Remodel estimates and proposals (contractors)
Build a remodel estimate room by room at your cost, add overhead, profit and allowances, then send the homeowner a proposal they can pick upgrades on and sign.
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Step 1: Open the remodel builder
Open Sales & Proposals and press 🏗 Remodel estimate. It's there for general contractors and kitchen and bath remodelers. Pick the homeowner, name the job, and add a line about it, like “8 × 10 ft bath, tub to walk-in shower”. The proposal headline is what the homeowner sees first.
Everything here is at your cost. The homeowner never sees a cost, a markup or a percent.
Step 2: Start from a template or your price book
Pick Bathroom remodel or Kitchen remodel and a level (for example Refresh, Full remodel or Walk-in shower) to load typical rooms with quantities. Then change the quantities to what you measured.
In any room or area, + Add from my price book brings in an assembly: its labor hours and every material, sized to your quantity. For example, 96 sq ft of shower wall tile brings the labor, the tile allowance, thinset and grout. + Add a line adds anything else: labor, material, a subcontractor, equipment and dump fees, or an allowance.
Step 3: Bring in a job from Excel, JobTread, Buildertrend or Houzz Pro
Already estimated it somewhere else? Export it to a spreadsheet (Excel or CSV) and press Excel / CSV, JobTread, Buildertrend or Houzz Pro. We read the columns for the room or cost group, item, type, quantity, unit and unit cost (or total cost), and show you what we found before anything is added.
Step 4: Upgrades and allowances
Upgrades are extras the homeowner can tick on the proposal, like a heated floor or a frameless glass door. The price updates as they pick.
Allowances are budgets for the things they choose, like tile, a vanity or faucets. The proposal explains that picks under the budget cost less and picks over it are priced before you order.
Step 5: Your price, and how you get paid
Job totals adds up labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment and allowances, then your contingency, overhead and profit percents. Your card fee (3.9% unless you turned it off) is built into the price, so you can say yes to cards and keep every dollar. The homeowner pays the same price by card, bank or check.
Set the payment schedule (it has to add up to 100%). The first payment is the deposit they pay when they sign. Press Save these numbers as my defaults to start every remodel estimate with your percents, crew labor cost, schedule, exclusions and warranty.
Sales tax isn't added as a separate line. Include the tax you pay on materials in your material costs.
Step 6: Preview and send
Press Preview proposal to see exactly what the homeowner sees: your note, what you'll do in each room, the allowances, the upgrades, the price and payment schedule, what's not included and your warranty. Under each room, What the homeowner reads is written for you from your lines; change the words any time.
Press Send to homeowner to email it, or copy the link to text it yourself. They pick upgrades, type their name to sign, and pay the deposit by card or bank.
Step 7: After they sign: bill each milestone
A signed estimate locks. Under Bill by milestone, press Bill as each stage is done, and it makes a draft invoice for that payment. A deposit they already paid is applied when you send the first one. Anything that changes after signing is a change order the homeowner approves first, in the job's job costing.
Still stuck? Tell us what you were trying to do and where you got stuck. A screenshot helps.
Your ticks are saved in this browser only. Updated October 2026.
Questions about this
Does the homeowner see my costs or markup?
No. They see what you’ll do, the allowances, the upgrades and the price. Costs, overhead, profit and your card fee stay on your side.
Can I still use the regular estimate builder?
Yes. New Estimate works the same as always. Remodel estimates open in the remodel builder.
Is the price in my price book what the homeowner pays?
Not in the remodel builder. It uses your costs and your crew labor cost, then adds your overhead, profit and card fee to the whole job.