Quote Questions
Quote Questions are custom questions your team asks during the quoting process. Questions like "Do you have pets?" or "How many floors does your home have?" gather details about the property and can automatically adjust the quote price based on the customer's answers.
You manage questions in two places within Settings:
- Questions tab — Create and edit the questions themselves
- Scope Application tab — Link questions to specific scopes of work and control when they appear
Navigate to Settings → Quoting & Scopes → Questions to get started.
Who Can Access This
| Role | Access Level |
|---|---|
| Administrator | Full access (view, create, edit, delete) |
| Office Manager | Full access (view, create, edit, delete) |
| Sales | Full access (view, create, edit, delete) |
| HR Admin | Full access (view, create, edit, delete) |
| Payroll Admin | Full access (view, create, edit, delete) |
| Field Technician | Not available |
This feature may need to be enabled for your company. If you do not see the Questions tab under Quoting & Scopes in Settings, contact your administrator to check your feature settings.
Overview
When your team creates a quote (through the Full-Page Estimate or the customer portal), questions appear in the quoting form alongside property details. Each question can have predefined answers, and each answer can carry a price factor that adjusts the base quote up or down.
For example, a question "Do you have pets?" with answers "No" (factor 1.0) and "Yes" (factor 1.1) automatically increases the quote by 10% when the customer says yes. This lets you build pricing logic into the quoting flow without manual calculations.
Questions are linked to scopes of work through the Scope Application tab. A question can appear for some scopes but not others, and each scope can have different default answers or price factor overrides.
The Questions Tab
The Questions tab shows a two-panel layout:
- Left panel — A sortable list of all your questions. Drag questions to reorder them.
- Right panel — The detail form for the selected question, including its answers.
Question Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Question | The text shown to your staff during internal quoting |
| External Question | The text shown to customers on the customer portal (optional — if blank, the internal text is used) |
| Question Type | How the question is answered (see Question Types below) |
| Step Type | When the question appears in the quoting flow |
| Required | Whether the question must be answered before the quote can be booked (see What the Required toggle does) |
| Changes Price | Whether the answer affects the quote price |
| Tooltip | Help text shown on hover |
| Icon | Optional icon displayed next to the question |
| Color | Optional color for visual emphasis |
What the Required toggle does
Turn on Required and a quote can't be booked, added to the waitlist, or turned into a service set until the question is answered. The check covers every scope you're booking, and the error names each unanswered question. Saving the quote as a draft still works, so staff can finish the answers later. Adding a service set from the Property & Service Manager (New Service Set or Change Scope) and adding a job to an existing service set aren't checked, because those screens don't show the Booking questions.
Some required questions are left out of that booking check: square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms and stories (taken from the property details, and checked on the estimate instead, see below), how the customer heard about you (Contact Info), scheduling preferences (Scheduling), questions with a default answer, and pricing-step questions that don't change the price (except a billing-terms question, which is still checked).
A required Whole Number or Decimal question counts as answered once you set it: type a number (or use the + and − buttons on a Whole Number). 0 counts, and a number question answered with 0 shows 0. A number question nobody has touched stays blank, is unanswered, and blocks booking. A required Date, Time or DateTime question counts as answered once a value is picked.
On the estimate's Profile step, Next: Pricing and Save Lead Only stay disabled while a required question in Before Questions is blank. Hover either one to see which question.
On the estimate's Pricing step, Save & Continue and the Booking step stay locked while a required Before or Pricing question is blank. Hover Save & Continue to see which question. Save & Send Quote still works.
A required square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms or stories question is answered from Property Details on the estimate, and the quote can't be saved until that field is filled. That includes Save & Send Quote. The message names the field.
On the estimate's Booking step, every required question still needs a value before Next: Scheduling unlocks, including a number question you haven't set yet (type a number or use + and −; 0 counts) and a question with a default answer (pick the answer).
Question Types
| Type | Input Format | Use For |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Free text field | Open-ended responses ("Special instructions?") |
| Select List | Single-choice dropdown | One answer from a list ("How many floors?") |
| Multiple Select | Checkboxes | Multiple answers allowed ("Which extras do you want?") |
| Rich Text | Formatted text area | Detailed descriptions |
| Whole Number | Number input (integers) | Counts ("How many pets?") |
| Decimal | Number input (decimals) | Measurements ("Square footage of bonus room?"). When it changes the price, the number is matched to the answer whose range contains it, and that answer's factor applies |
| Date | Date picker | Scheduling dates |
| Time | Time picker | Preferred times |
| DateTime | Combined date + time picker | Specific appointments |
Step Types (When Questions Appear)
| Step | When It Shows | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Before Quoting | Before the price is calculated | Property details that affect pricing (pets, floors, condition) |
| During Pricing | While the quote is being generated | Questions that need to adjust the price in real time |
| After Pricing | After the quote price is shown | Preferences, scheduling, and non-pricing questions |
Most pricing-related questions should use "Before Quoting" or "During Pricing" so the price factor is applied before the customer sees the total.
Questions that set room counts (bedrooms, full bathrooms, half bathrooms, floors) can't be After Pricing: the online quote shows the price before it asks After Pricing questions, so the price would leave those rooms out. Pulse doesn't offer After Pricing for them and asks you to pick another step.
Why can't my room-count question be After Pricing when MaidCentral V2 allowed it?
Pulse doesn't let a question that sets bedrooms, full bathrooms, half bathrooms or floors be After Pricing. MaidCentral V2 lets you save one there. The online quote shows the price before it asks After Pricing questions, so a room count asked there is missing from the price.
A question that was already on After Pricing before this change stays there, and the online price still leaves those rooms out. To fix it, open the question, choose Before Quoting or During Pricing under Step, and click Save Question. Until you pick another step, Save Question stays grayed out. Turning the question on or off still works. (Pulse reference D-40)
Managing Answers
Each question (especially Select List and Multiple Select types) has a list of predefined answers. Click a question in the left panel to see its answers in the right panel.
Answer Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Answer | The text displayed as a choice |
| Factor | A price multiplier applied when this answer is selected (1.0 = no change, 1.1 = +10%, 0.9 = -10%) |
| Sort Order | The display order (drag to reorder) |
| Tooltip | Help text for this answer |
| Icon | Optional icon next to the answer |
| Color | Optional color for the answer badge |
How Price Factors Work
Each answer has a factor that multiplies the base scope price:
| Factor | Effect | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | No change | Standard condition |
| 1.1 | +10% | Extra work needed (e.g., has pets) |
| 1.25 | +25% | Significantly more work (e.g., 3+ floors) |
| 0.9 | -10% | Less work (e.g., no furniture to move) |
When multiple questions affect price, all factors are applied to the base price. For example, if one answer has factor 1.1 and another has factor 1.25, the final price is Base × 1.1 × 1.25.
Adding an Answer
- Select the question in the left panel.
- In the answers section of the right panel, click Add Answer.
- Enter the answer text and set the price factor.
- Click Save.
Reordering Answers
Drag answers using the grip handle to change the order they appear in the quoting form.
The Scope Application Tab
The Scope Application tab controls which questions appear for each scope of work. Navigate to Settings → Quoting & Scopes → Scope Application.
Layout
- Left sidebar — A list of all scopes of work, each showing badge counts for how many questions are applied and how many are visible for internal vs. external quoting.
- Right panel — The questions linked to the selected scope, with toggles and override controls.
Linking Questions to Scopes
When you create a scope of work, every default question is linked to it automatically and shown for internal quoting only. Use the External toggle below to show a question to customers, and the Add Questions list to link any question that is not a default.
- Select a scope of work in the left sidebar.
- In the Add Questions list, click Add next to the question.
- The question is now linked and will appear when quoting this scope.
Internal vs. External Quoting Toggles
Each linked question has two toggles:
| Toggle | What It Controls |
|---|---|
| Internal | Show this question when staff create quotes (Full-Page Estimate, office quoting) |
| External | Show this question when customers create quotes (customer portal) |
You can enable both, one, or neither. A question with neither toggle enabled is configured but hidden from all quoting flows.
Scope-Specific Answer Overrides
Different scopes may need different pricing for the same answer. For example, "Has pets" might add 10% to a Standard Clean but 15% to a Deep Clean.
- Select the scope in the left sidebar.
- Find the linked question.
- Click to expand the answer overrides.
- Set a scope-specific factor for any answer that should differ from the default.
Overrides only affect this scope. Other scopes continue using the default factor.
Switching a scope to Square Foot pricing sets that scope's square footage answer overrides to 1, because the square footage bands already price by home size. Set an override again afterwards only if you want it applied on top of the band rate.
Where Questions Appear in the App
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Full-Page Estimate | Questions appear in the quoting form when staff create quotes for customers |
| Customer Portal | External questions appear when customers request quotes online |
| Quote Detail | Answers are saved and displayed on the completed quote record |
Tips and Best Practices
- Put pricing questions before quoting. Use "Before Quoting" step type for any question that affects price so the customer sees the correct total immediately.
- Write clear, simple questions. Customers see the external text on your portal. Keep it short and avoid industry jargon.
- Use Select Lists for pricing questions. Predefined answers with specific factors are more reliable than free text for adjusting prices.
- Set factor 1.0 as the baseline. The "standard" or "no" answer should have factor 1.0 (no change). Higher factors increase the price; lower factors decrease it.
- Use scope-specific overrides sparingly. Override factors only when a scope genuinely needs different pricing for the same answer. Too many overrides make pricing hard to audit.
- Test with a sample quote. After adding or changing questions, create a test quote to verify the questions appear at the right step and the factors calculate correctly.
- Use the External Question field. Write customer-friendly text in the external question field even if the internal question is technical. Your staff and your customers have different vocabularies.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Solution |
|---|---|
| Questions tab is missing from Settings | The feature may not be enabled for your company. Contact your administrator. |
| A question is not appearing in the quoting form | Check the Scope Application tab to verify the question is linked to the scope and that the Internal or External toggle is enabled. |
| Price is not changing when an answer is selected | Verify the answer has a factor other than 1.0 and that the question has "Changes Price" checked. |
| Cannot reorder questions | Make sure you are using the drag handle (grip icon) on the left side of each question row. |
| A question shows in internal quoting but not the customer portal | Check the External toggle on the Scope Application tab for this scope. It may be disabled. |
| Answer overrides are not saving | Make sure you click Save after editing override values. Changes are not auto-saved. |
| After Pricing is missing from the Step list, or Save is grayed out | The question sets a room count (bedrooms, bathrooms or floors). Choose Before Quoting or During Pricing. |
| Booking fails with "Required question '…' must be answered before booking" | The named question is marked Required and has no answer. Answer it on the estimate (every selected scope's questions show on the estimate), or turn off Required for that question here. |
Related Articles
- Quoting and Scope Configuration — Overview of all quoting settings including scopes, rooms, and rate modifiers
- Rate Modifiers — Why bedroom and bathroom tiers aren't configurable today, and how to price by room instead
- Room Settings — Room definitions used alongside questions in the quoting flow
- Full-Page Estimate: where quotes are generated with questions displayed
- Settings Overview — Navigate the Settings page