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:
👥 Invite Team Members (not for Solo Plans) |
👥 Invite Team Members (not for Solo Plans)
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!
1️⃣ Import Your Cost Codes
Quickly import your existing Cost Codes or use our pre-built import template! New to Cost Codes? We give a breakdown in this article.
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.
Or upload your own from scratch, also using our template and pasting your data into the Cost Codes - Blank sheet
Once the import spreadsheet is ready to go, it's time to import!
Here's everything you need to know about importing your Cost Codes.
2️⃣ Import Your Price Book
Once you've imported your Cost Codes, the next step is to import your Price Book, which makes it easy for you to create a list of services, materials, labor, flat fees, and selections that can be added to an Estimate or Project Financials. We give a breakdown of the Price Book in this article.
Quickly import your existing Price Book or use our pre-built import template, which will give you a great jumpstart.
To use our template, navigate to your Price Book, click "Import Price Book" and then click the "Download Template" button to download the Excel file to your computer.
Or upload your own from scratch, also using our template and pasting your data into the Price Book - Blank sheet
Here's everything you need to know about importing your Price Book.
📝 Add a few Opportunities and create an Estimate!
First, start adding your Opportunities:
Add the top 3-5 current and active sales opportunities you are working on to give you visibility and prevent anyone from falling through the cracks
Create any helpful Tasks with due dates within the opportunities you just created (example: You have a new lead that you sent an estimate but haven’t heard back. Create a Task assigned to you with a reminder to follow up on the estimate in 2 days.)
Next, create an Estimate
Use one of your newly added Opportunities to create an estimate by clicking the “Estimate” tab within the Opportunity.
Read this short help article on what is included in your Proposal
Set your Estimate default settings so that all of your estimates are consistent and include everything you need in the Proposal including company details, Scope of Work, and Contract. Here is an overview of how to access the default settings.
From scratch
Using your BuildBook Price Book - learn about using Cost Codes and Price Book
A default set of Cost Categories is included in your library based on 16 Divisions, the most widely used standard for organizing specifications and other written information for commercial and institutional building projects in the U.S. and Canada, as defined by Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)'s MasterFormat. Each Category has one prefilled "General" item that you can update and you can continue adding to each Category.
Lastly, preview and Share your Estimate
🏡 Convert an Opportunity with an Estimate to a Project!
Choose one of the newly added Opportunities that you are ready to start a project from:
Change the Status to “Won”
Start the project for this Opportunity by clicking “Convert to Project”
Be sure to choose from the Estimate you want to include for the project financials, add your start date, and select your working days.
⚒️ Get your Project up and running
Invite a few subcontractors or vendors to your project so that you can begin collaborating immediately. Tip: Send an email introducing external users to BuildBook before inviting them in. Here's an email template you can customize!
Post a Daily Log with your first project update. This could be anything from a simple progress update or a status post with some images taken this week on the jobsite- if you have a project update with some pictures to post, go ahead and share it!
Start creating your schedule:
Add at least 10 key Tasks with due dates, assignees, and any other important details
Review how to use the Gantt Chart plus how to create dependencies
Manage Financials and Selections:
Create and/or make adjustments to the Budget
Add a Payment Schedule for your client to see
Select what parts of the budget should be visible to your client
Start adding client selections
❓Questions? Click the ? in the upper right to chat with our team!
