Help & FAQ

Everything you need to get good bids out of BiddingPro — fast.

Getting accurate bids from the AI

The AI that writes your estimates is good — but it's only as good as what you tell it. A one-line prompt gives you a one-line-quality bid. A specific, well-structured prompt gives you an estimate that's genuinely close to what you'd have written yourself, just twenty seconds instead of forty minutes.

Under the hood, the AI knows manufacturer coverage rates (paint spread per gallon, refrigerant capacities, wire gauges), local tax rates by state, and — critically — your own pricing history. Every saved bid trains the next one. If you've billed labor at $95/hour on your last five jobs, the AI uses $95/hour on your sixth, not some industry average. If you've been sourcing condensers through Graybar, it'll reference Graybar in future bids.

Compare these two prompts

Vague

“Paint the bedroom.”

The AI doesn't know the size, what paint you use, how many coats, or whether to include trim. It will guess — and its guesses are generic.

Specific

“Paint a 12×14 bedroom, walls only, 2 coats of Sherwin-Williams Duration in eggshell, beige over existing beige. No trim, no ceiling. Customer provides color sample. Access is easy; no furniture to move.”

Now the AI can calculate wall surface area, look up Duration's coverage rate, multiply by 2 coats, round up to the nearest gallon, and match your historical labor rate for bedroom paint jobs.

What to include when it's relevant

💡 Pro tip

Use voice notes while you're walking the job. You'll mention things naturally (“I'll need to pull a permit for this,” “can see from here they'll want GFCI near the sink”) that you'd forget to type later. Every note gets transcribed and added to the prompt.

Examples by trade

A few good-quality prompts, straight from real jobs. Notice how specific they are.

Painting

“Interior repaint of a 1,400 sq ft ranch: 4 bedrooms (avg 120 sq ft walls each), 2 bathrooms (ceiling + walls), living room, dining room, hallway. 2 coats SW Duration eggshell throughout, white ceilings using SW ProMar 200. Trim and doors repainted in SW Emerald Urethane semi-gloss. Customer will move furniture; we cover floors. No wallpaper removal.”

HVAC

“Replace 20-year-old 3-ton AC condenser and coil with Trane XR14 (16 SEER) on a 2,400 sq ft single-story home. Reuse existing copper lineset (30 ft, good condition). Install new thermostat (Honeywell Pro T6). Disposal of old unit included. Permit pulled by us. Customer has clear attic access.”

Electrical

“Kitchen remodel rough-in and finish: 8 duplex receptacles (4 GFCI over countertop), 1 dedicated 20A circuit for microwave, 1 for dishwasher, 6 recessed LED cans on dimmer, under-cabinet lighting prewire. Panel is in garage, has 2 open breaker slots. Work done in two visits (rough-in before drywall, finish after cabinets).”

Roofing

“Tear-off and replace 28 squares of asphalt shingle on a 6/12 pitch ranch. Owens Corning Duration shingles in Estate Gray, new synthetic underlayment, new drip edge, new ridge vent. Two layers to remove (original and one overlay). Disposal included. Gutters stay. No skylights.”

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is the AI estimate?
Accuracy depends heavily on how specific your prompt is — see the section above. With a detailed prompt and a few saved bids under your belt, most contractors tell us the AI lands within 5–10% of what they'd have written manually. The AI always shows a small AI badge on any line where it suggested a price, so you know exactly what to double-check. You can edit anything before sending.
Can I edit what the AI generates?
Yes — every field. Descriptions, quantities, unit prices, line item types, markup, tax, notes, terms. The AI is a starting point, not a final word. Nothing is sent to the customer until you click Send.
Does BiddingPro learn from my past bids?
Yes. Every bid you save becomes training data for your next one. The AI looks at your five most recent saved bids as “current rates” — authoritative pricing it should use for matching items. Older saved bids and any bid history you've uploaded act as fallback reference. You never see another contractor's data and they never see yours.
What's the difference between Summary and Detailed mode?

Detailed mode shows your customer the full line-item breakdown — descriptions, quantities, unit prices, subtotals. Good for customers who want to understand where every dollar goes (remodels, high-ticket installs, commercial).

Summary modereplaces the line items with a project narrative — a few paragraphs explaining the scope, materials, timeline, and what's included — plus a single project total. Good for trades where contractors traditionally don't itemize (painters, handymen, many residential service jobs) and for any situation where you'd rather not publish per-line pricing.

You choose per bid, and you can set a default in Settings. You can even switch mid-flight: if a customer on a Summary bid wants to see line items, they can request a detailed breakdown in one click — you'll get a notification, flip the toggle, and the new version resends automatically.

How do customers sign bids?
Customers get an email with a link to a clean, branded portal. They review the bid on any device and either Accept (sign with their finger on a touch screen, or with their mouse), Decline, or Request changeswith a note. You get an email notification the moment they respond, plus a visible status on your bid list.
What if a customer wants changes?
When they click “Request changes” they can leave you a note describing what they'd like adjusted. Your bid status changes to “Changes requested,” and the note shows up right at the top of the bid view. You can edit the bid (line items, scope, notes — anything) and click Resend to send the updated version.
Can I send a PDF?
The customer portal is designed to look just as clean in print as on screen, so “Save as PDF” from any browser produces a proper PDF copy of the bid. Customers can do the same from their side. A dedicated PDF generator is on the roadmap if it turns out contractors prefer attachments to links.
Is my pricing data private?
Completely. Your bids, your customers, your vendors, your pricing history — all isolated to your account. We use Supabase Row Level Security so even a bug in our code can't accidentally leak one contractor's data to another. We never sell or share your data, and we don't use it to train the shared AI model.
How does the free trial work?
Sign up with just an email address — no credit card required. You get seven days of full access: create as many bids as you want, generate with AI, send to customers, collect signatures. At the end of the trial, add a card from Settings → Billing to keep going, or walk away. We don't charge cards we don't have.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes — from Settings → Billing. Your subscription ends at the end of the current billing period and you keep access until then. Your data stays with your account in case you come back.
Can I get a text when a customer responds to a bid?
Yes. In Settings → Business Profile, turn on SMS Notificationsand make sure your phone number is set. You'll get a text when a customer accepts, declines, or requests changes on a bid. You can set this up during initial onboarding or add it later. Text STOPto any message to opt out; standard message & data rates may apply.
How do I change my password?
Go to Settings → Business Profile. On the profile view you'll see a Changelink next to the Password row. You'll need to enter your current password, then a new one. Changes take effect immediately.
How do I change my email address?
To change the email address on your account, contact [email protected] and we'll handle it. We keep this step manual because an automated email change is a common account-takeover vector.
Can I use this on my phone?
Yes. The whole app is mobile-responsive — voice notes on a job site, reviewing line items in your truck, sending a bid from a parking lot. Customers open their portal link on phone by default. Native iOS and Android apps are on the roadmap.
Can I import old bids?
Yes. In Settings → Bid History you can upload PDFs, images, CSVs, and spreadsheets of old bids. The AI extracts line items and prices, which then feed into the “historical reference” pool the estimator uses when it can't find a match in your recent saved bids. Upload 10–20 old jobs and the AI gets dramatically more accurate on your first new bid.
What if I have employees or work on a team?
Not yet — BiddingPro today is one account per contractor. Multi-user teams (shared customers, shared pricing, per-user permissions) are on the roadmap. If you need it now, get in touch and we'll prioritize based on demand.

Still stuck? Email us at [email protected] — a real person will read it and write back.