ElectricalBossPro Blog — Estimates & Quotes

Choosing Electrical Estimate Software: What to Check Before You Switch

Switching how you quote is a real decision. Your estimates are how you win work, and changing tools means changing habits for everyone in the office. Whether you are quoting in a word processor, a spreadsheet or generic field-service software, it is worth knowing exactly what to look for before you move. This checklist is built from the topics covered across this series.

Start With How You Work Today

If you are an owner-operator, the routine in The Owner-Operator's Estimate Routine: Quoting at Night Without Losing Tomorrow is a good test: could you run that routine in the software you are considering? If you have an office person, ask them where quoting wastes the most time today. The answers tell you what matters most in the new tool.

Does It Use Your Own Service List and Prices?

Estimate software should be built around the services you actually sell, at prices you set. Check that you can add your own services, from a service call and a GFCI replacement to a panel upgrade and a rewire, with your own names, descriptions and prices. Be wary of tools that push a price list on you; your market and your costs are yours.

ElectricalBossPro builds every estimate from a service list you set up, and it does not supply prices. The setup is covered in Building Electrical Estimates From Your Own Service List.

Can It Price Off the Property?

A lot of electrical work scales with the house. Check whether the software can keep measurements on each property and price services from them. In ElectricalBossPro, properties keep square feet, fixtures and circuits, so a rewire priced per square foot or recessed lighting priced per fixture fills itself in from the numbers on the property.

Does Equipment Carry Through?

Many electrical quotes are about a specific panel, charger or generator. Look for a tool where you can record that equipment on the estimate and have it carry onto the job and onto the house. Generic quoting tools usually stop at a line and a price. ElectricalBossPro keeps equipment on every property, with brand, model, serial number, rating, phase or fuel and location, and the tech sees it on the job card.

How Does the Customer Say Yes?

Check the approval process from the homeowner's side. Can they approve online from a phone without printing anything? Are there follow-up emails for estimates nobody answered? Can the office answer questions by text? In ElectricalBossPro, customers approve online, estimate follow-up emails go to the ones who have not answered, and two-way texting is built in.

What Happens After Approval?

This is the question many tools quietly fail. If the approved quote has to be retyped into a calendar or a work order, you are still doing double entry. Look for software where the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job with the same services and equipment, goes onto a dispatch board, shows up on the tech's phone and turns into an invoice when the job is complete.

Also check where requests come in. A website request form and a sign-up form that flow into one place, like ElectricalBossPro's Form Responses, save a lot of copying from email.

What Does It Cost, and What Is Included?

Pricing for field-service software varies, so read the fine print on what each plan includes. Look for a clear monthly price with the quoting tools included. ElectricalBossPro plans are Start at $59, Pro at $89 and Crew at $199 per month, with estimates, online approval, the tech app and billing on every plan. Plans include a monthly text allowance of 500, 1,000 or 2,000 segments sent and received.

Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

Try It With a Real Quote

The best test is a real estimate. Click around the live demo first, a fully stocked sample electrical company at my.electricalbosspro.com/demo.html, with no signup. Then start a trial, set up your ten most common services, add a property with its measurements and equipment, and send your next real quote through the system. If it is faster than what you do today and the job lands on the board without retyping, you have your answer.

Moving your customer list over is straightforward with CSV import, and imported addresses are placed on the map automatically.

Making the Decision

Your service list, pricing off the property, equipment that carries through, online approval, follow-ups and estimates that become jobs: those are the things that matter in electrical estimate software. For a full look at how ElectricalBossPro handles each one, visit the ElectricalBossPro electrical estimate software page.