GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Estimates & Quotes

Quoting an Opener Install: Drive Type, Horsepower and the Old Opener on One Estimate

Opener quotes look simple and are not. The customer says “I need a new opener,” but the quote has to answer a lot of questions: which kind, how much power, what happens to the old one, how many remotes, does a keypad come with it. Get those on paper and the install goes smoothly. Leave them out and the tech finds out in the garage.

Openers Are Their Own Kind of Quote

Spring, cable and roller work, covered in Quoting Cables, Rollers and Off-Track Doors as Clear Line Items, is mostly repair. Opener quotes are often a purchase decision, which means the customer wants to understand what they are buying.

Your service list in GarageDoorBossPro might carry an Opener Repair service, one or more Opener Install services, and the extras that go with them. The prices are yours, such as $549 for a standard belt-drive install, and the estimate shows them as lines the customer can read.

Write the Opener Details on the Estimate

The equipment details on the estimate are where the opener gets described. For a garage door opener, GarageDoorBossPro keeps brand, model number, serial number, year installed, size (opener HP), drive type (belt, chain, screw or wall-mount jackshaft), bay and access notes. On a quote, you might fill in:

• Drive type: belt drive, chain drive, screw drive or wall-mount jackshaft.
• Horsepower: such as 1/2 HP or 3/4 HP.
• Brand and model of the unit you are quoting, if you have picked one.
• Bay: which door it is going on, if there is more than one.

When the estimate is approved, those details carry onto the job. The tech sees something like “Opener · 1/2 HP · Belt Drive · Bay 1” on the job card, and knows which unit to load. After install, the opener is saved on the house with its details, and the serial number can be added on the job.

The Old Opener Is a Line Item Too

What happens to the old unit is one of the most common surprises on an opener job. Put it on the estimate:

• Removal and haul-away as its own line, or included and noted on the install line.
• A note if the old rail, brackets or wiring will be reused or replaced.
• A note on existing remotes and keypads: whether they will work with the new unit or need replacing.

If you already have the old opener saved on the house from an earlier visit, that history helps the office quote. “Opener · chain drive · installed 2008” tells you a lot before anyone walks into the garage.

Accessories as Separate Lines

Opener quotes are where the small add-ons show up. Keep each one on its own line so the customer can take it or leave it:

• Wireless keypad install
• Extra remotes
• Safety sensor replacement, if the existing sensors are not being reused
• Battery backup, if the unit you sell offers it

Small lines add up to a better job and a fair price. The next guide in this series, on sensors, keypads, remotes and weatherstripping, goes deeper on those.

Give the Customer Choices

Many customers want to compare. A good opener quote might list two or three install options on separate lines: a chain-drive unit, a quieter belt-drive unit, and a wall-mount jackshaft unit for garages where the ceiling or a storage rack makes a rail-mounted opener awkward. Each line has its own price and its own details note.

GarageDoorBossPro does not have a special tiers feature for this. Separate lines with clear names do the job, and once the customer tells you which one they want, the estimate they approve shows that choice. That approach is covered more fully in the good, better, best guide.

Opener Repair or Replace

Sometimes the customer called about a broken opener, and the real question is whether to fix it or replace it. Put both on the estimate: the repair at your price, and the replacement as a separate option. Notes on the opener's age from the house record help the customer decide, without you making claims about how long anything will last. The repair-or-replace conversation has its own guide in this series.

One more habit worth building: when an opener quote comes out of a tune-up or a repair visit, look at what the tech wrote first. The door safety inspection records opener force and limits, the auto-reverse test and the opener's age, and those notes are often the best explanation of why a new opener is on the quote at all. For turning those findings into line items, see Quoting After a Failed Safety Inspection: Turning the Checklist Into an Estimate.

From Quote to Installed

When the customer approves online, the estimate becomes the scheduled job with all the opener details on it. Put it on the install van's day on the dispatch board, and the tech arrives with the right unit. When the job is complete, the invoice is built from the same lines. For the full set of quoting tools, visit the GarageDoorBossPro garage door estimate software page.