Building an estimate in Eano takes you from a blank opportunity to a priced, signable proposal in five steps: create the opportunity, pick how you want to build the scope, adjust the numbers, preview it, and send it. This article walks through each one.

If you’d rather watch than read, these tutorials cover the same ground:

On the left side of the screen, choose Opportunities from the navigation menu, then click + New Opportunity in the top right corner.

There’s a second way in that’s often quicker: the Quick Add button in the left-hand navigation. Click it and pick New Opportunity from the New Work group at the top of the menu. It opens the same form from anywhere in Eano, so you don’t have to travel to the Opportunities list first.

If you can’t spot the button in either place, there are really only two reasons. It may be sitting there greyed out instead of blue — that happens on the Starter plan once you already have five projects and opportunities on the go, and clicking it will offer you an upgrade rather than a new opportunity. Or your role doesn’t include creating work: field workers and subcontractors don’t get the button at all, in either spot. An Admin or Owner on your team can check your role under People > My Team.

The form that opens gives you a few ways to save yourself some typing:

When you’re done, scroll down and click Create Opportunity.

One caution if you’re just testing: don’t use your own phone number as the client’s. Your number is already tied to your contractor profile, so it can’t double as a test client.

Open your new opportunity and head to the Scope tab. Since the scope is empty, you’ll see a set of cards offering different starting points.

Generate Estimate with AI — type a description of the job, anywhere from “Bathroom remodel” to the full details, and Eano generates line items for you. You’ll choose between two modes: Standard for a quick estimate, or Advanced, which takes longer but does deeper research before pricing. Hit Generate, give it a moment, and click Insert if you like what you see — or Regenerate for a fresh take (heads up: regenerating replaces the previous result, so there’s no going back to it). And if you already have an estimate written up elsewhere — say, from ChatGPT — you can paste that text in and Eano will build the scope from it.

Upload an Existing Project or Template — bring in your own estimate file or a template you’ve saved before, and reuse it as the starting point.

Takeoff Concierge — upload your plans or drawings and get a detailed quantity takeoff. This one’s a paid add-on (your first takeoff is free). You can also start a takeoff at any time by opening Ask AI from the left-hand navigation and attaching your plans there — that works whether the scope is empty or already full, so you never need to clear line items to make room for one. See Uploading Plans for an AI Takeoff for the full walkthrough.

Eano Default Templates — prebuilt scopes for common project types like kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, painting, and ADUs.

You can also turn any estimate you build into a reusable template of your own: once the scope looks the way you like, click Project Template and choose Save as Project Scope Template. It’ll show up alongside the defaults next time.

Every line item is editable. Click into any field to change it — text boxes for names and numbers, dropdowns where you see the arrow.

Your scope is organized in three layers, like an outline: scope groups (the big sections — say, “Kitchen” or “Demolition”), the sub-groups nested inside them, and the individual line items that carry your quantities and prices. Adding to any layer is just a matter of typing into the prompt for that spot in the table, then pressing Enter to save:

To remove lines, tick the checkbox on the left of each one you want gone and hit Delete.

Typos get caught as you type. When you’re moving fast, it’s easy to fat-finger a line-item or section name. As you type in the scope editor, misspelled words get the familiar red squiggle underneath, just like everywhere else on your computer. Right-click a flagged word to see suggestions. It’s your own browser doing the checking, so the underline only ever shows on your screen — it never changes what your client sees, and it isn’t saved with the estimate.

Don’t see those “Add…” prompts? They only show up while an estimate is still editable, so if they’ve gone missing it’s usually one of a few things:

One more, in case you’re mid-takeoff: while an AI Takeoff is still processing, the “+ New scope name” option is paused until it finishes.

Cleared your scope and want it back? If you select everything and delete it, don’t panic — a blue bar appears at the top of the Scope tab reading Restore {N} recently deleted items, with a Restore button to put it all back and a Dismiss button to confirm you meant it. Restore brings back everything from that clear-out at once.

Two catches worth committing to memory. First, the offer expires about ten minutes after you delete — once that window closes, the scope is gone for good, so restore right away rather than after lunch. Second, this only covers clearing the whole scope. Deleting a single line or a single group doesn’t produce the bar, and there’s no per-line undo, so treat individual deletions as permanent.

Once your scope is set — and your payment structure is sorted in the Payment Milestones tab (that’s covered in our payment schedule article) — take a moment to see it through your client’s eyes. Look to the top right corner of the screen, where two buttons sit waiting (they’re there from any tab, so you don’t have to navigate back):

Finalize Quote doubles as a pre-send checklist. Hover over the button and a little panel drops down listing anything Eano thinks is missing before the quote leaves the building — an empty scope, line items without prices, incomplete client info. Here’s the handy part: you don’t have to go hunting for any of it. Click any item in that list and you’re taken straight to the spot that needs fixing — that click is your next step. Blockers have to be cleared before you can send; lighter warnings you can send past if you choose. Once the list comes back clean — it’ll tell you the quote is ready — click Preview and Send Quote for one last look at the full contract.

When everything’s right, hit the blue send button. Its label depends on the signing order — it reads Send Final Quote to Client if your client signs first, or Sign & Send to Client if you’re signing first.

That’s it: your client automatically gets an email and SMS letting them know there’s a quote waiting to review and sign. You can adjust how those notifications behave under Settings > Notifications.

For the full tour — previewing as your client, the pre-send check, customizing the contract, and what happens after everyone signs — see How To Preview As Your Client and Send Out The Proposal.