash Discount” to your quotes to compensate (and keep you from accidentally overbidding jobs by double charging for your card processing fees).
If you send your invoices through ProLine, ProLine will automatically remove or add the cash discount based on whether or not the customer is paying cash/ACH or card.
8. Generate, Customize, and Send a Quote
At the quote level, you can further customize the following:
The Quote Name
All pages/options/upgrade settings/line items with rare exceptions.
Set a new cover image.
Change profit margin (within ranges set for user permissions)
Change the deposit amount.
Add/Remove discounts.
Change line item visibility.
When you are happy with the Quote settings, preview the quote by clicking the preview button (with the arrow facing up and right); this will generate the quote. This can take up to 1 minute if you have a lot of images and content in your quote, but usually, it's about 10 seconds.
Once generated, review the quote.
When ready, send the quote. The text and email are the defaults we set at the quote template level, but we can customize them before sending them.
And that concludes our series on How To Setup ProLine Quoting. If you have questions or run into difficulties, don’t hesitate to contact our support: