Understanding Estimates vs. Quotes in ProLine
In ProLine, Estimates are specifically designed to work with insurance-related scopes of work. They let contractors take the line items provided by an insurance company and compare them against their own internal price list items. This makes it easier to view project profitability by highlighting the difference between insurance payouts and actual costs.
While a Quote can pull information from an insurance estimate through the “add to quote button”, it’s primarily retail-focused — built from your own price lists, labor rates, and material costs.
The Estimates tab, on the other hand, is your tool for managing and validating insurance scopes before converting them into a client-facing quote.
1. Creating an Estimate
When adding a new estimate, you have two options:
Option 1 — Manual Entry
Upload the insurance scope of work PDF if available.
Enter each line item manually, including details such as quantity, unit of measurement (UOM), unit price, tax, and cost values.
Option 2 — Extract with AI (Better or Best Plan required)
Upload the insurance document (PDF).
The AI agent will read the document and automatically extract and transcribe the estimated items for you.
Important: Extract with AI is only used for the Estimates feature. It is designed solely to help compare insurance line items against your internal ProLine price list. It does not build quote templates, cannot automate quote template creation, and does not add line items automatically into any existing quote templates.
2. Navigating the Estimate Manager
Once the estimate manager is open (manual or AI-generated), you’ll see several tabs to organize and refine your estimate.
a. Estimate Items Tab
This is where you build and edit the core details of your estimate:
Name the estimate and upload a supporting PDF if needed.
Enable optional fields such as:
Replacement Cost Value (RCV)
Actual Cash Value (ACV)
Depreciation Percentage
Add line items by typing the insurance verbiage exactly. Include:
Quantity
UOM (Unit of Measurement)
Unit price
Tax total
Replacement cost value
Depreciation (dollar or percentage)
Actual cash value
Edit or delete line items using the pencil (edit) or trash can (delete) icons.
If Depreciation Percentage is enabled, you’ll also see a Depreciate Tax option (Yes/No).
Reorder items by dragging and dropping them.
Search previously mapped line items using the magnifying glass tool to save time.
You can rename a line item without affecting its underlying mapping — useful when insurers use slightly different terminology.
b. Map Price List Items Tab
To analyze cost and profitability, each estimate item should be linked to an internal price list item:
Map one or multiple price list entries to a single line item (ex: removal, installation, materials, steep-slope charge).
Once mapped, the system remembers it for future estimates.
The mapped items can always be edited per project as needed.
Set vendor tax options
No Tax or apply Vendor Tax as needed
Service tax is not included
This feature helps compare what insurance is paying vs. your actual internal costs, ensuring accurate profit calculations.
c. Summary Tab
The Summary tab consolidates all financial details:
Totals: Displays ACV, RCV, recoverable depreciation, and replacement cost.
Estimate Profitability: Shows RCV minus planned cost to calculate estimated profit and margin.
Schedule of Payments: Breaks down deductible, first payment (ACV minus deductible), and second payment (recoverable depreciation).
You can also:
Generate
This allows you to create an external facing estimate document
Add to Quote
Generate a quote option page which has a subtotal override to be the RCV value, and all the line items with their linked price list item. Please note quantities will be rounded to whole numbers.
When this option is selected a new pop-up will appear for you to select the quote and service
Only one service can be selected per estimate.
3. Key Tips & Best Practices
AI Extraction saves time, but manual entry is available for flexibility.
Mapping line items once makes future estimates much faster.
Use the Depreciate Tax toggle carefully — it depends on the insurance scope of work.
Generated PDFs are client-ready and do not expose internal price list details or profit margins.
Rounding rules apply for ordering — quantities are always rounded up to whole numbers.