Pricing in your Instant Estimator

Welcome to your pricing module. In this module, we're going to be covering four main things:

• Where pricing fits into the Instant Estimator workflow.
• The real reason pricing often makes contractors nervous.
• How the Instant Estimator pricing really works.
• How to set up pricing in a way that's going to convert.

By the end of this module, you'll know exactly how to approach your pricing and why it's one of the most important parts of getting value out of the Instant Estimator.

It's 2026. Homeowners are doing their research online long before they even get on the phone with a contractor or a company. When someone searches "roof estimate near me," they're not just browsing. They're looking for an answer to a very specific question: "Can I afford this?" and "Is this company even worth calling?". They're comparing options, checking reviews, and looking for clarity, all from their phone or laptop.

So, let's start with something very important that I want to clarify. Pricing makes a lot of contractors nervous, and that makes sense. Most contractors worry about two main things:

• That showing a price will spook away a homeowner.
• Or they're going to get locked into a price before they even see the roof.

If you've ever thought, "I don't want to scare people off," you're not alone.

Okay, so let's actually talk about how the Instant Estimator pricing works and what's happening behind the scenes. The Instant Estimator does not magically guess a final roof price. The quotes are calculated using your pricing. Here's how it works:

1. A homeowner searches their address in real time using satellite imagery.
2. The Instant Estimator takes a snapshot of the roof square footage and instantly calculates the cost using the per square pricing you've set up in the back end.
3. It generates an estimated price range based on the information.

That's it. There's no hidden math, no guessing your labor rates, and no locking you into a final number. You control the pricing; the Instant Estimator just does the math for you.

This is when ranges are really going to be your best friend. Because this is an estimate, it's always nice to have that additional wiggle room. Ranges are going to allow you to do exactly that. They will allow you to add a percentage above and below your calculated price so that your lead sees a range of prices rather than a specific number.

Let's take a look at an example. Your lead has filled out all the information about their roof, and the Instant Estimator has applied this to your per square pricing. The estimated cost of the replacement is going to be about $20,000. However, with ranges, you're going to be able to show that maybe it's 10% lower or 10% higher. So, we're able to show $18,000 and $22,000. This gives you more wiggle room and it won't show your lead that the Instant Estimator calculated a specific cost that's potentially going to lock you in a little bit more. So, definitely utilize the ranges tool.

Some common pricing mistakes that we want to make sure you avoid:

• Pricing too low to just get the lead: This usually backfires because you end up with low-quality leads and really awkward conversations later.
• Forgetting real costs: If you leave out labor, dump fees, and overhead, the estimate is not going to reflect reality.
• Overcomplicating things: If you take your past jobs and divide by the total number of squares, that's going to get you a strong starting point. There's no need to factor in every "what if" edge situation; this is just the initial estimate.

Let's get into what per square pricing actually is. If you're already a per square pricing pro, feel free to skip along to the next lesson. If you're not already used to using per square pricing, we've got you covered.

Per square pricing is simply your average cost per square on a specific type of job. "All-inclusive" means everything: materials, labor, dump fees, overhead costs, and profit margin. Instead of breaking this job up into 10 items, you're going to roll all of those costs into one realistic number that represents how you realistically price roofs.

The best way to find this number is to look backward at past jobs, not just guess. Pull a few recent jobs of the same type—for example, asphalt shingles. Take the final price you charged and divide that by the total number of squares on the job. That'll give you a solid average per square price to start with. You're not trying to be exact to the dollar; you're just creating a smart baseline that's going to get homeowners in the door while also being a realistic representation of your pricing.

Now that you have your per square pricing, let's get into how to add that pricing into Roofr.

1. Open or create an Instant Estimator: Go to the Instant Estimator in Roofr. From here, either open an existing estimator or click "Create new Instant Estimator".
2. Scroll to the Material Options section: Once you're inside that estimator, find this section.
3. Add your first option: Click "Add". Once you've selected "Add," you're going to be able to select the material type that you're pricing. In this example, we're going to use asphalt and then click "Continue". This is where you'll enter the details of how the Instant Estimator will use these prices to calculate your estimates.
4. Name the option: This can be a specific material, a brand, or a packaging like "Bronze Package". This is what homeowners are going to see when they view their estimate.
5. Enter per square pricing: Take your all-inclusive per square or per square foot pricing for low slope, moderate slope, and steep slope. We don't have a fixed definition for this; it's just usually what you and your team would consider low, moderate, and steep, taking into account any additional costs and factors for that slope.
6. Account for multi-story roofs: If you charge more for a particularly steep roof or multi-story, you're able to put an additional cost here. If the homeowner selects that they have a multi-story roof, that cost will be added to the original per square foot cost.

Now we're at the optional details, which include any images or descriptions you want to include. These are optional but very helpful when setting expectations and giving the homeowner a better idea of what to expect.

Once your pricing and details are in, go ahead and click "Save". The last step is testing and adjusting. Once you've saved this, put in some past jobs in your Instant Estimator and see what ranges are shown at the end. If needed, you can go back and tweak your per square pricing and save again.

And that's it! Your pricing is now live and ready to use. The best part is that you can always tweak this later. Even after your Instant Estimator is live, you can still run test addresses, compare the estimate to past jobs, and tweak your numbers until they feel right to you.

In the next lesson, we'll switch perspectives and look at the homeowner experience: what they see, what they click, and how the question setup affects lead quality.