Some trades can quote from a photograph and some cannot. Glass and flooring both need somebody to measure, which means the quote itself is a visit with travel, time and a cost attached. Software that treats quoting as an office activity misses the largest part of what quoting actually costs these businesses.
The quote is a job, so schedule it as one
A measuring visit takes a slot, uses travel and has a conversion rate. On the worked example this site publishes, a technician completes 5.2 jobs a day, and a measure that takes half a slot at a 40% conversion rate is a real cost per won job. Businesses that do not schedule quoting as work cannot see that number at all.
Measurements are the document that matters
The figures taken on site drive the order, the cut and the price, and a transcription error is expensive in a way that a typo in a description is not. Capturing them at the property, in a structured form attached to the job, is worth more here than in almost any other trade.
Price from the measurement, not the memory
A quote produced two days later from a notebook is where margin disappears. Producing it at the property, or the same afternoon from structured measurements, both raises the conversion rate and removes the rework. The customer who gets a number while you are standing there is a customer who has fewer reasons to call somebody else.
What the quote has to say
What is included, what is excluded, how long the price stands, and what happens if the measurement proves wrong when the old material comes up. Where the sale is agreed at the customer home the Federal Trade Commission cooling off rule can apply to qualifying sales, and the notice obligations sit at 16 CFR 429.2.
Questions people ask about glass quote software
Should measuring visits be charged for?
A commercial decision. Knowing what they cost you per won job is the input to it, and most businesses have never worked it out.
Can a general scheduling board do this?
It can schedule the visits. Structured measurement capture is where trade specific tools earn their money.
How long should a quote stand?
Long enough to be fair, short enough to protect you from material price moves. State it rather than leaving it open.