How To Reopen Costing On A Sold Estimate
Selling an estimate locks its sales price — that’s the number the customer agreed to. But costs often need to change after the sale: a measurement report comes back, quantities firm up, or you bid at a rate without calculating materials at all. Reopening costing lets you update materials, labor, and standalone costs on a sold estimate without touching the price.
When would I use this?
- You bid per square and now need real material quantities to order against
- A measurement report came back after the job was sold
- Quantities changed between the bid and production
- You want to add items from your catalog that weren’t in the original estimate
Before you start
Requires project access — available to all roles except Field by default.
This works on both pricing methods. Cost plus margin and per-unit estimates can both have costing reopened after sale.
Why is the sales price locked?
Because it’s been signed in a contract. The customer agreed to a number, and that number is the record of the deal.
Reopening costing never changes the sales price. It changes what the job costs you, not what the customer owes.
How do I reopen costing?
- Open the project and go to the sold estimate.
- Click into the package.
- Click Reopen Costing.
- Optionally enter a reason for reopening.
You can reopen costing as many times as the job needs.
What can I change once costing is reopened?
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Adjust quantities | Manually change the quantity on any item |
| Add items from your catalog or custom | Bring in products that weren’t in the original estimate |
| Refresh from measurement | Pull the full current measurement and recalculate everything |
What does Refresh from Measurement do?
It rebuilds your costing from the measurement as it now stands, then shows you a breakdown of what changed:
- Material changes
- Labor changes
- Standalone cost changes
You review the changes and update the items you want.
This is what makes rate-based bidding practical. Quote $500 a square with no materials calculated, win the job, order a full measurement report, then refresh from measurement — and the estimate that had no costs now has real quantities ready to order against.
What happens if materials were already ordered?
Exterio shows you the difference between what was ordered and what’s now needed — plus or minus on each item in the materials tab — and lets you adjust from there.
This is the reconciliation that matters on a job where costing changed after the first order went out. Rather than guessing what’s short, you see it.
Is there a record of what changed?
Yes. Every reopen is logged with when it happened, who did it, and what changed in that round.
Look for the reverse clock icon to view the full history.
Example: bid first, cost later
- Create an estimate with no measurement and type in your per-square rate. If you know it’s a 15-square roof, enter 15.
- Add line items you know apply — two chimneys, one extra story.
- Sell the project at that price with no materials or expected costs calculated.
- Once you’ve won the job, order a measurement report or update your measurements.
- Reopen costing and refresh from measurement.
- Review the material, labor, and standalone changes, and update.
The project now has full costs and materials ready to order, and the customer’s price never moved.
Tips and gotchas
- The price doesn’t move — that’s the point. Reopening costing is safe on a signed contract precisely because the sales price is untouchable. If the scope genuinely changed and the customer owes more, that’s a change order, not a costing update.
- Check the ordered-versus-needed difference before placing a second order. After a refresh on a job with materials already ordered, Exterio tells you exactly what’s over or short. That’s your shortage list — use it rather than eyeballing the new quantities.
- Use the reason field even though it’s optional. The history log captures who and what; the reason captures why. Six weeks later, “refreshed from EagleView report after sale” explains a cost swing that would otherwise look like someone fiddling with a closed job.
- Refresh from measurement before ordering materials, not after. The whole value is getting accurate quantities onto the job before the truck rolls. Doing it after delivery means reconciling a shortage instead of avoiding one.
- Review the changes rather than accepting them. The refresh shows you what’s different. If a material jumped significantly, that’s worth understanding before you update — it may mean the measurement captured something the bid didn’t.
- This changes your margin, and you should look at it. Costs moving against a fixed sales price moves your profit. After a refresh, check your estimate metrics. A job that went from comfortable to thin is worth knowing about while you can still manage it.
- Bidding at a rate works best when you cost it eventually. Selling without calculating materials is fast. Never going back to cost it means your job costing, P&L, and material orders all have nothing behind them.