Working with estimate preferences
Estimate preferences are the rules you’d give a new estimator — what you always include, never do, which brands you install, how you word things. Write them once at Settings → Estimation; the AI applies them to every estimate and proposal for that Location, retail and insurance alike, covering everything not specific to one package, catalog item, or proposal layout.1. Write your preferences
- Open Settings → Estimation.
- Under General preferences, type your rules into the single free-text box — plain sentences, one rule per line if that helps.
- Watch the counter under the box. Preferences are limited to 5,000 characters; paste in more and the box keeps it all, but Save stays disabled until you trim under the limit. The error says how many characters to cut.
- Click Save. Cancel discards unsaved edits and restores what was last saved.
- “Always include drip edge on full roof replacements.”
- “On insurance claims, only increase carrier quantities, never decrease.”
- “Add 10/10 O&P on any job with 3+ trades.”
- “We prefer GAF products. Keep proposal language brief and professional.”
2. What makes a good preference
The AI treats preferences as company rules, not suggestions, so specific and checkable beats general. The guidance panel groups the rules worth writing:
Two things don’t belong here:
- Prices and rates. Labor rates, margins, and taxes live in Pricing and profit; item prices in Your Catalog. The AI prices from those, not from prose.
- Rules about one package or layout. Put those in that package’s Construction logic or that layout’s instructions, where they apply only when it’s in play.
3. How preferences interact with packages, catalog items, and layouts
When rules conflict, the most specific wins:
A lower level still applies wherever the levels above are silent: if preferences say 15% shingle waste and a package’s construction logic says 12%, the package wins on that package and 15% applies everywhere else.
4. When changes take effect
Saved preferences apply to the AI’s next message — the page says so under the box. Existing proposal versions keep what they were generated with, and an estimate mid-conversation picks up the new rules the next time you send something. To bring an existing proposal in line, ask the AI in chat — see Editing estimates and proposals. Preferences are saved per Location; the switcher at the top of the Settings sidebar chooses which one you’re editing.5. Troubleshooting common issues
- Save is greyed out. Either nothing has changed since the last save, or you’re over the 5,000-character limit — the counter turns red and the message says how many characters to trim.
- The AI ignored a preference. Was the estimate generated before you saved? Preferences apply from the next message on. Does a package’s construction logic, an item’s instructions, or the layout say otherwise? Those win. Is the rule concrete? “Be thorough” gives the AI nothing to act on; “Always include starter strip and ridge cap on roof replacements” does.
- A rule applies on retail jobs but I only meant it for insurance (or the reverse). Preferences apply to both. Say so in the rule — “On insurance claims, …” — as the placeholder examples do.
- The page says “We couldn’t load your estimate preferences.” Click Try again. The page won’t show an empty box you could accidentally save over a real set of preferences.