Ever feel like explaining repair costs is the fun part, but writing up estimates is a drag? Yeah, us too. That’s why we’re here to show you how to whip up estimates in ServiceWorks faster than you can say “approved”!
This short guide will walk you through creating clear, professional estimates that keep your clients happy and your business flowing smoothly. So, grab your favorite device and let’s get started!
Much like creating a job, you’ll have several options on how to begin your estimates on the desktop version of ServiceWorks.
Option 1: The Estimation View
To use the Estimation view method, hover over the Jobs section of the toolbar and select All Estimations
Once clicked, you’ll be taken directly to the estimation view menu. The estimation view is your one-stop shop for all things estimates. You can see a list of all the estimates you’ve already created, and find specific ones using the search bar.
To create a new estimate, click the Create New Estimate button in the upper right corner of the screen
Option 2: The Add New Menu
Alternatively, you can use the Add New menu to quickly begin creating estimates. To do so, click the + Add New button
Either method will direct you to the estimation edit menu, so choose whichever is easiest for your needs
Now that you’ve made it to the estimation edit menu, here’s what you’ll be able to enter:
Creating an Estimate
Customer Details
Within the customer details section, you can enter in basic information about the customer requesting the service, such as their name, email address, phone number, address, and company name if applicable. You can also use the sub-customer checkbox to signify and assign the billing for the estimation to a parent customer.
If the customer’s information is already saved within your ServiceWorks account, their information should begin to populate after entering the first three characters of their name, email address, or phone number.
If this is the first time you’ve entered this customer’s information, this process will also add them into your customer database once saved.
On the left, you can also assign a specific tax rate to a customer or even mark them as exempt from taxes. And using the Payment Details link, you can view previous payments made by this customer on past services.
And, if you have any customer custom fields setup, you can view them within the Additional Information panel
Estimation Information
The next section, Estimation Information, is where you can enter specific information about the estimate itself, such as the description of the issue, job type, and any other relevant information regarding the estimate
You can use the Opt Out checkbox to remove this job from any optimization processes
As well as use the Sooner Service checkbox to ensure this job is high priority for optimization, should that be active within your current plan
If your plan included Skill based assignment, you can also manually add skill requirements for this job. Click here to learn more about Skill-Based Assignment
And in the job note section, you can leave any additional notes required for the job
Now depending on what your services your company provides you’ll need to fill out one or both of the following sections:
Service / Labor
In the Service and labor section, you can add services created on your price list to the estimate by clicking the +Add Service/Labor link in the top right of the panel
Start by selecting the Industry your service is nested under ,then the category, and finally the name of the desired service
Upon selecting these fields, the Description, Price, Cost, and Total should populate with the information from the preset service.
Next, you’ll have the option of selecting who should be billed for the cost of the service. By default, this will be set to Customer, indicating that the customer that requested the service will be billed for payment.
Clicking the down arrow will allow you to assign the billing for this service to a manufacturer, distributor, or warranty claim providers setup within your ServiceWorks account
In the price section, it should auto populate with the assigned price to the service, however, this can be edited by clicking within the field and entering a new number. The same can be said for the cost field.
The quantity field is used to designate how many of each service is being requested for this job. By default this will be set to 1, but can be edited to your business needs
And the taxable checkbox will determine whether or not the total cost of each service will include the customers set tax rates. You can use the trashcan icon to delete any unwanted services.
You can also use the Service Catalog to locate services within your account to add to estimates. Simply click on the Service Catalog button, use the dropdown fields to enter search criteria, and then click Search. Once your results are visible, click the add button to include the service in the estimate. You can then edit any additional information about the service much like if you entered it in manually
Products (Items)
In the products panel, you can add inventory items to estimates and fill out item information for repairs and maintenance.
For repairs and maintenance on items, first start with entering the brand, product family, and product details for the item, as well as the model and serial number. This will assist the technician, which we’ll be assigning a little bit later, know exactly what to expect before reaching the service location. You can add additional products to the ticket by clicking the New Product button
Next to the product description, you can use the is there a warranty on the product toggle to mark the product as a warrantied item. Upon doing so, you’ll be given the option to enter additional information such as the date and location of purchase, ID number and other variables related to warranty claims.
Below the product section is the Item/ Parts section, where you can enter in the parts required for the estimate. You can also skip straight to this section if you’re just adding required items
Much like the Service and Labor section above, you can manually enter the items number in the item number field and select it from the dropdown to populate within the section or you can use the Search catalog to enter in search criteria and add it directly from the catalog to your estimate ticket.
Once you’ve selected an item, you can edit the make (or brand) of the item if multiple brands exist for a single item, as well as edit the quantity of the item, price, and cost.
Items can also be marked as taxable using the taxable checkbox and the items disposition can also be set during this time (this disposition will automate given the estimate’s status, so initially you may not need to set this)
Additional items can be added using the + Items button, and deleted using the bin icon.
Charges
Within the charges section, you can add additional charges or even discounts to your estimates.
The first part of the charges section will include the current total price of your Services and Items added on the estimation. Next to these, you’ll see the discount dropdown fields.
Should you have your discounts already created, you can add them to either the service or labor amount totals. And once added, the total should immediately reflect the discount (We recommend setting the amount of the discount within the name, as the system will not indicate how much is being discounted other than the updated total
You can also determine whether there are taxes applied on the total items and labor as well
To add an additional charge, click the + Add New Charge button
Once clicked, a new dropdown will appear below the Service and Items section. In this field, you can select one of the created Other Charges within your account to apply them to the estimate
Once applied, the amounts for the additional charges can be edited per your business needs. You can add multiple additional charges as well.
Estimation Information
And finally, within the estimation information section, you can enter information related to when the estimate is scheduled and the technician assigned for the job
While there are quite a few tabs within this section, the main one we’ll focus on in this lesson is the Schedule Info tab.
To begin to schedule your estimate, you have two methods of doing so:
Manual entry
To start, first enter a date within the Start Date field. By default, this will be suggest the current day when clicked. Click on an associated date on the calendar and the information should populate shortly.
Once you’ve chosen a date, you can now select a time. There are several options for time selection: All Day, AM, PM, Specific Time, and Time Range
Now that you’ve set a time, you can set a duration. If you’ve added a service with a duration already assigned, you should see it reflected in this section. Either way, you can also alter the amount of time you’d like for this estimate
Calendar view
Alternatively, you can schedule your time, date and duration using the calendar panel just beneath the Schedule Information section.
Click the dropdown arrow to open up the calendar section, then click on any available time slot within the calendar to schedule the job.
When clicked, you should see the time and date reflected within the Schedule Information section. You can also drag the bottom of the job window in the calendar to extend the duration of the scheduled job.
In situations where multiple trips will be required to complete an estimate, you can add additional scheduled dates by clicking the Add New Schedule button, which will allow you to schedule another date of service similar to the previous date.
Once the date of service is set you can click the Professional link to assign a technician to a job. Upon clicking the link, you’ll be taken to the professional assignment menu, where you can view technicians based on their Skills, availability, and assigned working zone.
Once you’ve selected a technician for the job, click Done to continue. Back in the job edit menu, you should now see your selected technician’s name next to the scheduled date and time. You can edit this information by clicking the professional button again to assign a technician, or use the bin icon next to their name to remove a technician from this estimate
Now that you’ve entered in all the information for your job, its time to review the data entered for accuracy. Once that review is finished, you have two options:
The save estimation button saves all the data entered for this ticket and schedules the appointment, refreshing the page. At this time, if activated and setup, a confirmation will be sent to the customer as well as the technician assigned
or
The save and add new estimation saves all data and schedules the appointment, but instead of refreshing the page, starts a new estimation page for creation
And congratulations! You’ve successfully created and assigned your first estimate within ServiceWorks!
Next Steps
So you’ve created and scheduled an estimate, but now what? Here’s a quick explanation of what happens once an estimate has been assigned within ServiceWorks:
Once scheduled, the technician will visit the service location with all the associated information in tow, and attempt to triage the issue at hand.
Once the problem has been identified, the technician can do one of the following:
- Mark the estimate as complete, generating an invoice for the customer to review and approve prior to any additional repairs or services being added
- Mark the estimate as complete, then schedule an additional appointment to complete the service
- If the technician already has the parts required for service, they can convert the estimate into a job and perform services
This method can also be used for multi-option estimates as well.
Need More Assistance?
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Email: support@service.works
Phone: 636-220-4363 Ext #1
