🧭 Summary
The Instant Estimate feature lets you create a preliminary packing estimate in seconds. After you've taken room photos and jobsite documentation photos during your walkthrough, the app will analyze those photos to estimate the number of boxes, large items, and small items per room.
You can review the results, adjust quantities, rerun the estimate, and share or save a professional PDF report. Instant Estimate is available in two places:
In the mobile app — open the Instant Estimate window from a job's Inventory screen.
On the web dashboard — open the Initial Scope view inside the Estimate tab of a job.
Both surfaces share the same underlying estimate, so an estimate calculated on mobile is visible on the web (and vice versa). The generated PDF report appears on the web dashboard under the Reports tab.
The mobile entry point is currently in Beta and must be enabled in your app settings.
⚙️ Prerequisites
Instant Estimate enabled: The feature must be turned on in your app settings (it's off by default)
Room photos taken: You need room photos uploaded to the job so the AI has something to analyze
Jobsite documentation photos (optional but recommended): Additional photos of the job site improve estimate accuracy
🚀 Step-by-Step Instructions (Mobile)
1. Enable Instant Estimate in Settings
Open the app and tap My Account in the bottom navigation bar.
Go to the Settings tab.
Scroll down and check the box next to Enable Instant Estimate. You'll see a Beta badge next to it.
💡 Tip: You only need to enable this once — it stays on for all your jobs until you turn it off.
2. Open the Instant Estimate from a Job
Navigate to the job you want to estimate (e.g., from the Jobs tab or Job Report tab).
On the job's Inventory screen, look for the Instant Est. button near the top of the page, next to the item and photo counts.
Tap Instant Est. to open the Instant Estimate window.
3. Calculate the Estimate
When the Instant Estimate window opens for the first time, you'll see a message: "No estimate draft available yet."
Tap the green Calculate Estimate button.
Wait a few moments while the app analyzes your room and documentation photos.
💡 Tip: The estimate is generated from your room photos and jobsite documentation photos. The more photos you've captured, the more accurate the estimate will be.
4. Review the Results
Once the estimate is ready, the window updates to show:
Summary totals at the top: total number of Boxes, Large Items, and Small Items across the entire job.
Room-by-room breakdown below, listing each room with its own counts.
For each room, you can see:
Boxes count with a +/- control to adjust
Condition tags (e.g., Dry, Average Soil, Neat)
Large Items listed individually with quantity controls
Small items in boxes (expandable to see details)
Tap the chevron (>) next to a collapsed room to expand it, or the down arrow to collapse an expanded room.
5. Adjust the Estimate (Optional)
You can fine-tune the estimate before saving:
Use the + and − buttons next to Boxes to change the box count for any room.
Use the + button next to a large item to increase its quantity, or the trash icon to remove it.
Expand small items in boxes to review what the AI detected.
💡 Tip: The AI provides a starting point — you can always adjust based on what you see on-site.
6. Rerun, Share, or Save
At the bottom of the estimate window, you have three options:
Rerun — Re-analyze the photos to generate a fresh estimate (useful if you've added new photos since the last run).
Share — Share the estimate as a PDF directly from your phone (via email, text, etc.).
Save — Save the current estimate to the job. This generates a PDF report that will be available on the web dashboard.
6a. Send the Estimate to Xactimate (Optional)
Below the main action buttons you'll find a Send to Xactimate button. It queues the initial scope for automated entry into Xactimate — the same request you can create from the web dashboard.
Tap Send to Xactimate.
Enter the recipient's XactNet address (formatted
<user>@<org>, e.g.recipient@xactnet). If your profile already has a XactNet address saved, it's filled in for you.Tap Send. Any unsaved edits are saved first, then the request is queued.
The lines sent are each room's box count and coded large items, plus the job-total packing materials. Rooms and items marked Dispose or Out of scope are left out — their cleaning codes don't apply.
💡 Tip: Processing can take a few minutes. The request also appears on the web dashboard under the job's Reports tab, where you can watch its status.
7. View the Estimate Report
After saving, you can view the full estimate in two ways:
On Mobile
A full-screen preview of the Instant Estimate PDF opens, showing:
Job details (insurance company, claim number, date, location)
Estimated Totals by Room table with boxes, tagged items, and boxed items per room
Job Site Documentation Photos with timestamps and captions
Room-by-Room Breakdown with individual room photos
Use the share icon at the top to send the PDF to anyone.
On the Web Dashboard
Go to the job on the web and click the Reports tab.
The estimate appears as a report titled [Job Name] | Instant Estimate with the template listed as Preliminary Estimate.
Click Download to get the PDF.
🖥️ Step-by-Step Instructions (Web)
On the web dashboard, the Instant Estimate is shown as the Initial Scope view inside a job's Estimate Builder tab. It uses the same data as the mobile Instant Estimate.
1. Open the Initial Scope View
Navigate to the job on the web dashboard.
Open the Estimate Builder tab.
Click the Initial Scope sub-tab (next to Job Estimate).
You'll see an info note explaining that Initial Scope is a draft estimate built from the job's photos in Photos & Notes.
2. Calculate the Estimate
The first time you open Initial Scope, you'll see one of two empty states:
No photos available — if the job has no job or room photos yet, you'll be prompted to add photos in Photos & Notes first.
No initial scope draft available yet — once the job has photos, click the Calculate button to analyze them. The view will show a spinner while the AI processes the images.
💡 Tip: The estimate uses both job-level photos and per-room photos. Adding more photos before calculating yields more accurate room counts and condition tags.
3. Review the Results
Once the calculation finishes, the Initial Scope view shows:
A summary card at the top with totals for Boxes, Large Items, and Small Items across the whole job.
A Job Photos card showing the first few job-level photos. Click any thumbnail to open the full photo viewer, or click View all in Photos & Notes to jump to the documentation page.
A room-by-room accordion listing each room with its box count, large item count, and small item count. Click a room header to expand it.
Use the Expand All / Collapse All button in the header to open or close every room at once.
4. Adjust the Estimate (Optional)
Inside each room you can fine-tune what the AI detected:
Use the + and − controls next to Boxes to change the room's box count.
Use the + / − controls next to each large item to adjust its quantity. The trash icon appears when the quantity is 1 — clicking it removes the item from the room.
Click Show / Hide next to "small items in boxes" to reveal the AI's list of small items detected per room.
Room condition tags (Wet/Dry, Average Soil, Neat, etc.) are shown as badges and are read-only — they come from the AI analysis.
Click any room photo thumbnail to open the full viewer for that room's images.
Any edits are local until you click Save. Clicking Rerun discards local edits.
5. Rerun, Generate Report, or Save
At the top of the Initial Scope view you have three action buttons:
Rerun — Re-analyzes the photos and produces a fresh estimate. You'll be asked to confirm because this discards any unsaved edits.
Report — Saves your current edits and generates the Instant Estimate PDF. When it's ready you're taken to the job's Reports tab where you can download or share the PDF. The report is also logged in the Reports tab on the web for anyone with access to the job.
Save — Saves your edits to the Initial Scope without generating a PDF. Use this when you want to keep adjusting before producing a report.
6. Export the Initial Scope
The Export button next to Generate Report offers two ways to get the scope out of ContentsPal:
CSV — Downloads a spreadsheet with a row per room's boxes, large items, and small items (room, type, item, size, Xactimate code, quantity, and scope action), followed by the job-total packing materials. A copy is also saved to the job's Reports tab.
Send to Xactimate — Queues the scope for automated entry into Xactimate. You'll be asked for the recipient's XactNet address (formatted
<user>@<org>, e.g.recipient@xactnet). Processing can take a few minutes, and the request's status is tracked on the Reports tab.
The lines sent to Xactimate are each room's box count and coded large items, plus the job-total packing materials. Rooms and items marked Dispose or Out of scope are left out — their cleaning codes don't apply.
✅ Best Practices
Take clear room photos before running the estimate — well-lit, wide-angle shots help the AI identify items more accurately.
Include jobsite documentation photos (exterior, damage areas) for a more complete report.
Review and adjust the estimate before sharing — the AI gives you a solid starting point, but your on-site judgment is the final word.
Rerun after adding photos — if you take additional room photos after your first estimate, tap Rerun to get updated results.
Save before leaving the job — saving generates the PDF report that your team can access from the web dashboard.
Use the web Initial Scope for larger edits — the web view shows job photos, room photos, and counts side-by-side on a bigger screen, which makes line-by-line review faster on jobs with many rooms.
🧩 Troubleshooting
I don't see the "Instant Est." button on the mobile job screen: Make sure Enable Instant Estimate is checked in your My Account > Settings. The mobile entry point is in Beta and is off by default.
The estimate seems inaccurate: The AI works best with clear, well-lit room photos that show the full contents of each room. Try adding more photos and tapping Rerun (mobile) or clicking Rerun (web).
I don't see the report on the Reports tab: On mobile, make sure you tapped Save (not just Share). On web, use the Report button — it both saves your edits and generates the PDF. After saving, the report appears under the Reports tab.
The "Calculate Estimate" button is not responding: Ensure you have an active internet connection. The estimate requires a server-side analysis of your photos, so it won't work offline.
Initial Scope shows "No Photos Available" on the web: The Initial Scope view needs at least one job photo or room photo. Add photos in the Photos & Notes tab of the job, then return to Estimate (Beta) > Initial Scope and click Calculate.
A room is missing from the estimate: Rooms without any photos are skipped. Add at least one photo to the room and click Rerun to include it.
The estimate is taking a long time: The AI analyzes job-level and room-level photos in parallel, but jobs with many rooms can still take a minute or two. The function has a 9-minute timeout.