Switching to Estimark

Switching to Estimark: what comes across, and what does not

Switching to Estimark is a CSV job, a fortnight of trial, and one cut date. Clients and jobs come across from any spreadsheet export, matched column by column and previewed row by row before anything is saved; the price book takes a merchant trade-account export; and quotes, invoices, timesheets and payroll history do not import. Sign-up takes about ten minutes, the trial runs 14 days with a card taken and nothing charged until it ends, and during it a person reads every reply. Run the old system alongside for a month with one cut date, and export it before you cancel it.

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What breaks when a firm moves systems

The empty account

A trial with no clients and no jobs on it is a test of nothing, and nobody re-keys four hundred clients by hand. The first job is getting your own list on the screen.

The migration that was a click

Two systems of record never map one to one. The honest answer is which records come across and which do not, and a vendor who says all of them has not done one.

Two systems, both live

Run both for too long and people use whichever is nearer, so you end up checking both. One cut date, and the old system goes read-only.

The export you did not take

HMRC’s record-keeping periods outlive a subscription. Export the old system before you cancel it, because a cancelled account is not a filing cabinet.

Switching: how it works

What imports?

Clients and jobs, from any CSV your old system exports, and the price book from a merchant trade-account export. Nothing needs a particular template.

What	From	How
Clients	Any CSV export	Match the columns, preview every row, then import. Name, email, phone, address, postcode, client type, VAT number, payment terms and notes.
Jobs	Any CSV export	The same wizard. Title, your own job reference, client, status, contract value, site address and postcode, start and end dates, notes. A client the file names and Estimark does not have is created.
Price book	A merchant export, or a name, unit and price file	Travis Perkins, Screwfix, Toolstation, City Plumbing, Selco and Jewson exports are recognised by their own column headings. A re-upload updates prices rather than duplicating lines.

Your job numbers come with you. A reference column is kept as the job number, so a job you know as 24-118 is still 24-118.
Re-running a corrected file does not duplicate. Clients match on name, then email; jobs match on your reference, then on client and title.
Files are CSV, comma, semicolon or tab separated. Save a spreadsheet as CSV first; there is no Excel upload.

NoteClients and jobs are at Settings, then Import. The price book is at Price Book, then Upload account prices, and that upload has no preview step: it writes on upload, and every upload is listed in its history.

What does not come across?

Quotes, invoices, timesheets, payroll history, suppliers, subcontractors and employee records. None of those has an import.

Work already running finishes where it started. Invoices raised in the old system are paid and chased there, and new work starts in Estimark from the cut date.
Estimate history stays behind. Estimark keeps no version history of a quote, so there is nothing to carry an old system’s revisions into.
There is no direct migration from any other platform. Anybody telling you a move between two systems of record is a button press has not done one.

NoteOn Enterprise, an awkward export is ours to map: send a sample rather than retyping it.

What do we do with you?

Sign-up takes about ten minutes and sets the company up. After that the trial is 14 days, a card is taken and nothing is charged until it ends, and the emails during it come from a person who reads the replies.

On every plan: reply with one job you are pricing anyway and we build the quote with you on a fifteen-minute call. You send it to the client at the end.
On the Pro and Enterprise plans: send us one live job with the tender figures and the client, and we put it on for you, budget and all. About twenty minutes of our time.
On Enterprise: half an hour early on, setting it up round how the business runs. Cost heads that match your management accounts, approval limits, who sees what.
Your accounts package connects from the start: Xero, QuickBooks or Sage. Invoices push across and payment status comes back.

NoteNone of it is an implementation project and none of it is charged for. If Estimark is not right for you, we would rather know during the trial.

How long does it take?

Ten minutes to sign up, four steps for each CSV, and a month of running both systems with one cut date. The month is the part that decides whether the move sticks.

Import clients and jobs first. They are what a CSV brings across cleanly, and a job list on the screen is what makes the trial a test of anything.
Pick one cut date. Every new quote, job and invoice starts in Estimark that morning, and work already running finishes where it started.
Make the old system read-only rather than leaving it live, and export it before you cancel it.
Expect one person to be slower for a fortnight at something they used to be quick at.

NoteThere is no implementation fee. You can price it on the pricing page and start on a trial the same day.

What comes back out?

Clients, quotes, jobs, invoices, timesheets and expenses export as CSV from Reports, and payroll and CIS come out as files for your payroll system or bureau. The price book does not export.

The exports are yours to take at any time, not a leaving formality.
The price book is built from merchant prices and your own invoice history, and there is no download of it. The merchant export you uploaded is still the merchant’s.

NoteHMRC’s record-keeping periods outlive any subscription, on either side of a move. Keep the exports.

The move, in facts

Clients and jobs: Any CSV, column-matched
Preview: Every row, before saving
Price book: Merchant CSV export
Your job numbers: Kept
Sign-up: About ten minutes
Trial: 14 days, nothing charged
Parallel run: One month, one cut date
Exports out: CSV from Reports

Which plan

Every plan

From £39 a month +VAT

The import wizard and the price book upload are on every plan, so a sole trader moves the same way a twenty-person firm does. What differs is who helps: a fifteen-minute call to build your first quote on every plan, a live job set up for you on the Pro and Enterprise plans, and a half-hour setup call on Enterprise.

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What you get

Clients and jobs from any CSV
Price book from a merchant export
Your own job numbers kept
A person reading every reply during the trial
Xero, QuickBooks or Sage connected
Exports out as CSV from Reports

Enterprise is quoted against the contract and includes the setup call.

Every module and price →

Questions

Switching to Estimark: frequently asked

Can I move from another construction platform to Estimark?

Yes, by CSV. Clients and jobs import from any spreadsheet export through a wizard that matches your columns and previews every row before saving. There is no direct migration between platforms, and anybody telling you a move between two systems of record is a button press has not done one.

Does Estimark import from Excel?

No. The imports read CSV. Save the sheet as CSV first; comma, semicolon and tab-separated files are all read.

Do my old quotes and invoices come across?

No. There is no import for quotes, invoices, timesheets or payroll history. Work already running finishes in the old system, new work starts in Estimark from the cut date, and the old system is exported and kept rather than deleted.

How long should we run both systems?

A month, with one cut date. Every new quote, job and invoice starts in Estimark that morning, work already running finishes where it started, and the old system goes read-only. Longer than a month and people use whichever system is nearer.

Is there a setup fee or an implementation project?

No fee and no project. Sign-up takes about ten minutes, the imports are self-serve, and the help during the trial is a person on a call rather than a paid onboarding package. The trial is 14 days with a card taken and nothing charged until it ends.

Can I get my data back out?

Clients, quotes, jobs, invoices, timesheets and expenses export as CSV from Reports at any time. The price book does not export.

Try it on a real job.

14 days, full access, every plan. No implementation fee. All prices exclude VAT, added at 20% at checkout.