Software for remodeling contractors: estimates, change orders and progress payments

A bathroom remodel is won or lost in the first week. If the estimate takes ten days, the homeowner has hired someone else; if you didn't collect before ordering tile and a vanity, you're financing their job. At the end, the last payment stalls on the punch list. State law shapes all of it: your license, how much you can take up front, the client's right to cancel and the lien paperwork.

Licenses, deposits and the right to cancel

Home improvement rules are set by each state. In California, the Contractors State License Board says the down payment on a home improvement contract can't be more than $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less, with no exception for special-order materials, and state law limits progress payments too. Since January 1, 2025, California requires a license for jobs of $1,000 or more in labor and materials combined, and for smaller jobs that need a permit or where the worker hires help. Other states set different limits, or none. Check yours before you set a deposit.

The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule covers sales of $25 or more made at the buyer's home, and $130 or more at temporary locations such as a booth at a fairground or a convention center. The buyer can cancel until midnight of the third business day after the sale (business days exclude Sundays and federal holidays), you have to tell them about that right, and payments are refunded within 10 business days of a cancellation. If you sign contracts at the kitchen table, set the start date after those three business days. Whether a proposal accepted online after an in-home estimate counts as a sale at the home depends on the facts, so ask a lawyer.

Lien waivers follow state law as well. California's Civil Code sets the wording for conditional and unconditional waivers on progress and final payments, and a waiver that isn't substantially in the statutory form isn't enforceable; CSLB publishes all four forms. You can send your state's form as a PDF through E-Signatures with each payment, to your subs and to the owner, as long as it's the form your state requires.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; check yours with a lawyer or your licensing board.

From the estimate visit to the final payment

1. The homeowner fills out your request form: bathroom, kitchen, basement, deck or addition; rough size; whether they'll live there during the work; target date; budget range. Ask them to text photos, because forms can't take uploads.
2. They book a 60-minute "Estimate visit" on your booking page, with 30 minutes of buffer for driving, the address as a required question and a reminder an hour before.
3. Send the proposal that evening, by phase: demo and haul-off, rough plumbing and electrical, tile, fixtures and trim, final clean, each with quantity and price. It expires in 15 days, because material prices move. The deposit is a whole percentage, so match it to your state's limit: on a $24,000 bath in California, 10% would be $2,400, the $1,000 cap applies, and 4% ($960) keeps you under it.
4. The accepted proposal creates a signature request for your contract: scope, start window, allowances, payment schedule, your license number and the notices your state requires.
5. The deposit invoice comes from the proposal. Progress invoices you create in Invoicing as each phase is done. Clients pay by card through your Stripe account, by ACH or Zelle using the details printed on the invoice, or by check you mark paid by hand.
6. When the client asks for a change, send a short proposal for it with the price and the added days. They accept it online with their name, and it becomes a line on the next progress invoice.
7. Every supply-house receipt goes into Expenses with a photo, assigned to the job. Export the CSV at the end to see what the job really cost.
8. The punch list lives on a board. After the final walk-through, the final invoice comes from the proposal, with your final lien waiver once it's paid.

A typical week

• Monday: three estimate visits booked from the QR code on your truck. One homeowner moved theirs from the confirmation email.
• Tuesday: two proposals go out from your bathroom template. One is accepted that night and the contract is signed before Wednesday's coffee.
• Wednesday: the deposit clears by card, and the start date sits past the cancellation window. Three receipts from the tile shop go into Expenses from the parking lot.
• Thursday: the client asks for a heated floor. The change order goes out at 2 p.m. and is accepted at 6.
• Friday: rough-in passes inspection. The progress invoice goes out with the pay link, and your plumber's conditional waiver comes back signed.

All 13 tools, one by one

How a remodeler uses each tool, from the first call to the final payment:

• Link in Bio: photos of finished kitchens and baths, your license number and a button to book an estimate visit, linked from your Google Business Profile and Facebook page.
• Short Links: the QR code on your truck wrap and yard signs; when the page changes, edit the destination instead of reprinting the sign.
• Forms: project type, size, timeline and budget, with questions that only appear for kitchens or additions, filled out before you drive over.
• Scheduling: estimate visits with travel buffers, the address required and a 1-hour reminder, charged at booking only if you bill for design consultations.
• Proposals: phase-by-phase pricing with a deposit percentage matched to your state's limit, a short expiration, and small proposals as change orders the client accepts online.
• E-Signatures: the home improvement contract, change orders that need a full signature, the final walk-through sign-off and lien waiver PDFs, signed from a phone.
• Document Tracking: barely needed on a small remodel; useful for sending the architect's plan set or a product spec sheet to a sub and seeing that they opened it.
• Screen Recording: from a desktop browser, up to 5 minutes walking a homeowner through a $90,000 kitchen proposal line by line, when they ask why it costs that much.
• Notes & Boards: a board per job with materials to order, work in progress and the punch list, each card with a due date.
• Time Tracking: barely matters on fixed-price jobs; it's for time-and-materials service work, where the hours go straight onto the invoice.
• Invoicing: the deposit and the final from the proposal, progress invoices you create per phase, a pay link you text from your own phone, and checks marked paid by hand.
• Expenses: supply-house receipts and payments to subs with a photo, assigned to the job, with a CSV export for job costing.
• Automations: if a remodel proposal hasn't been accepted after 3 days, a follow-up email; it isn't sent if they've already said yes.

SoloWOS or Buildertrend: which fits

Choose Buildertrend or Wave if:

• You run several jobs at once with crews and subs who need schedules, daily logs and selections in one place. That's construction-management software, and SoloWOS isn't it; check Buildertrend's site for what each plan includes.
• You only need estimates and invoices and want them free (Wave).

Choose SoloWOS if:

• You're a one- or two-person remodeler, and the work is getting estimates out the same day, contracts and change orders signed, and getting paid per phase.
• You want the estimate visit, the proposal, the contract, the receipts and the invoices tied to the same client, for one fixed price.
• Payments should land in your own Stripe account.

SoloWOS features checked on October 23, 2026. Wave's plans and card fee were checked on its own pages on October 19, 2026 (Wave vs SoloWOS). We couldn't confirm Buildertrend's features and prices on its site for this page, so those cells say "check their site".

Start with these three

Proposals with templates for your most common jobs, Invoicing for the deposit and progress payments, and Expenses for receipts per job. Scheduling for estimate visits and E-Signatures for the contract come right after.

Free tools that help

• Profit margin calculator per job, after materials, subs and dumpster fees.
• Payment fee calculator to see what a $12,000 card payment nets you.
• Project cost calculator to check a phase price against your hours.
• Mileage deduction calculator for the truck miles between jobs and supply runs.
• QR code generator for the truck wrap and yard signs (point it at a short link).

What SoloWOS won't do for a contractor

• No takeoffs, cost books, unit pricing or estimating database.
• No crew scheduling, dispatch, daily logs or payroll.
• No retainage tracking or pay applications for commercial work.
• No lien deadline tracking or preliminary notices; those follow your state's rules and dates.
• Solo includes 15 signature requests and 20 proposals a month. If you run several jobs with frequent change orders, Team includes 50 and 75.
• Reminders go by email only, not text.
• SoloWOS doesn't file taxes, issue 1099s or collect sales tax for you. Invoicing sends the invoice with a pay link (card through your Stripe account) and your other payment details; your accountant or tax software handles the rest.