An estimate no longer needs a job
Most quotes go out before you have decided anything deserves to be called a job. So an estimate can now stand on its own: it belongs to a customer rather than to a job, and it becomes a job only if the customer says yes.
Estimates is a page of its own in the left navigation. It lists every estimate, standalone or not, with its number, customer, linked job, issue date, total and status, and you can filter by any of them.
Create one from the Estimates page, from the Create button beside the search bar, or straight onto a board. Every path starts the same way: pick the customer, then build the document.
Where it lives while you wait
A standalone estimate sits on your board as a card, in whatever stage you put it, with a dashed border and an Estimate badge so it does not pass for a job. Its dollar value counts in the column’s total, which is what makes the board your pipeline rather than just your work.
Moving the card between stages does not touch the document. Draft, sent and approved are properties of the estimate itself; the stage is just where it sits in your pipeline.
Statuses
An estimate is draft until you send it, sent until the customer acts, and then approved or declined. It also carries its own valid-until date, so a quote expires on its own terms.
Your customer approves, declines or asks for changes from their portal link. A decline and a change request both notify you, and a request for changes leaves the estimate open so you can revise and resend it.
Optional add-ons
A line item can be marked optional. It shows on the estimate but stays out of the total until the customer picks it, so one estimate can carry the upsell without inflating the price.
Convert the yes into a job
Convert to job turns an approved estimate, or any estimate you decide is going ahead, into a job. The job takes the estimate’s customer, total and name, and the two stay linked, so the paperwork trail from quote to invoice is one thread.
By default the new job keeps the card’s place on the board. If you prefer, pick a different board and stage when you convert.
Converting is safe to repeat. An estimate that already became a job just points you at that job rather than making a second one.
Who sees estimates
Owners, admins and team members work with estimates. Subcontractors do not see them at all: no Estimates page, no estimates report, no quote. A quote is a money surface, and the subcontractor role sees no money.