An estimate is a quote your customer accepts online. It uses the same editor and lines as an invoice, with a Valid until date (30 days by default) and, if you like, Ask for a deposit when they accept.
Sending it
Payments → New estimate, or New estimate on a contact. Send it by email or text, or share the link. Estimates have their own numbers (for example EST-1001), given when they're first sent.
What the customer does
On the estimate page they can:
- Accept: type their full name, tick I accept this estimate and its terms, and draw a signature if they want to. If you asked for a deposit at acceptance, they pay it straight away.
- Decline, with a reason if they want to give one.
- Ask for changes — their message lands in the contact's conversation in the business app.
We keep a record of each acceptance: the name, the signature (if drawn), when, the IP address, the device, and a fingerprint of exactly the estimate they saw. If you change an estimate after it's been accepted, it becomes a new version that has to be accepted again. An estimate past its date can't be accepted — it shows as Expired.
Turning it into an invoice
- Make an invoice on the estimate makes a draft invoice with the same lines, ready to review and send. It can only be done once.
- Or switch on Turn accepted estimates into invoices automatically in Settings → Payments: the invoice is made and emailed when they accept.
- With a deposit at acceptance, the invoice is made at once and the deposit they pay is its first payment; the rest stays on the invoice.
Statuses
Draft, Sent, Viewed, Accepted, Declined, Expired, Converted (made into an invoice) and Void.
Automations and notifications
Automations can start when an estimate is sent, viewed, accepted, declined or expires; Create and send an estimate is a step too. Whoever sent the estimate is told when it's accepted or declined (bell and phone by default).