How to create and send a quote in BuilderDash

A quote is made up of one or more sections, each holding line items for labour, materials, subcontractors and other costs. As you add lines, BuilderDash works out your mark-up, profit and margin in real time, while your client only ever sees a clean, priced version - never your buy prices, mark-up or margins. Each quote version is either draft, sent, accepted or declined.

How to build and send a quote

1. Start the quote. Go to Quotes and select New quote. A draft is created with its own quote number, a first version (v1) and one empty section, and it opens straight into the builder.
2. Add the title, client and site. Give the quote a title, then use the Client & site card to pick the client and site. You'll also see any linked enquiry or job here.
3. Check the expiry date. Under Status & dates, the expiry date is filled in automatically from your default quote validity - 30 days ahead unless you've changed it. You can override it on any quote.
4. Add your sections. Use New section to break the job into stages, such as "Strip-out", "First fix" or "Decoration". Rename a section by typing over its title, and drag sections by the handle to reorder them.
5. Add your line items. Inside each section, select Add item and fill in the type (Labour, Material, Subcontractor or Other), description, quantity, unit, buy price and either a mark-up or a sell price. Or select Add from library to search your saved Cost Library by name or code, filter by category, and tick items or saved bundles to drop straight into the section.
6. Set your mark-up. On any line, type a mark-up percentage and the sell price is worked out for you, or type a sell price and the mark-up is calculated instead - the two always stay in step. To apply the same mark-up to several lines at once, tick them, choose Apply markup, enter a percentage and select Apply; each line's sell price is recalculated from its own buy price.
7. Group items into a bundle (optional). Tick two or more lines in the same section and choose Combine into bundle to present them to the client as a single line, while keeping the detailed breakdown for yourself. Open the bundle's settings to rename the client-facing description, edit the internal sub-items, add an internal note, or Ungroup to split it back into separate lines. Choose Save as template to reuse that set of items on future quotes via Add from library.
8. Preview it as your client will see it. Select Preview as client (or Preview on a phone) to check the clean, priced view, then Download PDF if you need it. There's also a separate print/preview page you can open in a new tab.
9. Send it for your client to accept or decline online. Select Preview & send, add the client's email address (plus any Cc or Bcc), a subject and a message, then select Send quote. The quote is marked as sent and your client is emailed a link to a private, mobile-friendly quote page. If your quote needs internal approval, it has to be approved before it can be sent.
10. Convert an accepted quote to an invoice. Once a version has been accepted, select Convert to invoice to create a draft invoice from that version. The figures always come from the accepted version, never from a later draft you might be editing. See Invoices for the next steps.

How your client accepts or declines

1. Your client selects View the quote in the email. The quote page opens straight away - there's nothing to sign in to.
2. They can read the quote and select Download PDF if they want a copy. A bar along the bottom of the page shows the total, with Accept quote and Decline buttons.
3. To accept, they select Accept quote, check their name and select Confirm acceptance. The quote version is marked as accepted, with their name and the date recorded.
4. To decline, they select Decline, add a reason if they want to (it's optional) and select Confirm decline.
5. Either way, you get a notification in BuilderDash, and the quote updates automatically. The client's page then shows their decision instead of the buttons.

Your client always responds to the latest version you've sent. If a decision needs changing - say they change their mind - you can change or reset it on the quote, and every change is recorded in the quote's history. If you marked a quote as sent without emailing it, record your client's decision yourself on the quote.

Quote pricing, versions and permissions

• Quotes are numbered automatically with a "QT" prefix, counted per business. You can set the starting number in your settings, but existing quote numbers never change.
• A quote can have several versions. Creating a new version copies everything from the current one into a fresh, editable draft and bumps the version number. Only the current, non-accepted version can be edited - older and accepted versions are locked and view-only, with a banner explaining how to create a new version.
• Every figure - line amount, section subtotal, breakdown by type, and the quote total - is calculated live from your line items. A line's amount is sell price multiplied by quantity, profit is sell minus buy, and margin is profit as a percentage of the sell price.
• VAT is added to the quote total at the standard rate of 20%.
• Lines and sections with a margin under 10% are flagged, and a line with no margin at all is flagged more strongly, so under-priced work is easy to spot before you send it.
• A bundle has no price of its own - its buy, sell, profit and margin are the total of the items inside it. The client only ever sees the bundle's single combined line; the internal sub-items are never shown to them.
• Buy prices, mark-up, profit and margin appear only in the builder. The client preview, print page, PDF and the online quote page your client accepts or declines from all use a separate, client-only view that leaves these out.
• New quotes start with default footer/terms text (covering VAT, validity and payment terms) taken from your settings, which you can edit per quote. There's also a private notes box on every quote for internal notes that never appear on anything the client sees.
• Each quote keeps a simple timeline of when versions were created, sent and accepted, and by whom.
• You can duplicate a whole quote into a fresh draft (its content is copied into a new v1). Deleting a quote removes it and all its versions, and is restricted to office users and owners.
• Quote PDFs are generated in-house, so there's nothing to configure or connect before you can send one.

Convert an accepted quote into an invoice

Once a version is accepted, use Convert to invoice on the quote, or start a new invoice and pull the accepted quote's lines in at their sell prices. Full steps are in Invoices.