Fence contractor software that quotes by the foot and takes the deposit before you order
Type in the footage you walked, price each style and every gate from your own list, and she signs and pays the material deposit on the same page. Then keep her posted through the HOA and the locates, and put the crew on the days it's clear to dig.
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She has three fence quotes, and only one says what the gates cost.
You walked her backyard with the wheel on Saturday: 248 feet, a walk gate by the AC unit and a drive gate wide enough for the boat. By Wednesday she has a lump sum from the big outfit, $31 a foot written on the back of a business card, and a "we'll email it over" that never came. She wants to know which one includes tearing out the old fence, what the gates cost and whether the posts are steel. Your number is still in the notebook on your dash, and cedar went up again last month.
Per-foot quotes and gates
Every run by the foot, every gate on its own line
Save each style in your price list at your price per foot: 6 ft cedar board-on-board at $34, vinyl privacy at $46, 4 ft chain link at $19. Put in the 236 feet, add the walk gate and the double drive gate as their own lines, mark the top cap recommended so it starts ticked and leave the stain optional. She sees what the tear-out and each gate cost, ticks what she wants from the link, and her picks lock when she signs. For cedar against vinyl, send two estimates and she accepts the one she wants.
- Cedar board-on-board, 236 ft at $34
- Tear-out and haul-off, 248 ft
- 4 ft walk gate and 8 ft drive gate, priced apart
- Top cap recommended, stain optional
- Cedar or vinyl as two estimates
Material deposit
Half down when she signs, so the cedar is paid for before you order it
Ask for 50% on the estimate, or a fixed amount, within your state's rules on deposits. She pays it on the page she signs, through Stripe, Square or PayPal, and you get a Payment received email. Her $5,879.50 covers the pickets, steel posts, rails, concrete and gate frames before you call the supplier. When the last gate swings, the invoice charges her the balance minus the deposit, and a check or Zelle can be recorded by hand.
- 50% at signing, paid online
- Fixed amount or a percentage
- Deposit comes off the final invoice
- Checks and Zelle recorded by hand
- No fee from BestMate on top of your provider's
HOA and locates
Three weeks between the signature and the first post hole, and she knows what's next
Most backyards don't start the week they sign. The HOA's committee can take two weeks or more, and in Texas you call 811 at least two business days before you dig. BestMate doesn't track HOA approvals, permits or locate tickets, but the wait goes better in one text thread: she sends the approval letter as a photo, you tell her when the flags go in and that the locators don't mark her sprinkler lines, and the crew day is in writing. Texts go out from a shared BestMate number, not your cell, and the thread stays on her record.
- HOA approval letter, sent as a photo
- "Flags go in by Wednesday, leave them in"
- Sprinkler lines she marks herself
- Crew day confirmed in writing
- Off your personal cell
Install days
Posts on Thursday, pickets and gates on Friday
Put the post day and the picket day on the calendar with the crew on both, and fit the measure-and-quotes and the sagging-gate calls around them. Each installer gets an email when you assign them and opens the job on their phone with the address, your notes and the photos. When rain pushes the posts a day, move the job and give the crew a call, because there are no push or text alerts to the team. Your calendar shows in Google, Apple or Outlook too.
- Post day, then pickets and gates
- Two installs in one week
- Measure-and-quotes in the afternoon
- Gate repair requests to confirm
- Your calendar in Google, Apple or Outlook
Install crews
Your installers know about the sprinkler line before they start augering
Each installer gets their own login and sees the jobs you assign them, not your estimates, invoices or customer list unless you allow it. Put the gate swing, the flagged sprinkler line and the dogs in the job notes, add the photos, and they read it in the truck. They clock in and out on their phone, and the timesheet report shows each person's hours for the week, so Friday's payroll isn't a guess. Clocking in records the time, not where they are.
- Own login for each installer
- Only their own jobs, if you choose
- Notes and photos on the job
- Clock in and out on the phone
- Hours per person for the week
Get the per-foot price to her before the other two fence companies call back
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