How to Create and Send a Quote

4 min read
Feature: Quote

In Service Opus, a Quote represents an itemized sales proposal. Building precise quotes protects your gross margins, establishes clear expectations, and speeds up customer approvals via shared online signature portals.

Business Outcome
By capturing itemized materials, labor scopes, and equipment rates, your sales reps avoid pricing errors. Electronic delivery lets prospects review, sign, and book the job in a single click.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

1

Navigate to the Quotes Screen

Log into your account. From the sidebar navigation, click on Quotes (or go directly to /quotes). Here you'll see a lists of draft, sent, accepted, and expired quotes.

2

Access the Creation Form

In the top-right corner of the Quotes dashboard, click the New Quote button. The app routes you to the creation workspace at /quotes/create.

3

Select Customer and Site

Use the search bar to link an existing customer record or click 'Create New Customer'. Select the target Job Site location for structural and tax accuracy.

Field Requirement Purpose / Details
Customer Required Link the active customer account.
Job Site Required Select the specific property/location for the estimate.
4

Add Materials and Labor Line Items

Add items from your price catalog or create custom, ad-hoc entries. Input quantities, unit costs, markup rates, and tax status.

Field Requirement Purpose / Details
Item Name Required Catalog item code or custom label.
Quantity Required Numerical count, hours, or units.
Unit Cost Required Your purchase price. Used to compute margin.
Markup % Optional Standard percentage added to cost. Computes selling price.
5

Configure Terms and Margin Caps

Set the quote expiration date, select default contract terms, and review the computed Gross Margin % in the sticky sidebar panel.

6

Save and Send to Customer

Click Save Quote. Once saved, click Send Proposal. Choose email or SMS delivery. The system updates the status to 'Sent' and logs a portal tracking link.

Validation Rules

To keep operations reliable, Service Opus enforces the following rules for this workflow:

  • Required Fields: Quote must be associated with an active customer and job site.
  • Margin Guard: An error is thrown if gross profit margin drops below 0%.
  • Expiration Lock: The expiration date must be in the future.
Important Rule
If your quote's gross margin falls below the company-configured threshold (e.g. 45%), the system will automatically tag it as 'Requires Manager Approval' and prevent the quote from being sent until approved.

What's Next?

Once you finish this task, continue with these related workflows:

Schedule and Dispatch a Job

Once the customer signs the quote online, learn how to schedule the work order.

Generate an Invoice

Learn how to convert accepted quotes into billing statements.

Ready to try this workflow?

Use the walkthrough to evaluate the workflow, then test it in Service Opus with real scheduling, quoting, invoicing, and customer data.

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