Garage Door Estimates

What it is

Garage Door Estimates is a proposal built for one garage door job. You pick a service type, describe the work, set a total and a deposit, and send it. The customer gets a link to a page that looks like a printed proposal, where they read the terms, sign with their finger or mouse, and pay the deposit by card. Everything they do comes straight back to your list as a date in the Viewed, Signed and Paid columns.

You open it from the left menu: More›Garage Door Estimates. On a phone it is More›Management›Garage Door Estimates. The page header reads "Create and manage customer estimates".

When to use it

• A customer wants a written price for a door repair, a new door, an opener, or a spring job.
• You want the customer to sign and pay a deposit without anyone driving out with paperwork.
• You want a single list showing which quotes were opened, which were signed, and which were paid.
• An office agent took notes on a call and you want a first draft of the quote written for you.

Use the general Estimates page instead when you need itemised lines with quantities and unit prices, tags, or your own branding on the customer page. Garage Door Estimates is deliberately simpler: one total, one deposit, one description.

Before you start

• The add-on has to be switched on for your company. Garage Door Estimates is an optional module. If the menu item is not there at all, ask your Joby contact to turn it on for the account.
• Your role needs the permission. An owner or admin ticks Garage Door Estimates under Settings›Team Roles, in the Main Access card under the Industry Modules heading. Without it the menu item is hidden and the page will not open.
• Your statuses need to include this document type. Statuses come from Settings›Estimate Settings›Statuses. A status only shows up on garage door estimates when its Applies To column includes Garage Door Estimate.
• Card payments need to be connected. The deposit and balance buttons on the customer page only work once payments are connected under Settings›Integrations.
• Generating with AI uses credit. If the account has run out you will see "Out of credit. Add credit in Billing -> Credits to keep using AI." Everything else on the page still works.
• The summary cards and the delete button are admin-only. Office agents see the table and the row buttons, but not the six figures across the top and not the bin icon.
• Wording may differ at your company. "Lead" can be renamed under Settings›Company Settings, so the column that this guide calls Lead may say something else on your screen.

Step-by-step

Create the estimate

1. Open More›Garage Door Estimates from the left menu.
2. Click Create Estimate at the top right. On a phone the button in the header just says Create.
3. Optional but recommended: under Search Existing Lead (Optional), click Search by name, phone, or lead number... and pick the job. The name, email, phone and address are copied in and the estimate stays tied to that lead.
4. Fill in Customer Information: First Name, Last Name, Email and Phone.
5. Under Service Address, start typing the street address and pick the suggestion. City, State and Zip Code fill themselves in, and you can still correct them by hand.
6. Under Service Details, choose a Service Type. The list is fixed: Repair, New Installation, Opener Repair, Opener Installation, Spring Replacement, Maintenance, Emergency Service.
7. Write the Service Description. This is the paragraph the customer reads at the top of their proposal.
8. Fill in Door Details — model, size, colour, style. This box only appears when the Service Type is New Installation.
9. Add Job Notes (visible to customer) and Internal Notes (not visible to customer). The labels tell you exactly who sees what.
10. Under Pricing, type the Total Price and the Deposit Amount. Both are required. Remaining Balance is worked out for you (total minus deposit) and cannot be typed into.
11. Optional: under Upload Document (Optional), attach a PDF or a photo (PDF, JPG or PNG). It shows on the customer page as a View Detailed Estimate Document link. This box only exists while you are creating the estimate — it disappears once the estimate is saved.
12. Finish with Save as Draft (saves it, sends nothing) or Save & Send (saves it and sends it to the customer straight away). Either way you land back on the estimates list.

Send it to the customer

1. Find the row in the list and click the paper plane button on the right. It says Send on a draft and Resend after that, and you can press it as many times as you need.
2. The customer receives an email with a link to their proposal page. If garage door text messages are switched on for your account, the same link is also texted to the number on the estimate.
3. To see exactly what they see, click the eye button on the row. That opens the real customer page, not a preview.

Edit an estimate later

1. Click the pencil button on the row.
2. Change whatever you need. Edits save on their own about a second after you stop typing — you will see Saving... flash at the top right. There is nothing to press.
3. Only press the buttons at the bottom if you mean to change the status: Save as Draft puts the estimate back to Draft, and Save & Send marks it Sent and emails the customer again.
4. If the estimate is tied to a lead, the lead number sits next to the title at the top. Click it to open that job in a panel without leaving the estimate.

Move it along as the customer responds

1. Click the coloured status badge in the row to pick a different status. It is a dropdown, not just a label.
2. When a job reaches Scheduled, a tick button appears on the row. Press it to mark the work Completed in one click.
3. Some statuses set themselves and need no help from you — see Estimate statuses.

How to check it worked

• The estimate is at the top of the list. Rows are newest first, and the # column shows the tail of the estimate number.
• The status badge says Sent. If it still says Draft, the send did not go out.
• The Viewed column fills in. A date and time appear the moment the customer opens their link, and the status flips itself to Viewed.
• Signed and Paid fill in the same way as they sign and pay. Those three columns are the fastest read on whether a quote is alive.
• The eye button shows the finished proposal. Open it and check the price, the description and, for installs, the Door Details block.
• The money lands in Payments. Deposits and balances show on the Payments page with a Garage Door tag. Click the row to jump back to the estimate.
• The lead knows about it. On a linked job the estimate appears on the lead's Estimates tab with a Garage Door label, and the lead's history records that an estimate was created.

Common mistakes

Pressing "Save as Draft" on an estimate you already sent

While editing, that button does exactly what it says — it puts the status back to Draft, even if the customer has already viewed it. Your text edits are already saved on their own, so leave both buttons alone and change status from the badge in the list instead.

Hunting for the Door Details box on a repair

It only appears when Service Type is New Installation. For repairs, spring jobs and opener work, put the specifics in Service Description.

Trying to type into Remaining Balance

It is greyed out on purpose. Change the Total Price or the Deposit Amount and it recalculates itself.

Looking for the document upload while editing

The Upload Document (Optional) box only exists on a brand-new estimate. If you need to attach a file to an estimate that is already saved, create the estimate again with the file attached, or send the file to the customer separately.

Opening a draft and wondering where the signature panel went

The signing block only appears on the customer page once the estimate has actually been sent and opened. On a draft the page shows the proposal but no way to accept it. Send it first, then check.

Expecting the AI to read your uploaded file

It does not. Generate with AI works from typed notes or from the notes on the linked lead. An uploaded PDF or photo is passed straight through to the customer page as an attachment.

Searching the list by address

The search box covers customer name, email, phone and estimate number only. The address is shown in the table but is not searched. Use the Leads page if you only have an address to go on.

Expecting the date selector to filter the table

This Week / This Month / This Year / Custom Range only changes the six summary cards at the top. The table underneath always shows every estimate that matches your search and status tab.

The delete button is missing

The bin icon only shows for admins, and only while an estimate is still unpaid. Once a status of Paid, Scheduled or Completed is set, deleting is blocked so paid work cannot vanish.

Assuming the deposit is 10 percent

The customer page carries the fixed wording "Deposit Required (10%)" in its terms, but the amount actually charged is exactly what you typed into Deposit Amount. Check the figure before you send.