Who this is for
You want to price up a job and get a yes. Draft a quote, send it by email, and the customer accepts or declines it with one tap from the link — no login. VAT is handled here because this is your invoicing to your customer, and many trades are VAT registered.
Time: 5 minutes. You'll need: to be signed in. A manager can draft a quote; only the owner can send it.
Steps
1. Quote or estimate?
Open Quotes & estimates in the menu and pick the tab:
- Quotes — a fixed price.
- Estimates — a guide price, not a fixed price. They have their own numbers
(like
ES00001) and say "Estimate" on the document.
Everything below works the same for both. The folders — Drafts, Awaiting reply, Accepted, Declined, Cancelled, All quotes and Archived — sit down the side on a computer, and behind ☰ in the search bar on a phone.
2. Start a new quote
Press + New quote (or + New estimate), or Let Scarlett build it and tell her what it's for. Fill in the customer (a name is required; add their email so you can send it), the VAT treatment, and the lines — an Item with a Description under it, quantity and price. Scarlett works out the VAT and totals.
3. Ask for a deposit (optional)
Under Payment, choose what to Ask the customer to pay: Don't ask for payment, Deposit — % of the total, Deposit — fixed amount or Full amount. Tick Show it on the quote to print it, with your bank details.
What a new quote starts with is set in Settings → Quotes & Invoices — press Quote settings beside the list to go there.
4. Save it, then send it
Press Save draft — it saves with its own number (like QU00001) and opens
the quote. When you're happy, press Send to customer. Scarlett emails it with
your branding and a link, and the status becomes Awaiting. The document is
frozen on first send, so what the customer sees never changes underneath them.
5. The customer accepts or declines
Your customer opens the link and sees a clean, branded copy of the quote with Accept this quote and Decline — no login. When they answer, the status flips to Accepted or Declined in your list, and you're told.
If the quote asks for a deposit and you take payments online with your own Stripe account, the customer can pay it from the quote page once they've accepted. You can also press Send payment link on the quote.
The statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being edited; not sent |
| Awaiting | With the customer to accept |
| Accepted | They said yes |
| Declined | They said no |
| Cancelled | You withdrew it |
Tidy up
Press Archive on a quote, or swipe it left on a phone, to put it in Archived. Only a draft that was never sent can be deleted — a sent quote is a record you keep, so archive it instead.
Verify it worked
The quote shows in the right folder with the correct total and VAT treatment. After sending, it's Awaiting; once the customer answers, it moves to Accepted or Declined on its own.
Troubleshooting
"Add the customer's email address before sending." A quote is sent by email. Add the customer's email, then send.
"That quote has already been sent, so it can't be edited." Issued quotes are frozen. Withdraw it and raise a new one.
"Your quotes are missing your details." Add your business name, address and phone in Train Scarlett → Business so they print on the quote.
Turning an accepted quote into an invoice. There's no one-click convert yet — raise the invoice separately from Invoices using the same figures.
Nudging a customer. There's no automatic reminder yet — open the quote and Send again. The Templates folder isn't ready yet either.
What's next
- Create and send an invoice — bill the work once it's accepted.
- Add your logo and branding — put your look on every quote.
- Connect your calendar and accounting — draft quotes into Xero.