Estimates

The Estimates page lists your estimates, 50 per page. Under the page title, a live subtitle shows how many estimates are open and what they are worth.

Each row shows the estimate, the customer, the status, the tag, the created date and the value. The customer name links to the customer record.

To change several estimates at once, select their rows. You can then use Change status to..., Add tag..., Clear tags or delete. Each bulk action asks you to confirm first.

1. Select New estimate.
2. Pick the customer. The estimate starts with that customer's tags.
3. Add a service address if the work is at a different location. This is optional.
4. Add line items. Add from products fills a line with the name, description and price of a saved product, and you can edit each of them for this estimate.
5. Save the estimate. A new estimate starts as Open.

Each line item has a name, a whole-number quantity, a unit price and an optional formatted description. The description prints on the PDF and on the customer's page. The product catalog is covered in Expenses, products and services.

Estimates have no tax, discount or deposit fields. The estimate total comes from the line items alone.

Open an estimate from the list to see its own page.

1. Open the estimate and select Send to customer.
2. Choose Email, Text message or both.
3. Send it.

• Sending stamps the sent date. If the estimate was a Draft, it moves to Open.
• Emails and texts carry a short link to the estimate page, so the message stays short.
• Text message appears only when texting is available on your site. See Text messaging.
• Each estimate email is recorded in the Email Log with the source Estimate.
• Estimate emails have their own switch in Settings and are on by default. See Settings.

The link opens a private page that search engines do not index. It shows your company name, the estimate number, Prepared for, the date, each line item with its description, the Estimated total and a Download PDF button.

The page follows the status you set. An approved estimate shows a thank-you message saying it has been approved. An estimate that is no longer active says so and invites the customer to reach out for an updated one.

The customer's page has no approve or decline button, no signature and no deposit payment. It asks the customer to reply to the message the link came in. You or your team record the approval.

When the customer replies, record the answer on the estimate. There are two ways to record a yes.

• Select Convert to job. This marks the estimate Approved and creates the job in one step.
• Change Status to Approved by hand in Estimate details.

If the customer says no, change Status to Declined.

1. Open the estimate.
2. Select Convert to job on the Converted to job card.
3. Confirm.

MeridianOS™ marks the estimate Approved and creates a job with:

• The same customer, address and tags.
• The estimate total, plus a description built from the line item names.

The job starts as needs scheduling. The Converted to job card then links to the job and shows its status.

The estimate's line items are not copied onto the job as line items. The job carries the total and the description.

An estimate cannot be turned straight into an invoice. The path is estimate, then job, then invoice.

1. Convert the estimate to a job.
2. Open the job and select Create invoice. The invoice is built from the job, payment terms included.

Tags follow the work from the customer to the estimate, the job and the invoice. See Jobs and Invoices for the next steps.