Estimating | Troubleshooting

Within this article you will have a comprehensive breakdown of the common LMN Estimating Troubleshooting resolutions!

Select from the list below to jump to its spot within the article!

• Why can I only see my own estimates and not others?
• I Can't Find an Estimate in my Estimate List. Where is it?
• Classic Reports Error: Your report could not be generated - Incorrect syntax near the keyword "and" or "="
• Classic Reports (Show Install Details) ERROR: “Your report could not be generated. The following error occurred:Invalid attempt to read when no data is present.”
• Why isn't my logo showing on my estimates or proposals?
• Why is the price on the estimate different from what I listed it as in the Price List?
• My prices or work-area totals aren't showing on the proposal
• Sales tax didn't carry forward when I copied or renewed an estimate
• My customer can see my cost, breakeven, or profit — how do I hide it?
• Preview & Send won't load, spins, or shows an error — and the Proposals tab is empty
• My proposal preview / PDF shows the wrong totals or $0.00
• Print Report ERROR: “Object reference not set to an instance of an object”
• Misaligned Words in Terms & Conditions
• Terms & Conditions and footer text look wrong

Why can I only see my own estimates and not others?

There are 2 settings you have to be sure you've set correctly in order to view other users' estimates.

Setting 1:  Security Permission to View Others' Estimates

Your user account must have permission to estimating set to Admin Access.  

• Default Access permission only allows estimators to view/edit their own estimates.

Note:  Only the security admin on your company account can change/edit your security permissions.

Setting 2:  Estimate Screen Set to Show Me: All Company Estimates

On the list of estimates, you can choose whether you want to view just My Estimates or All Company Estimates.  You will only see this option if you have the estimating security permission set to Company Administrator (step 1).

I Can't Find an Estimate in my Estimate List. Where is it?

There are a few common reasons users can't find a specific estimate.

1. Are you sure you're looking in the right list? (there are Standard Estimates and Service Estimates).
2. Are you sure you're looking at ALL COMPANY estimates and not just your own?
3. Do you have anything in the SEARCH box?  Make sure your search box is blank (will search all) or that you are correctly spelling what you are searching for.
4. Are you filtering by Status?  Make sure your status dropdown is set to [ALL STATUSES].
5. Has the estimate been archived? When you delete an estimate, the first (default) option is to just archive it. There's an Active and/or Archived estimates dropdown on the far right of the estimates list.  Make sure it is set correctly.

Classic Reports Error: Your report could not be generated - Incorrect syntax near the keyword "and" or "="

This error occurs in the Classic Reports when you're trying to print a proposal and either all Work areas are on Hold or there is no pricing information in the estimate and only notes.

Option A: Certain Classic reports require pricing information before they can be run. For example, detailed pricing reports.

• To fix this, simply go back to your estimate and make sure all Work areas are not on Hold, or that the estimate has at least 1 work area with pricing information.

• To set this up - Go to Settings > My Settings > Report Settings and fill in all the details and click on Save Changes (at the top right corner).

Classic Reports (Show Install Details) ERROR: “Your report could not be generated. The following error occurred: Invalid attempt to read when no data is present.”

To fix this error, we recommend:

1. Opening a Notepad (type in "Notepad" in your Microsoft search bar)
2. 
3. Go into the Client Notes section of your Estimate:
   • Copy and paste each client notes section into the Notepad
   • Delete what is currently stored in your Client Notes
   • From the Notepad, you would then copy and paste these notes and put it back into the Client Notes section of your estimate. Ensure to click Save Changes. Following this step, keeps the formatting of the notes so that the LMN system recognizes it. Otherwise, if you copy and paste the notes from something such as a Word Doc, it can cause the error message to occur when generating the Classic Reports (Show Install Details). 

Client Notes Section

Notepad

Why isn't my logo showing on my estimates or proposals?

The following reason(s) may be the cause of this: 

1. The Company Logo pulls from the Settings > My Settings > Report Settings of the Salesperson that is listed on the estimate.
   • Uploading a logo into your Settings > Report Settings is not a universal option across all of the company's accounts. This is intentional so that salespeople can have different logos because sometimes a company may have two different divisions so they may want two logos to be shown separately, one for the Snow division and another for the Lawn Care Division.
     • Therefore, if you are not the Salesperson for the estimate, you will need to make sure the dedicated Salesperson has uploaded the company's logo into their Report Settings so that it can be reflected when you preview your estimate or proposal. 
     • Note: The Report Settings is also where your Estimator/Salesperson should be uploading their signature. If uploaded in the Report Settings, their signature will automatically appear on proposals being generated and sent out.
2. In the tab Print Reports (before previewing your proposal/ estimate) > Header Options > ensure that Letterhead mode is NOT checked off (checking this option off will HIDE the logo)
3. The logo in the Company Information Settings is specifically for the Customer Portal, if you would like your company logo to appear on the estimate or proposal, ensure it is uploaded in the proper section of LMN which is Settings > My Settings > Report Settings  

My prices or work-area totals aren't showing on the proposal

If prices stopped appearing on your proposal — especially after switching to the Preview & Send experience — it's almost always a visibility setting that controls what your customer sees. Here's how to get your pricing back on the proposal.

The proposal is a customer-facing document, so LMN gives you control over which pricing details show and which stay internal. If a price disappears, the appropriate setting is most likely turned off.

If you're using Preview & Send (Beta):

1. Open your estimate and click Preview and send.
2. In the top-right corner of the preview screen, click the Customize (gear) icon.
3. In the settings panel, turn on the visibility toggles for what you want your customer to see:
   • Line Item Prices — shows the individual lines within each work area.
   • Unit Price — shows the price on each individual line item.
   • Taxes — shows the work-area subtotal/total, the overall subtotal, taxes, and total price.
4. Once you make your selections and hit APPLY the preview updates, so you can confirm it matches what you want before sending.

This is also how you control the difference between line-item prices and work-area totals. If you want your customer to see the total price for each work area but not the cost of every individual line item, turn Line Item Prices off and keep Subtotals & Taxes on.

If you're using the Print Reports flow:

1. Open your estimate and click the Print Reports tab.
2. Select Customer Proposal or Service Proposal and click Preview.
3. Use the report options on the left-hand menu to turn pricing details on or off, then re-preview to confirm.

Notes, warnings & tips

• Line-item price vs. work-area total are separate settings. Turning off item prices does not hide the work-area total, and vice versa — adjust each toggle to get the exact mix you want.
• The proposal preview is what your customer will see. If the preview shows pricing correctly, your sent proposal will too.
• If a work area shows $0.00 or no total, check that the work area isn't on Hold and that it has pricing information entered.
• If you've confirmed every visibility setting is on and pricing still won't appear on the printout, take a screenshot of the editor and the preview side by side and reach out to Support so we can take a closer look with you.

Sales tax didn't carry forward when I copied or renewed an estimate

When you copy or renew an estimate, the new estimate uses the tax settings from the original — so if your jurisdiction's tax rate has changed since then, the old rate comes along and won't update on its own. Refresh it right on the estimate:

1. Open the estimate and go to Workareas + Pricing (Standard) or Services + Pricing (Service).
2. Click the Edit Taxes button.
3. The fast way (recommended for a rate change): set the correct tax in the Edit Taxes window and apply it to one or more work/service areas at once. This is ideal when you've done work in a different county or your rate has changed.
4. The one-by-one way: open a specific work area or service, click the Edit Taxes tab, and adjust just that item.
5. Save, then preview to confirm the new rate is applied.

Note - Tax pulls from your Price List — specifically your default tax setup and the tax assigned to each source item — so if a new estimate is showing the wrong rate, fix the tax on the source items and your tax defaults in the Price List, not just on the estimate.

My customer can see my cost, breakeven, or profit — how do I hide it?

Your cost, breakeven, and profit are internal numbers and shouldn't appear on what your customer receives. If they showed up on a proposal, it's almost always because an internal report was selected instead of a customer proposal. Here's how to make sure your customer only sees the price.

Every Standard and Service estimate shows three tiles on the estimate screen — Total Cost, Breakeven, and Total Price. Those are for your eyes: your direct job costs, your costs plus overhead recovered, and the price the customer pays. The customer-facing proposal is meant to show the price, not your cost or breakeven.

Send the customer proposal, not an internal report. When you go to Print Reports, choose the Customer Proposal (Standard) or Service Proposal (Service) report. Avoid sending the Estimate Review report or Job Planners — those are internal documents and they include cost and breakeven detail. If your customer ever saw your cost or breakeven, sending an internal report instead of the proposal is the most likely reason.

If you're using Preview & Send:

1. Open the estimate and click Preview and send.
2. Click the Customize (gear) icon in the top-right.
3. Turn Item Prices off so individual line costs/prices don't show, and keep Subtotals & Taxes on so your customer still sees the work-area total and overall price.
4. The preview updates live — confirm it shows only what you want before sending.

If you're using the Print Reports flow:

1. Open the estimate and click Print Reports.
2. Select the Customer Proposal or Service Proposal report.
3. Use the Pricing Options (and the left-hand report options) to control which totals appear. 
4. Click Preview to confirm, then publish/email.

Notes, warnings & tips

• Cost and breakeven never appear on the proposal reports — they live on the internal estimate screen and on the Estimate Review report only.
• Always preview before sending. The preview is exactly what your customer will see, so it's your safety check.
• If you've confirmed you're sending the proposal report with the right options and cost still appears, take a screenshot of the report settings and the preview and reach out to Support so we can look into it with you.

Why won’t Preview & Send load, spins, or shows an error or the Proposals tab is empty

If the Preview & Send page fails to load, spins endlessly, throws a server error, or your Estimates > Proposals tab comes up empty, work through these steps. Most cases clear with a quick refresh; the rest we'll want to see so we can investigate.

If Preview & Send won't load or keeps spinning:

1. Refresh and retry once. A single reload clears most one-off hiccups.
2. Clear your cache and log back in. Log out of LMN, clear your browser cache (so you're on the latest version), then log in and try again.
3. Allow pop-ups. Make sure your browser allows pop-ups for my.golmn.com.
4. Use a supported browser. Open LMN in the latest version of Chrome or Edge.
5. Try the other flow as a workaround. If Preview & Send won't cooperate and you need to get an urgent proposal out, you can temporarily send it by using Print reports: Print Reports > Customer Proposal > Preview > Publish/Email Proposal. (See "Two Ways to Send a Proposal" for the full steps.)

If you see a server error (for example, "Server Error in '/' Application," a 500 on preview, or a 400 on send):

1. Try the action once more.
2. If it still fails, reply to Support with: the estimate ID, a screenshot of the error, and what you were doing when it appeared (previewing vs. sending). That's exactly what we need to trace it quickly.

If your Estimates > Proposals tab is empty or not populating: The Proposals tab is a bulk view of proposals you've already emailed/published to customers, so you can filter, review, and take actions like sending reminders or updating statuses. If it's blank:

1. Confirm you've actually published or emailed at least one proposal — the tab only lists proposals that have been sent.
2. Ensure that the date range and filters above are not excluding the proposals you expect to see here.
   1. Please note the date filter is looking at the “SHARED DATE” (the date the estimate was first shared with the client) not the “ESTIMATE DATE” or any follow up re-sends, so keep that in mind.  Ex. If your estimate was created early in the year but only sent out much later that will impact if the proposals appear in your filtered Proposal list.
3. In the meantime, you can work with proposals directly from each estimate (Portal / Print Reports / Preview & Send) or send in bulk from the Estimates list.

Why is the price on the estimate different from what I listed it as in the Price List ?

If the price on the estimate is different from what you listed it as in the price list, you will need to double check the following: 

1. Did you add a custom profit?
2. Did you override the profit? (if you can see a blue revert arrow beside the profit, that means it has been adjusted)
3. If you edited the OHR Factor % from the “edit” area of your Budget/ Overhead Recovery , that will change the prices on the estimate as well
4. Check that the profit in the price list is the same as the profit on the estimate (refer to photos below):
   • check that the budget being used for your estimate is the same one for your price list/ catalogue; if your item from the price list is using a Profit Margin from the same Budget, there should not be a change
   • If there is a change, then a custom Profit Margin or custom Price has been applied

WITHIN THE ESTIMATE

THE ITEM WITHIN THE PRICE LIST 

My proposal preview / PDF shows the wrong totals or $0.00

Sometimes the proposal preview doesn’t look like the editing screen. This is usually due to settings that control what the customer sees versus what is internal only.

Understand what the preview shows

1. The proposal preview is a customer-facing document. It may:
   • Hide internal‑only items
   • Show totals differently depending on estimate type and billing type
   • Group or summarize line items to keep the proposal easy to read
2. The Services & Pricing tab for the estimate, by contrast, always shows you the full internal breakdown.

$0.00 appearing on services or line items

1. Open the estimate and locate the affected service/item.
2. Check the billing type (for example, seasonal vs. Per Visit vs. Per Hour).
   • For Per Season services, LMN calculates a seasonal total that can be shown on the proposal/contract.
   • For Per Visit and Per Hour/Unit services, LMN does not know in advance how many visits or hours will occur. Those services are billed when work is completed, using actual visits/hours from jobs/crew.  

Totals don’t match what I expect

If your subtotal, taxes, or fees look different:

1. Confirm tax and fee settings for the customer and services:
   • Check which services are taxable and which are not.
   • Make sure any fees or surcharges are configured to show on proposals as intended.
2. If you changed settings after creating the estimate:
   • Some changes only apply to new estimates, not existing ones.
   • Try updating the specific tax/fee on the current estimate instead of relying on new defaults.
3. Save, then generate a new preview and compare again.

If the preview still looks incorrect, take a screenshot of the editor and the preview side by side and contact Support so we can look into it further.

Print Report ERROR: “Object reference not set to an instance of an object”

When previewing your estimate under Print Reports, you may see the following error “Object reference not set to an instance of an object” due to these possible reasons:

1) Check the estimate and ensure there isn’t any line items with $0 amounts or incomplete fields within the work or service areas

2) Check that the salesperson on the estimate has access to the Estimate and Budget section of LMN. The Super Admin or anyone with security permissions can check this for them by going to Settings > Users & Staff > LMN Users > click on the user’s name > press on the Permissions tab > allow access to Estimating and Budgeting section

3)  Settings > Estimate Settings  (does the salesperson of the estimate have a default budget set up for Standard and Service Estimates in this settings section? If it appears blank, the error message may appear, please ensure a default budget is chosen)

4) Also check Settings > My Settings > Report Settings (make sure that all fields are completed in this settings for the Salesperson listed on the estimate) 

Misaligned Words in Terms & Conditions

If you are running into the issue with misaligned words or sentences (even when it seems aligned) when creating a PDF proposal it is due to the format and spacing issues. Generally, text that has been copy and pasted from another application into LMN creates this issue. 

To correct this, simply copy the items that are misaligned and paste it into Notepad; Notepad will remove all previously applied custom formatting from other word processing applications such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word.

After the formatting has been pasted in Notepad and adjusted, you can now copy the text from notepad and paste it back into LMN to clear any prior formatting errors.

Terms & Conditions and footer text look wrong

If your Terms & Conditions (T&Cs), footer, or other default text don’t look right on proposals, the issue is usually in Estimate Settings or account‑level settings.

Where to change T&Cs and footers

1. Go to Settings → Estimate Settings.
2. Look for the sections that control:
   • Default Terms & Conditions
   • Headers / Footers or other default text blocks
3. Update the text as needed and save.

What changes on existing vs new estimates

1. In many setups, changing default T&Cs and footers will:
   • Apply automatically to new estimates created after the change.
   • Not retroactively update estimates that already had custom text.
2. For existing estimates:
   • Open the estimate and update/edit T&Cs or footers directly.

Footer shows the wrong person or email

If the bottom of your proposal/email is still showing the wrong user name, job title, or email:

1. Proposal footer details are pulled from the salesperson/estimator on the estimate, so make sure that each user’s profile information (Name/Address/Phone Number) is correct.
2. Update the relevant profile details, save, and send a test proposal to verify the new information appears correctly.

Need more help?  Contact our Support Team by email at lmn-support@granum.com, through Live Chat, or by phone at (888) 347-9864

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