Cabinet estimates and invoices, from field measure to punch walk.

A per-foot price is where the quote starts, not where it ends.

Cabinet quoting software has to handle the way shops really price: a rate per linear foot for the run, then everything that rate does not cover. Filler strips, scribe molding, toe kick, crown, light rail and finished end panels are where a real install runs 25 to 30 percent over the bare box rate. Quote the run without them and you either eat the difference or argue about it at the punch walk.

In Jobkore every line has its own unit. The cabinet run is by the linear foot, the pantry and the island are each, the crown and light rail are by the linear foot, the soft-close hinges and dovetail drawer boxes are upgrades by the piece, and the field measure is a visit.

Load the Cabinetry & Millwork trade pack and your catalog starts with all of it: stock, semi-custom and custom cabinets supplied and installed, labor-only install, vanities, tall and pantry cabinets, hardware, refacing, tear-out, field measure, countertop template, quartz tops, built-ins and closet systems. Set each price once and it is saved.

Put the order of operations on the estimate.

Most cabinet disasters start with a step done out of order, so write the order into the quote. The field measure happens after demo and rough-in, never from plans or pre-demo dimensions. Shop drawings are approved in writing before anything goes to production. Appliance model numbers are in hand before box sizes lock, because a panel-ready refrigerator or a slide-in range changes the openings.

The sink model is confirmed before the countertop template, and the template happens after the boxes are set, shimmed and level, never before. Each of these can be a line (the field measure visit, the shop drawings, the template visit) or a note on the estimate, and either way the homeowner has signed off on it.

Name the scope boundary too: who owns tear-out and disposal, the backsplash, the plumbing reconnect, the electrical and the final paint. More on what a full kitchen estimate covers.

Write the lead time and the change cutoff.

State the lead time in writing, and state when the clock starts: when the deposit is received and the shop drawings are approved, not when the contract is signed. Then state the change cutoff. After the job is released to production, a change of door style or box size carries a rebuild cost, and the homeowner should know that before they sign.

When a change does come after release, write it as a change order on the invoice with the rebuild in its own lines. The homeowner signs it online and the invoice total moves to include it. No one expects the new door style for free when the price is on the page with their signature under it.

Spell out the specs by name, not adjective: plywood or particleboard boxes, the drawer box construction, the hinge and slide brand, the finish. That is the answer to the homeowner's real question, which is whether this will fit their walls and last, or whether it is a box-store kitchen with a markup.

Deposit, delivery, install, and the rules on deposits.

Cabinet work is often billed as a deposit at order, a payment at delivery and the balance at install. Put it on one invoice with a payment schedule, each row named and dated in the order the money comes in. Payments fill the rows in order and the last row is always the balance. The homeowner pays by card or bank transfer from the invoice link, and Stripe charges its standard rate with nothing added by Jobkore.

Check your state before you ask for half up front. California's home improvement law limits the down payment to $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract, whichever is less, with no exception for custom work, and later payments cannot run ahead of the work and materials delivered. A schedule tied to delivery and install fits rules like that.

Treat the deposit as the client's money until the boxes are built. A shop that spends it on the next job's materials is one delay away from a problem.

Hank knows what a cabinet quote misses.

Jobkore includes Hank AI™, an assistant that knows the trade you picked at signup. Tell him the job by typing or with a voice memo: L-shaped kitchen, 22 linear feet of semi-custom, a 6-foot island, one pantry, crown to the ceiling, quartz tops, undermount sink. He drafts the estimate with the run, the extras and the tops, priced from your catalog first, with the usual waste on sheet goods and face-frame stock.

Turn on a review before sending and he checks it against a cabinet shop's list: an install priced without fillers, scribe and end panels; no field measure after demo; no change cutoff; a countertop template scheduled before the boxes are set. He can add the missing line and never changes your prices in a review.

You read it, adjust it and send it. Add photos of the existing kitchen and the out-of-plumb wall, up to 20 on the document, so the reason for the scribe line is right there.

What Jobkore does for a cabinet shop.

Jobkore is the part after the design: the quote the homeowner signs, the change orders, the invoice and the payments, for a small shop or a solo installer.

It runs on your phone and in the shop, in English or Spanish, and invoices and payments sync one way to QuickBooks Online. Late payments get reminders at 1, 7 and 14 days. Keep your common box, finish and hardware lines in the catalog, and a new quote starts from them.

Related trades: remodeling, carpentry and tile. The price is on the pricing page: one plan, every feature.