Repair Estimate
Giving Puls field technicians one connected way to build a multi-service repair estimate from inspection to customer approval.
Role
Product Designer Lead
Scope
Mobile UX and operational flow
Focus
Field ops · Pricing & estimate workflows
Year
2025
Detailed
TL;DR
Company & product context
A repair job that needed one clear path from inspection to invoice.
puls connects field technicians with customers for home and appliance repairs, including warranty-covered jobs. Every job moves through a fixed sequence: pre-work inspection, repair estimate, post-work checklist, and summary & payment.
Repair Estimate was the missing step in the middle the moment a technician turns a diagnosis into a price.
Warranty & paid jobs
Estimates had to work for both covered claims and standard paid repairs.
Multiple stakeholders
Technician, customer, and the finance team all needed to see the same number.
End-to-end job lifecycle
From the first photo of the issue to the signed-off, paid invoice.
02
The Problem
Technicians had no way to build a repair estimate inside the app.
Technician problem
To price a job, a technician had to leave the app entirely, write the estimate on paper, get it signed by the customer, and photograph it to send to finance.
Business problem
Paper estimates meant no consistent pricing, no digital record for warranty approval, and delays every time a photo was blurry or lost.
Where do I write this down?
Finance needs a photo of the paper
Approval takes days
Customer needs to see this now
No record if it's lost
03
Research
We mapped the paper-based process step by step.
Finding 01
Manual handoffs
Paper moved between technician, customer, and finance with no shared source of truth.
Finding 02
Inconsistent pricing
Without a shared reference, labor prices varied technician to technician.
Finding 03
No approval trail
Warranty claims had no digital record to review or audit later.
Key insight
The problem wasn't that technicians didn't know the repair. It was that there was no system built for the moment they needed to price it.
Every technician could diagnose the issue. None of them had a tool to turn that diagnosis into a priced, shareable estimate.
04
A Connected Estimate Flow
Repair Estimate turned a paper handoff into one guided flow inside the job.
01
Inspect
Document the issue with photos and notes.
02
Select services
Add one or several repair services to the job.
03
Price labor
Accept a recommended price or set your own.
04
Add parts
Log wholesale cost, part number, and quantity.
05
Submit
Send for customer and finance approval.
Guided defaults
A recommended labor price is one tap away — no need to know the market rate by heart.
Multi-service by design
Several repairs can be combined into one estimate instead of separate paper slips.
Built-in approval trail
Submission replaces the photo of a paper slip that used to go to finance.
05
Design Challenge
Technicians needed to price fast without guessing, but every job is priced differently.
A blank price field would have just moved the paper problem onto a screen. We needed a default that was fast to accept and just as fast to override.
Before
A blank price field meant the technician had to know the market labor rate from memory, every time.
Design decision
Surface a recommended labor price as a one-tap default, calculated per service.
After
Technicians accept the recommended price or adjust it freely — with an unsaved-changes warning so nothing gets lost if they navigate away.
06
Real-World Testing
Early usage showed technicians wanted to combine services more than we expected.
Beta feedback showed technicians frequently needed to add and remove services mid-estimate as they discovered more issues on site the original flow only supported adding services, not adjusting a selection.
Before
Once a service was added, there was no fast way to remove it or adjust quantity from the selected list.
Design decision
Added quantity steppers and a remove action directly on each selected service row.
After
Technicians adjusted estimates in place instead of restarting, cutting the average time to build an estimate significantly.
07
The Final Experience
One flow now carries every job from inspection to a signed-off estimate.
Services and parts roll up into a single itemized quote, submitted for approval directly from the job replacing the paper slip, the photo, and the separate call to finance.
08
Outcome
Repair Estimate became technicians' default way to price a job.
Core outcome
A paper-and-phone-call process became one connected flow that technicians, customers, and finance could all trust.
40%
Faster average estimate turnaround
3,200+
Estimates submitted in the first quarter
94%
Of technicians said estimates were easier to start
Repair Estimate
Giving Puls field technicians one connected way to build a multi-service repair estimate from inspection to customer approval.
Role
Product Designer Lead
Scope
Mobile UX and operational flow
Focus
Field ops · Pricing & estimate workflows
Year
2025
Detailed
TL;DR
Company & product context
Engineering intelligence for the AI era.
puls connects field technicians with customers for home and appliance repairs, including warranty-covered jobs. Every job moves through a fixed sequence: pre-work inspection, repair estimate, post-work checklist, and summary & payment.
Repair Estimate was the missing step in the middle the moment a technician turns a diagnosis into a price.
Warranty & paid jobs
Estimates had to work for both covered claims and standard paid repairs.
Multiple stakeholders
Technician, customer, and the finance team all needed to see the same number.
End-to-end job lifecycle
From the first photo of the issue to the signed-off, paid invoice.
02
The Problem
Technicians had no way to build a repair estimate inside the app.
Technician problem
To price a job, a technician had to leave the app entirely, write the estimate on paper, get it signed by the customer, and photograph it to send to finance.
Business problem
Paper estimates meant no consistent pricing, no digital record for warranty approval, and delays every time a photo was blurry or lost.
Where do I write this down?
Finance needs a photo of the paper
Approval takes days
Customer needs to see this now
No record if it's lost
03
Research
We mapped the paper-based process step by step.
Finding 01
Manual handoffs
Paper moved between technician, customer, and finance with no shared source of truth.
Finding 02
Inconsistent pricing
Without a shared reference, labor prices varied technician to technician.
Finding 03
No approval trail
Warranty claims had no digital record to review or audit later.
Key insight
The problem wasn't that technicians didn't know the repair. It was that there was no system built for the moment they needed to price it.
Every technician could diagnose the issue. None of them had a tool to turn that diagnosis into a priced, shareable estimate.
04
A Connected Estimate Flow
Repair Estimate turned a paper handoff into one guided flow inside the job.
01
Inspect
Document the issue with photos and notes.
02
Select services
Add one or several repair services to the job.
03
Price labor
Accept a recommended price or set your own.
04
Add parts
Log wholesale cost, part number, and quantity.
05
Submit
Send for customer and finance approval.
Guided defaults
A recommended labor price is one tap away — no need to know the market rate by heart.
Multi-service by design
Several repairs can be combined into one estimate instead of separate paper slips.
Built-in approval trail
Submission replaces the photo of a paper slip that used to go to finance.
05
Design Challenge
Technicians needed to price fast without guessing, but every job is priced differently.
A blank price field would have just moved the paper problem onto a screen. We needed a default that was fast to accept and just as fast to override.
Before
A blank price field meant the technician had to know the market labor rate from memory, every time.
Design decision
Surface a recommended labor price as a one-tap default, calculated per service.
After
Technicians accept the recommended price or adjust it freely — with an unsaved-changes warning so nothing gets lost if they navigate away.
06
Real-World Testing
Early usage showed technicians wanted to combine services more than we expected.
Beta feedback showed technicians frequently needed to add and remove services mid-estimate as they discovered more issues on site the original flow only supported adding services, not adjusting a selection.
Before
Once a service was added, there was no fast way to remove it or adjust quantity from the selected list.
Design decision
Added quantity steppers and a remove action directly on each selected service row.
After
Technicians adjusted estimates in place instead of restarting, cutting the average time to build an estimate significantly.
07
The Final Experience
One flow now carries every job from inspection to a signed-off estimate.
Services and parts roll up into a single itemized quote, submitted for approval directly from the job replacing the paper slip, the photo, and the separate call to finance.
08
Outcome
Repair Estimate became technicians' default way to price a job.
Core outcome
A paper-and-phone-call process became one connected flow that technicians, customers, and finance could all trust.
40%
Faster average estimate turnaround
3,200+
Estimates submitted in the first quarter
94%
Of technicians said estimates were easier to start
Repair Estimate
Giving Puls field technicians one connected way to build a multi-service repair estimate from inspection to customer approval.
Role
Product Designer Lead
Scope
Mobile UX and operational flow
Focus
Field ops · Pricing & estimate workflows
Year
2025
Detailed
TL;DR
Company & product context
A repair job that needed one clear path from inspection to invoice.
puls connects field technicians with customers for home and appliance repairs, including warranty-covered jobs. Every job moves through a fixed sequence: pre-work inspection, repair estimate, post-work checklist, and summary & payment.
Repair Estimate was the missing step in the middle the moment a technician turns a diagnosis into a price.
Warranty & paid jobs
Estimates had to work for both covered claims and standard paid repairs.
Multiple stakeholders
Technician, customer, and the finance team all needed to see the same number.
End-to-end job lifecycle
From the first photo of the issue to the signed-off, paid invoice.
02
The Problem
Technicians had no way to build a repair estimate inside the app.
Technician problem
To price a job, a technician had to leave the app entirely, write the estimate on paper, get it signed by the customer, and photograph it to send to finance.
Business problem
Paper estimates meant no consistent pricing, no digital record for warranty approval, and delays every time a photo was blurry or lost.
Where do I write this down?
Finance needs a photo of the paper
Approval takes days
Customer needs to see this now
No record if it's lost
03
Research
We mapped the paper-based process step by step.
Finding 01
Manual handoffs
Paper moved between technician, customer, and finance with no shared source of truth.
Finding 02
Inconsistent pricing
Without a shared reference, labor prices varied technician to technician.
Finding 03
No approval trail
Warranty claims had no digital record to review or audit later.
Key insight
The problem wasn't that technicians didn't know the repair. It was that there was no system built for the moment they needed to price it.
Every technician could diagnose the issue. None of them had a tool to turn that diagnosis into a priced, shareable estimate.
04
A Connected Estimate Flow
Repair Estimate turned a paper handoff into one guided flow inside the job.
01
Inspect
Document the issue with photos and notes.
02
Select services
Add one or several repair services to the job.
03
Price labor
Accept a recommended price or set your own.
04
Add parts
Log wholesale cost, part number, and quantity.
05
Submit
Send for customer and finance approval.
Guided defaults
A recommended labor price is one tap away — no need to know the market rate by heart.
Multi-service by design
Several repairs can be combined into one estimate instead of separate paper slips.
Built-in approval trail
Submission replaces the photo of a paper slip that used to go to finance.
05
Design Challenge
Technicians needed to price fast without guessing, but every job is priced differently.
A blank price field would have just moved the paper problem onto a screen. We needed a default that was fast to accept and just as fast to override.
Before
A blank price field meant the technician had to know the market labor rate from memory, every time.
Design decision
Surface a recommended labor price as a one-tap default, calculated per service.
After
Technicians accept the recommended price or adjust it freely — with an unsaved-changes warning so nothing gets lost if they navigate away.
06
Real-World Testing
Early usage showed technicians wanted to combine services more than we expected.
Beta feedback showed technicians frequently needed to add and remove services mid-estimate as they discovered more issues on site the original flow only supported adding services, not adjusting a selection.
Before
Once a service was added, there was no fast way to remove it or adjust quantity from the selected list.
Design decision
Added quantity steppers and a remove action directly on each selected service row.
After
Technicians adjusted estimates in place instead of restarting, cutting the average time to build an estimate significantly.
07
The Final Experience
One flow now carries every job from inspection to a signed-off estimate.
Services and parts roll up into a single itemized quote, submitted for approval directly from the job replacing the paper slip, the photo, and the separate call to finance.
08
Outcome
Repair Estimate became technicians' default way to price a job.
Core outcome
A paper-and-phone-call process became one connected flow that technicians, customers, and finance could all trust.
40%
Faster average estimate turnaround
3,200+
Estimates submitted in the first quarter
94%
Of technicians said estimates were easier to start