Free Estimate Generator — Create Estimates Online

If you are still typing estimates into a Word doc or scribbling them on carbon copy pads from the parts store, you are losing jobs. Modern buyers expect a clean, branded PDF in their inbox within hours of a site visit. This guide shows you how to use a free online estimate generator to produce professional documents in under three minutes, what to include for your industry, and how to convert more estimates into signed contracts.

Why Online Estimate Generators Outperform Manual Methods

A decade ago, every contractor had a triplicate pad in the truck. Today that same workflow is costing you somewhere between 10 and 30 percent of your potential close rate. Customers compare bids on professionalism. A handwritten estimate looks like a hobby. A polished PDF with your logo, license number, and detailed line items looks like a business.

Online estimate generators do four things manual methods cannot:

• Produce a branded, consistent format every time
• Calculate math automatically so you never send a $4,200 estimate that should have been $4,500
• Email the document directly to the customer with one click
• Track when the customer opens it, so you know when to follow up

The better tools also convert accepted estimates into invoices in a single step, which means you stop rebuilding the same line items twice and you collect deposits faster.

How to Use the Free Estimate Generator in 5 Steps

The Eonebill.ai estimate generator is browser-based, requires no signup for a basic estimate, and delivers a polished PDF. Here is the full walkthrough.

1. Enter your business info: name, address, phone, email, and your logo if you have one. License numbers go in the footer.
2. Add the customer: name, billing address, and job site address if different.
3. Build the line items: description, quantity, unit, unit rate, and total. The math is automatic.
4. Set terms: deposit percentage, payment due date, accepted methods, and expiration.
5. Preview, download, and send: download as PDF, email directly, or copy a shareable link.

Total time on a typical 8-line estimate: about three minutes. The same estimate built in Word with manual calculations and a logo paste-in usually takes 15 to 25 minutes.

Power-user tips:

• Save your most-used line items as templates. Roofers should template tear-off, underlayment, shingles, drip edge, ridge vent, and disposal. Plumbers should template service call, water heater install, faucet, toilet, and main line clear. After a few estimates, your line item library reduces estimate creation time to 90 seconds.
• Use customer notes to flag site conditions before scheduling. Things like steep pitch, dog on premises, alarm code, parking restrictions. Saves your crew a phone call on arrival day.
• Set a default tax rate and default deposit percentage for your most common job type, so you stop forgetting to add either.

What to Include by Industry

The core fields are universal, but every trade has line items that customers expect to see. Leaving them off creates uncertainty and uncertainty kills deals.

Roofing estimates should include square footage, pitch, number of layers being torn off, dumpster fee, underlayment type, shingle brand and warranty, drip edge, valley flashing, ridge vent, ice and water shield linear footage, and disposal. A 2,000 sqft roof at $7.50 per square foot lands around $15,000 before tax. Break it out so the customer sees where the money goes.

Plumbing estimates need a service call fee line ($85 to $150 typical), hourly labor rate, parts at list price (most plumbers do not discount parts on the estimate, they mark them up), permit fees if required, and warranty terms. A water heater replacement runs $1,400 to $2,800 installed.

Lawn care estimates itemize per visit cost, frequency (weekly, biweekly, monthly), included services (mow, edge, blow), excluded services (hedge trimming, leaf removal), and seasonal add-ons. A standard quarter-acre lot at $45 per weekly visit totals $180 monthly.

Cleaning estimates list square footage, frequency, included tasks (kitchens, bathrooms, dusting, floors), excluded tasks (windows, appliance interiors), supply provision, and team size. A 2,000 sqft home biweekly clean averages $140 to $200 per visit.

Personal trainer estimates show session length, location, package size, expiration window, and cancellation policy. A 12-session package at $80 per session totals $960.

Freelance creative estimates detail deliverables, revision rounds included, file formats, usage rights, and timeline. A logo design with three concepts and two revision rounds typically lands at $1,200 to $3,500.

Auto repair estimates include a diagnostic line item, parts at marked-up retail (typical markup is 25 to 40 percent over wholesale), labor at the posted shop rate (most US shops post $110 to $165 per hour), shop supplies (a flat 4 to 8 percent line is standard), tax, and a stated diagnostic credit if the customer authorizes the repair.

Electrician estimates should call out service call fee, hourly labor or flat-rate price book, parts marked up, permit fees if required, panel work hours, and warranty length. A typical 200-amp panel upgrade is line-itemed as: panel and breakers $850, labor 8 hours at $125 = $1,000, permit $185, total $2,035.

Massage therapy estimates for packages or mobile gigs include session length, modality, travel fee if applicable, gratuity policy, and HSA/FSA receipt availability. Sole proprietors usually have no sales tax on services in most states.

Event planner estimates itemize coordination hours, vendor coordination, day-of staffing, mileage, and rentals at pass-through cost plus markup. Most planners disclose markup percentage upfront to build trust.

Pricing Anchors and How to Avoid Underbidding

The most common estimate mistake is not formatting, it is pricing. New owners chronically underprice because they only count direct labor and material. They forget overhead, taxes, tools, vehicle, insurance, and the simple fact that they need to take home a paycheck.

Use this overhead multiplier method to avoid underbidding:

• Add up your annual overhead (insurance, truck, phone, software, accountant, marketing): say $24,000
• Estimate your billable hours per year (40 hours x 50 weeks x 60 percent billable utilization = 1,200 hours)
• Overhead per billable hour = $24,000 / 1,200 = $20
• Your true labor cost is your hourly target wage plus this $20 plus payroll taxes
• For a $30/hr target wage: $30 + $20 + $7 payroll = $57 true cost per billable hour
• Add desired profit margin (20 to 35 percent) and you get your billable rate: $57 / (1 - 0.30) = $81/hr

Most solo trades undercharge by 25 to 40 percent because they skip this math. Building a few estimates with this discipline shows you exactly how much margin you have been giving away.

Sample full-cost build for a roofing crew (illustrates the discipline):

• Crew of 3 at $32/hr loaded cost = $96/hr crew cost
• Truck and equipment overhead per crew hour: $18
• Dump fees per job average: $250 on a typical re-roof
• Office overhead allocated per crew hour: $22
• True crew cost per hour: $136
• Add 30 percent profit margin: $136 / 0.70 = $194 per crew hour billable

At 8 hours per day, that is $1,550 daily revenue per crew. Compare to your current bids. If you are billing $1,100 daily, you are subsidizing the customer with about 25 percent of your margin.

Common underbidding mistakes: ignoring drive time, ignoring callbacks (budget 5 to 8 percent of every job for callback labor), ignoring sales time (4 to 8 hours of unbilled work to win every signed job), and ignoring tools and consumable wear.

Sending, Tracking, and Following Up

A generated estimate that sits in your drafts folder makes you zero dollars. The conversion math is brutal: estimates sent within 24 hours close at roughly 2x the rate of estimates sent after 72 hours. Speed is the cheapest competitive advantage in service businesses.

The ideal cadence:

• Estimate sent within 24 hours of the site visit
• Polite text or call 48 hours later: Just wanted to confirm you got the estimate and answer any questions
• Second touch at 7 days if no decision: Wanted to check in. The estimate is good through [date]
• Final touch at 14 days: Material prices are scheduled to increase on [date]. Happy to lock in the current pricing if you want to proceed

This 3-touch sequence converts about 15 to 25 percent of estimates that did not respond to the first send. If you have 20 outstanding estimates worth $80,000 in potential revenue, even a 20 percent recovery is $16,000.

Good online tools track when the customer opens the email and views the PDF. That is your signal to call. Eonebill.ai pings you when the estimate has been viewed twice without a decision, which is the highest-conversion follow-up window.

From Estimate to Cash in the Bank

The whole point of an estimate is to get paid. Here is the workflow that closes the loop fastest.

Once the customer accepts, convert the estimate into a deposit invoice immediately. Do not wait until the day you start work. Use the invoice generator and include the same line items, marked clearly as the deposit portion. Most contractors collect 25 to 50 percent at this stage.

When the job is complete, generate the final invoice for the balance. If anything changed during the work, the final invoice should reference the original estimate plus any signed change orders. Itemized parallel structure prevents disputes.

Offer at least two payment methods. ACH bank transfer is the cheapest for you (often $0 to $5 per transaction). Cards collect fastest (usually within 1 to 2 business days) but cost 2.9 percent plus 30 cents. Many small businesses now pass the card fee to the customer as a surcharge, which is legal in most states with proper disclosure.

Send reminders. The polite cadence is: 3 days before due, on the due date, 7 days late, 14 days late, 30 days late. After 30 days, escalate to a written demand letter and consider small claims court for amounts over $1,500.

A good estimate generator paired with disciplined follow-up will compound. The first month you save five hours of admin. The third month you close one extra job. By month six you wonder how you ever did this with paper. Pull up the free estimate generator, build your next estimate now, and see pricing when you are ready to automate the rest of the workflow.

Regional payment behavior is worth knowing. Northeast commercial accounts pay 45 to 60 days on average. West Coast tech-aligned customers pay 30 days but expect ACH and electronic invoicing. Southeast residential customers pay fastest on card. Midwest small business pays by check at 21 day average. Set your follow-up cadence to match.

Sample late-payment script (cite verbatim if you want):

> Hi [Name], hoping you are well. Just a quick reminder that invoice #2026-0142 for $4,820 was due on April 28 and now shows 14 days past. If there is any issue with the work or you need to discuss payment timing, please let me know today. Otherwise can you confirm a payment date by end of week? Thanks for staying in touch.

Polite, specific, and asks for a date. This script collects roughly 60 percent of late invoices on first send.

Comparison: paper vs digital estimating ROI

Consider an electrician sending 6 estimates per week. Paper-based workflow runs roughly 22 minutes per estimate (drive to office, type, print, mail or hand-deliver, no tracking). Digital workflow with estimate generator runs about 4 minutes per estimate (mobile entry on phone, instant email, opens tracked).

• Paper: 6 estimates x 22 min = 132 min/week = 114 hours/year of admin
• Digital: 6 estimates x 4 min = 24 min/week = 21 hours/year
• Time saved: 93 hours annually
• At a $95/hr billable rate, that is $8,800/year of recovered capacity

And that excludes the close-rate improvement. Tracked email opens trigger smart follow-ups that lift conversion by 5 to 15 points. On an electrician quoting $1,200 average jobs at 6 estimates per week, even a 5-point close lift adds $19,000 annual revenue. Both numbers easily justify a $25/month software cost.

See pricing for the plan that fits your weekly estimate volume.