Admin setup checklist

Use this checklist to configure Essential before your team starts working. Start with your business profile, team access, and visit types, then complete the sections for the features your business will use. Review any settings already completed during onboarding.

Watch the admin setup and settings video for a walkthrough to accompany this checklist.

Where to find it: Open Settings in the web app. Use the search at the top of the Settings menu to find a page by name.

Before you start

Sign in with an admin account that has permission to manage the relevant settings and integrations. If a page or control is missing, review Settings → Roles & Permissions and feature availability and setup.

Have your business contact details, logo, team list, service list, and pricing ready. To send from your business email, you will also need access to that inbox or your domain's DNS settings.

If Essential is helping import your existing records, complete guided business onboarding and coordinate the data review with the Essential team.

1. Business Profile and email integration

1. Open Settings → Business Profile.
2. Review your business name, logo, and brand color under Brand.
3. Enter your phone number, business email, and website under Contact, and confirm your Office Address. Add additional brands or offices if your business uses them.
4. Add any Automatic CC recipients who should receive copies of automated customer outreach and Job Approval confirmations.
5. Select Save changes, then review the letterhead preview.
6. In Sending email, connect and verify the saved business email address if you want customer messages sent from your own address:

   • Verify a single address: open the confirmation link sent to that inbox.
   • Verify your domain: add the displayed DNS records at your domain host, then return to verify them.

Confirm the sending address or domain shows as Verified before relying on customer email. Saving your own email replaces the sending address immediately; email can be held or fail until that address is verified. If you keep the Essential-managed address, it is already verified and needs no setup.

See Business Profile setup, sending email verification, and domain verification.

2. Users and permissions

1. Review Settings → Roles & Permissions and configure access for admins, office staff, and technicians.
2. Open Settings → Users to add your team and assign roles. Adding a user sends an invitation to set their password.
3. For technicians, choose their schedule color and, optionally, their starting location. Add license information and seals if your reports use them.

See Add and manage users, Roles and permissions, and technician licenses and seals.

3. Visit types, services, and inspection reports

1. Open Settings → Work Management → Scheduling → Visit Types and add the kinds of work you schedule, such as Inspection or Repair. Choose the relevant asset group types, or Miscellaneous for general work.
2. Leave Requires a property to schedule on for customer work. Turn it off for internal blocks such as technician time off.
3. If you track inspections or recurring services, review Settings → Asset Groups and Services → Service Visit Types to map each service to the visit types that can complete it. This is separate from creating visit types.
4. Review your Recurring Service Templates if you use recurring work. Confirm the service frequencies and the automation type: Automated Outreach emails or texts customers to request approval and scheduling; Manual creates an internal task for your team; None runs no automation. Review recipients, message templates, and timing before enabling Automated Outreach. Your team schedules the visit after approval.
5. Confirm your required services, asset types, and inspection report templates are available. Service Visit Types maps existing services only. For missing services, asset types, or report templates, or for template changes, open the Essential Assistant and choose Talk to a human.

See Manage visit types, map services to visit types, recurring service templates, and setup changes handled by Essential.

4. Quotes, pricing, and sales tax

Complete the pricing and quote setup below if you will create quotes or invoices in Essential. The Sales Tax page requires Invoicing to be turned on (see step 5), even if you invoice customers outside Essential — turn on Invoicing first, then come back here to configure sales tax so it also applies to quotes. Businesses that do not collect sales tax can skip tax rates and Stripe Tax setup.

1. Add or import your pricebook under Settings → Items Pricebook. Review item codes, prices, and whether each item is taxable. Add rate sheets if you use negotiated pricing.
2. Under Settings → Quotes, review your quote document template and Terms & Conditions. Configure custom fields and Purchase Order capture if you need them.
3. If you collect sales tax, open Settings → Quotes & Invoices → Sales Tax and choose your method:

   Method	Setup
   Automatic (Washington DOR)	Available to businesses with a Washington address. Select it and save to use Washington address rates without Stripe. Optional Stripe fallback requires a verified connection and tax registrations.
   Manual rates	Add your agencies and percentages. Choose whether each rate applies automatically, which states or provinces it covers, and whether it applies to all taxable items or specific pricebook items. Save each rate. Stripe is not required for manual rates.
   Automatic (Stripe)	Complete the Stripe connection under Settings → Invoicing → Payments first (see the next section), then select Automatic (Stripe) and save. Review Tax Registrations on the Sales Tax page and add the active registrations your business uses. Manual rates no longer apply when Automatic is selected.

4. Review customer or property billing profiles for tax-exempt accounts and payment terms. Confirm property addresses, which are used to determine applicable tax.

See Add pricebook items, bulk import a pricebook, rate sheets, quote templates, quote terms, custom fields and PO numbers, sales tax setup, and customer billing profiles.

5. Invoicing and Stripe payments

Complete this section if you want to invoice through Essential. Stripe connection is also a prerequisite for Stripe sales tax.

1. Open Settings → Invoicing, turn Invoicing on, and select Save. Essential creates any missing default invoice and receipt templates, including email templates and invoice follow-ups.
2. In Payments, select Connect Stripe, enter your email, and choose Begin Account Setup. Complete the setup and confirm the account shows Connected before relying on online payments, saved payment methods, or autopay.
3. Review the invoice document, invoice email, receipt templates, and default payment terms. Customer and property payment terms can override the business default.
4. Review the Follow-ups tab and any processing fee settings before sending invoices.
5. If you collect sales tax, complete the tax setup in the previous section. Connecting Stripe alone does not select automatic tax.
6. If you need accounting sync, configure the accounting integration and account mappings using the Accounting guides.

See Turn on invoicing, connect Stripe, invoice document templates, invoice email and receipt templates, and processing fees.

6. Enable the optional features your team needs

Review these before your team starts using the corresponding workflow. Save each settings page after making changes.

If you want to…	Configure this
Collect customer signatures on completed work	In Settings → Work Acknowledgments, turn on Enable Work Acknowledgments and confirm. Essential sets up the standard form, PDF, and email. Review photos, deficiencies, signer details, terms, and custom fields. Work Acknowledgments setup.
Send customers a recap of a job	Turn on Enable Job Summaries in Settings → Job Summaries, then choose default sections and email wording. Job Summaries setup.
Email inspection report PDFs	Turn on Email inspection reports in Settings → Work Management → Tasks → Task Documents. Review automatic attachment options for quotes and invoices there too. This is separate from Job Summaries. Task Documents setup.
Use draft visits, GPS, arrival windows, or expected inspections	Review Settings → Scheduling → Features and enable the features you need. Scheduling features.
Send visit reminders or automate follow-up	Review Visit Reminders, quote and invoice Follow-ups, and Automated Outreach, including message wording and timing.
Sync the schedule to a calendar	Connect Google or Microsoft Outlook under Settings → Scheduling → Calendar Sync. Calendar setup.
Give customers portal access	Enable the portal in Settings → Customer Portal and review customer-facing sections and branding. For selective access, use Edit on the customer and contact pages. Enabling a customer also grants access to its current contacts; adjust individual contacts afterward. The Settings page offers bulk access for all active customers.
Accept service requests online	Build and publish your form in Settings → Intake Form, then configure submission notifications. Intake form setup.
Track inventory	Turn on Enable inventory in Settings → Inventory, then add stock locations and suppliers. In Settings → Items Pricebook, add or edit a Physical Item and turn on Track inventory in Essential for each item you want to track. Inventory setup and pricebook item setup.
Track job profitability	Turn on Job costing in Settings → Job Costing, then enter technician cost rates and effective dates. Job Costing setup.
Use timecards and track travel time	Configure Settings → Time & Pay, including time cards, pay periods, overtime rules, and travel policy. Time & Pay setup.
Capture business-specific information	Define record fields in Settings → Custom Fields; quote, invoice, and acknowledgment fields live on their own settings pages. Custom fields setup.

Setup complete

• Business details and letterhead are correct; your sending email is verified if you use your own address.
• Team members have the roles and technician details they need.
• Visit types, service mappings, and required report templates are ready.
• Pricing is configured, along with sales tax if your business collects it, for quotes and invoices you plan to create.
• Invoicing is enabled if needed, and Stripe shows Connected if you use online payments or Stripe tax.
• Optional features are enabled and their defaults, templates, and notifications reviewed.

Once configuration is complete, use the Standard Training Path to train your team or Common Workflows for day-to-day tasks.