> ## Knowledge Base Index
> Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://support.elevationadvisor.com/sitemap.xml
> Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further.
> Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash).

# Estimator/Sales Quick Guide

You price the work. Everything downstream, the schedule, the budget your crews work to, the invoices, the margin the company actually earns, starts with what you build here. Get the takeoff honest and the price follows. Get it wrong and no amount of hustle in the field will fix it.

The good news: you don't have to hold the math in your head. The company's labor rates, equipment costs and overhead are already loaded, so when you enter what the job needs, the price that comes out already covers the cost of doing it.

## Set Yourself Up in Your First Hour

1. Sign in, set your password, and check your name and email under the gear icon. Your name goes on proposals as the person who prepared them.
2. Open **Proposals** and read a recent one end to end, ideally one that was accepted. It's the fastest way to see what good looks like here.
3. Open **Catalog** and get familiar with the materials and templates your company has built. You'll price faster using what's already there than by typing everything fresh.

## How a Proposal Gets Built

**Start it.** Proposals, then Create new Proposal. Pick the client, name the job, and set crew size and billed hours per day. Those two numbers drive the schedule and the price, so don't leave the defaults if they're wrong for this job.

**Lay out the work areas.** Break the property the way the client thinks about it: patio, front yard, garden beds. Work areas are also a sales tool, because they let you show an area as included or not.

**Do the takeoff.** Add sections inside each area and enter measurements. Use templates where you have them. Connect materials, check labor and equipment, and write the description of services the client will actually read.

**Set your markup.** The Markup screen shows PMM per section against your Profit Genie target, colored green, yellow or red. Green means the section pays for itself and your overhead. Yellow is a caution. Red means you're giving work away. Adjust the slider deliberately, not out of nerves.

![Markup: each section scored against your Profit Genie target, green, yellow or red.](https://elevation-knowledgebase.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Proposals/Markup/images/Markup_1.png =1430x916)

**Build packages.** Four by default. Use checkboxes to include or exclude sections, and name them something a client can choose between, not Package 1 and Package 2. This is where average job size grows.

![Packages: check a section on or off for each package. Rename them so a client can tell them apart.](https://elevation-knowledgebase.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Proposals/Packages/Images/Packages_1.png =1782x719)

**Finish and send.** Preview opens the proposal exactly as the client sees it. Add photos, a video walkthrough, and a short personal note, set your payment terms, then Send. Present it in person when you can.

## After They Say Yes

The job becomes a project automatically. You'll still be involved:

* **Change orders** for anything added after signing. Never let the crew absorb extra work.
* **Invoicing**, if your company has you start it: open the project, click Invoice Client, check the terms, click Start Invoicing. Drafts are created on their due dates and someone has to send each one.
* **Client details** stay yours to keep current.

## What You Can't See, and Why

Profit Genie, labor rates and company expenses are not on your menu. That's not distrust, it's separation: the company sets the cost basis, you price jobs against it. If a rate looks wrong, say so rather than working around it with markup.

You also don't have Settings. Integrations, users and company details belong to the owner.

## Your Checklist

* Crew size and billed hours set per job, not left on defaults
* Measurements entered, not estimated from memory
* Every section green or a deliberate yellow before you send
* Packages named so the client can tell them apart
* Photos, video and a personal note on every proposal
* Change order raised the same day extra work is agreed

||| ℹ️ A proposal that sits unopened is worth nothing. Check Email History on the Proposals page to see whether your client opened it, then follow up with a phone call, not another email.