Most quoting apps start the same way: a blank form. For a painter standing in a client's living room, that blank form is the problem. The number they need is already in their head, or in last month's job down the street. They just can't get to it fast.
We built ScopeBid around that moment. Here's the flow it uses, and the design decisions behind it.
The loop: reuse, adjust, check profit, send, complete, learn
- Reuse. Start from a saved job, a trade template or a blank quote. Every finished job is kept with its rates, hours and materials ("Business Memory"), and the app shows which past job a price came from and when.
- Adjust. Price first (type what the customer pays) or cost first (enter labour and materials and get a suggested price). Line items can be hourly, per person, crew, per unit or by area, in your own units.
- Check profit. A panel called Profit Guard shows customer price, direct cost, estimated gross profit, margin and markup as separate numbers. Type a discount and you see exactly what it does to your margin before you offer it. Sales tax is never counted as profit.
- Send. A clean PDF quote with your logo and terms. Your internal cost and margin are never printed on the customer's copy. The customer can accept on screen with a signature.
- Complete. Approved quote becomes an invoice without retyping. Deposits and partial payments (cash, cheque, e-transfer, bank transfer, card terminal) are recorded against the balance.
- Learn. A ten-second closeout asks what the job actually cost. Quoted vs. actual feeds back into the next similar quote.
Why offline-first
Basements, rural driveways and new builds have bad signal. Quoting, PDFs, invoices and records all work with no internet, and there is no account and no cloud copy of your business data. You can export a backup from Settings whenever you like.
What it is not
ScopeBid records payments; it doesn't process cards or move money. It's an estimating and invoicing tool, not accounting or tax software. You set your own tax rates.
Who it's for
Independent service pros: painters, cleaners, handymen, landscapers, mobile detailers and small contractors who quote on site from an iPhone.
The first 3 quotes are free with full PDFs, and anything you create stays viewable and exportable.
ScopeBid: Estimate & Invoice is on the iPhone App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scopebid-estimate-invoice/id6796729890
If you quote jobs for a living, what's the one number you wish you could see before you hit send? We read every comment.
