Quote an installation job from a written description

1Describe the job

Open the job. Step 1, Describe the job, asks for three things: the customer, the kind of quote, and the work in your own words.

1. Fill in Customer name, Customer email and Project address.
2. Leave Quote type on Labor for an installation quote.
3. Type or paste the job into the large text box. Put one item per sentence, each with its quantity and its price.
4. Press Build quote. The button then reads Rebuild quote.

The demonstration job used this text. Copy it to try the step yourself:

Pull up the old laminate, about 570 sqft.
Install 650 sqft white oak at $4.75/sqft.
13 treads on the staircase at $70/tread.
Floor leveling near the slider, $380 flat.
Haul away, $250 flat.

Write prices per unit, such as $4.75/sqft or $70/tread, with the quantity in the same sentence. Fixed charges read well as $380 flat.

Step 2, Review the quote, opens with five lines. The first has no price, so the totals read $4,627.50 for now.

2Check every line

Step 2 says "Check every line. SquareTally never invents a missing price." Read each line against your text: description, Quantity, Unit, Rate and Amount.

On the demonstration job, the laminate line came back with quantity 1 and a red Required rate, because its sentence gave a size and no price.

• Change its Quantity to 570.
• Type 1.25 in its Rate. The red outline goes, the Amount becomes $712.50, and the warning disappears.

The totals update as you type, from $4,627.50 to Subtotal $5,340.00, Tax $0.00, Total $5,340.00. The five lines now read: 570 sqft at $1.25 for $712.50, 650 sqft at $4.75 for $3,087.50, 13 treads at $70 for $910.00, then $380.00 and $250.00 as single items.

Press Save quote. It turns grey and reads Changes saved. The customer details and your line edits are kept only once you save the quote or create an output from it. Build quote saves the description alone.

Until every line has a price and the quote has a customer name and a quote number, step 2 shows "Add the customer and a price to every line before creating the quote."

3Quote number, dates and terms

Below the lines sit the fields that print on the quote. Most are filled in for you.

• Quote number: SquareTally fills one in. It was Q-0054 on the demonstration job, and yours will differ.
• Tax %: starts at 0.
• Issue date: today. Valid until: 30 days later, so 10/09/2026 and 11/08/2026 here.
• Notes & terms: starts with "Quote valid until the date shown. Work outside the listed scope requires approval." Replace it with your own terms. The demonstration job used "50% deposit on acceptance, balance on completion."

Press Save quote again. The total stays at $5,340.00.

Decide on tax before you pick an output. With Tax % above 0, the QuickBooks card says "This quote includes tax that SquareTally cannot yet transfer to QuickBooks. Download the PDF quote to preserve its tax and total." and the QuickBooks quote is blocked. The PDF quote prints the tax and the taxed total. To send the quote to QuickBooks, keep the tax at 0 and apply it there.

4Download the PDF quote

Step 3, Create the quote, offers two outputs: "Choose either output—or use both. Nothing is sent automatically."

The PDF card is marked No connection needed and reads "A branded labor quote ready to download and send." Press Download PDF quote. The button reads "Creating PDF…" for a moment, then the file downloads, named after the quote number: Q-0054.pdf on the demonstration job.

The one-page PDF carries:

• Your company name, address and phone at the top, with the title LABOR QUOTE and the quote number.
• The customer, the issue date, the valid-until date and the project name.
• The five lines with quantity, unit and rate.
• Subtotal $5,340.00, Tax (0%) $0.00 and a total of $5,340.00, then your notes and terms.

The company details come from Settings. The PDF needs a company name, and without one the app says "Add your company name in Settings before creating a branded quote." The Edit company branding link on the card opens Settings. A long line description wraps onto a second line inside its column.

5Create the QuickBooks quote

The second card, QuickBooks quote, "Creates a draft Estimate for you to review in QuickBooks." It shows ✓ Connected once your QuickBooks account is linked.

Choose who the estimate goes to first. With no customer picked, the card warns that "Dana Halloran" will be created in QuickBooks, or reused if a customer with exactly that name exists.

1. Press Pick a customer from QuickBooks and type part of the name in Search customers by name….
2. Pick the customer. The card confirms it is an existing QuickBooks customer, and its name, email and address are copied into step 1.
3. Press Create QuickBooks quote.

The card reads "Draft created" with the estimate number, the line count and the total: Estimate #1042, 5 lines, $5,340.00 on the demonstration job. The estimate is a draft. Open it in QuickBooks, review it and send it from there.

The Quote number field changes to the QuickBooks number, 1042 here, so both records match. This happens while the field still holds the number SquareTally filled in. Copied customer details make Save quote active again, so press it to keep them.

6Measure room sizes off a plan Optional

When you have a floor plan and no measured sizes, step 1b, Measure the floor plan, takes them off the drawing. It is marked Optional.

1. Press Upload plan set (PDF), then click the page thumbnail.
2. The page opens on "Set the scale". Click both ends of a dimension printed on the plan, type its length in "How long is that line on the plan?", and press OK. The demonstration used 22'-6", which the app reads as 22.5 ft.
3. Click each corner of a room and double-click the last one to close it. Name the room and press OK.
4. Press Finish measuring, then Add room sizes to the description.

The living room on the demonstration plan measured 359.6 sqft against a printed 22'-6" by 16'. The sizes are added to the end of your text as one line: "Room sizes from the plan: Living room 359.6 sqft — 359.6 sqft total."

Step 2 then says the description changed and asks you to rebuild. Press Rebuild quote. Rebuilding replaces the lines in step 2, including any rate or quantity you fixed by hand, so measure before you correct the lines.

7Where this fits

On the Lite plan, these steps are the whole workflow: describe the job, check the lines, set the terms, and create the quote. Lite also includes the floor-plan tool for room sizes.

On Solo, Pro and Studio, the same steps make up the Installation scope workflow. Those plans also offer Material takeoff, for a job priced from rooms and products, and the New projects setting decides which one a new job opens with, or asks each time.

Two other tutorials fill in the rest:

• Getting started covers the company name, address and logo. Add them before your first PDF quote, since the PDF needs a company name.
• Measure a plan goes through the plan tool in depth, for plans with several rooms.

For the trade side of pricing labor, read Quoting an installation job.