Maintenance Estimating | Best Practices

In this article:

Setup Before Creating Maintenance Estimate

Create the Estimate

Discounts or Pre-pay in Maintenance Contracts

Create a Maintenance Estimate

Step 1: Setup Before Creating Maintenance Estimate

1. Create an Estimate that can be used as a ‘Template’ for future estimates.
   • This will help the estimator save time while estimating and it will also ensure if there are multiple estimators, they’re all using the same process for price consistency.
   • This will ensure that no materials are forgotten, and production rates can get used for consistent pricing.

   • Set the template to be ‘Excluded from Stats’

     Example of a Maintenance Template:

     

2. Create a Client called ‘Templates’
   • This will help you navigate to all of your templates easily.
   • Create your templates under this Client.
3. LOCK your Templates to avoid people accidentally starting their estimate in the template instead of Copying it first.
4. The Service Types included in the Maintenance Template should match one of your Schedule Templates.
   • This allows for much faster scheduling when estimates are sold and need to be scheduled.
5. Break out each Turf Care visit into its own Service
   • Why? It’s very common for your clients to receive different numbers of Turf Care visits, some may get 3 visits, others 4 or 5, and so on. Because of this, it’s important to track which clients receive which specific services. That way, when it’s time to add them to a Wait List, only the clients scheduled for a particular visit will appear, making it easier and more accurate to manage.

Matching Schedule Template Example:

Step 2: Create the Estimate

Once the Template is created…

1. Navigate to Estimates > Estimate List
2. Search and click into the relevant Template
3. Click the Copy button, then change the Customer/Lead
4. On the Customer Info tab, fill in Estimate Details such as Contract Start Date. 

5. Within the Services + Pricing tab, update all values within each Service area. Use Production Rate calculators where needed to fill in Labour hours and the material production rate calculators to calculate quantities of material needed.

   💡Square footage for these calculations can be pulled in from the CRM Jobsite details if they were previously recorded already. Click Measure Site to find these or take measurements quickly.

6. Customize Client Notes and Customer Notes from your defaults as needed.

7. Review Analysis for accuracy.

   ⚠️ Note for Maintenance Contracts if you only have 1 Default budget and you perform multiple types of work, the Revenue per hour for a maintenance contract will likely be lower than what your budget suggests. (Your Design Build jobs should also be higher than budgeted to make up for this).

8. Print Reports to customize your Proposal options under Service Proposal and then you’re ready to send the Proposal using the Email/Publish Proposal button.
   • Customize your email before sending as needed.

Once the Estimate is Sold, then the Contract should be created so that invoicing is setup and ready before creating a Job for this estimate.

Step 3: Discounts or Pre-pay in Maintenance Contracts

If you want to show your client the discount amount, create a Service area called ‘Pre-pay Discount’

1. Add an Other item for Discount to this Service Area. Click Edit next to the Service you would like to discount.
2. Click Add Items + Templates
3. Open the Other tab
4. Click the + New button on the top right
5. Name the Item 'Pre-pay Discount'
6. Set the Price for this item to the discount amount (customize it - prepays are normally a percentage of the contract, however, we need to set this discount dollar amount manually).
7. When finished, save this Service and add it to the estimate.
   Example:

Step 4: Create a Maintenance Estimate

Create Service Estimate

First, create a new Service Estimate

1. Navigate to Estimates > Service Estimates
2. Click + New Service Estimate
3. In the Customer field, select your own company as the lead/contact (used to store template estimates)
4. Set:
   1. Division: Maintenance
   2. Project Name: #TEMPLATE# Maintenance Services

Configure Customer Information

Next, configure the Customer Information on the Estimate itself:

1. Review and adjust:
   1. Estimate Dates, Relations, Status, and Exclude from Stats
2. Set a Referral Source to help track marketing effectiveness
3. Use Map Site to view location in Google Maps
4. Use Change Client/Jobsite if needed

Add Services & Prices

1. Navigate into the Services + Pricing tab and add a simple Mowing service

2. Click + Add Service

   For example:

   • Service Type: Mowing
   • Billing Type: Per Season
   • Visits: 32
   • Cost Code: Maintenance
3. Click OK to add the service
4. Click Add Items + Templates next to the service
   • Labor Tab: Add Maintenance Labor
   • Equip Tab: Add Crew Truck (+ Maintenance Trailer)
   • Material Tab (if applicable): Add topsoil or other relevant materials
5. Close the item menu after adding

Apply Production Rates

Next, apply Production Rates to the Estimate Labor Items

1. Click the calculator icon beside Labor items
2. Choose a production rate (e.g., Mowing – Residential)
3. Enter square footage (e.g., 5,500 sq. ft.)
4. Click Update Estimate

Adjust Equipment Quantities

After you are done applying Production Rates, we’re going to need to adjust Equipment Quantities to ensure the estimate is accurate

1. Match equipment time to labor:
   • Total labor hours ÷ Crew Size = Equipment usage hours
   • Example: 1 labor hour ÷ 2-person crew = 0.5 hours equipment time

To add more services to this estimate, simply repeat the steps above for each one. You can also set the billing type as you need. 

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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