Welcome to BuildBook – we are so excited you're here!

If you're new to BuildBook and just created your account, you're probably thinking “Where do I start”? We’ve put together this Quick Start Guide to help you get going, from adding your first Opportunity and creating an Estimate to starting a Project and showing off your work ➡️

First things first, download the BuildBook mobile app:

Add your logo, address, and picture of yourself!

Invite your team members into BuildBook so that they can start working with you on Opportunities and Projects!

Tip: Send an email introducing your team to BuildBook before inviting them in. Here's an email template you can customize!

Start by adding any pre-built templates from the Template Library in Projects. We offer a New Construction, Kitchen Remodel, or Bathroom Remodel Template. These will help you save time and start your project off with all of the necessary information in place.

Here's how to locate and add the templates to your Project Templates.

Your Price Book is pre-filled with a standard set of products and services to help you get started. The Price Book allows you to set your standard costs (labor rates, tax rates, markup rates, etc.) so that everyone in your company who is building estimates and project financials will use the same rates.

We give a breakdown of the Price Book in this article.

Your current Price Book includes an Uncategorized Cost Code. A Cost Code is made up of an individual cost that helps track and report against costs you incur in your business.

To use our template, navigate to your Cost Codes, click the ellipses menu in the upper right, and choose Import Cost Codes. Click Download Template to download the Excel file to your computer. Once the import spreadsheet is ready to go, it's time to import!

Here's everything you need to know about Cost Codes.

An Opportunity in BuildBook is a potential new project that has come to you from a lead. In BuildBook you can manage all of your Opportunities from first contact to winning the job. You create and send your Estimates within Opportunities.

Start by adding a few Opportunities.

In your Opportunity, you'll see an Estimate tab where you can create an Estimate for the Opportunity.

Scroll down to the "Estimate" section and start building your estimate.

Once your estimate is ready to send for approval, there are a few quick items to check off before hitting the 'send' button!

Using the Opportunity with the Estimate you recently created, click "Convert to Project". This will allow you to easily get a new project up and running using an existing template - or from a blank slate - and carry over the following information from the Opportunity to the new Project.

We recommend using one of the templates you recently added from our Template Library as the "Template" when you convert the project.

How to convert an Opportunity to a Project

Whether you used a template or created your project from scratch, a great place to start is with Tasks. What are the first 5-10 items you know must be completed when you start a job? Add these to your Project, either by customizing the existing Tasks from the template or adding them.

If you're on a Team Plan, Invite your Pro Team Members to the project.

For Solo Plans, you may want to wait to invite any collaborators or clients until you have the project completely built out. When you're ready, Invite a few subcontractors or vendors to your project. Tip: Send an email introducing external users to BuildBook before inviting them in. Here's an email template you can customize!

Daily Logs are a great way to share status updates, whether daily or weekly, with team members and also with clients. These are helpful best practices to keep everyone in the loop on job progress. Share an update with some pictures at the job site (the mobile app is perfect for this!)

The Chat in BuildBook is perfect for back-and-forth communication with team members and clients throughout a project. You can use BuildBook Chat to replace text messaging and keep all of your project discussions in one place, and everyone on the same page.

That wraps up our Quick Start Guide!

Once you've mastered the basics of Estimating and Projects and are ready to start building your budget and selections, we recommend starting with the articles below.