Estimates can be found in the Opportunities section of your BuildBook Account. Once you select an existing (or create a new) Opportunity, you'll see an Estimate tab, where you can create an Estimate for the Opportunity.

Estimates, no matter how they were created or accessed, always live within an opportunity. The global estimates page surfaces the estimate tab of each opportunity so the two are always linked.

At the top of the Estimate is the current version number, status, and who it was last edited by.

Versions give you the ability to create multiple Estimates for a client but only the most current version of the Estimate is seen at any given time.

You can change anything within the Estimate to reflect a small change or even change the Estimate entirely. Once you're ready to share the Estimate with the client, click on Preview and Share and then Publish in the top right corner.

When the Estimate is approved or declined by the client, you'll notice that the status will change from Published to Approved or Declined.

Learn more about previewing and sharing your proposal here.

Each section can be toggled on or off to reflect what you'd like the client to see in the Proposal.

The Cover Image & Team info is a great way for you to present a sleek, personalized Proposal to your client.

The cover image can be a default image like your company logo or one that is specific to the client, such as a design rendering for their project. This space also allows you to edit the title of the estimate, add information about your company in the About section, and include any Team Members working on the eventual Project.

Items in this area can be set as Estimate Defaults in the Estimate Settings so that you don't need to add this information to every Estimate. You can see more about adjusting defaults here.

The Scope of Work section provides important information for clients and team members such as the type of work that will be conducted, estimated project timelines, and what's included/not included. A detailed Scope of Work will keep everyone on the same page and can be added to the Estimate Defaults.

This portion of the Estimate will include the services and associated costs. There are three options to add costs to the Estimate which can be viewed when beginning your Estimate:

Learn more about each type and how to create an Estimate.

The payment schedule is a great tool to see a quick view of what payments will be due from clients. These payments are not designed to come over to the Project with the Estimate and is more for information on what the client could expect to pay.

Simply add a payment via the Payment Schedule by clicking on + Payment Milestone. The Payment Milestone consists of the Title of the Payment, a choice to choose a Due Date, a Calculation Type (either Fixed or Percent), the amount, and whether the payment is Unpaid, Pending, or Paid.

A Fixed Fee Calculation Type is for fixed fee contracts. A Percent of Estimate is for Cost Plus Percentage, which will automatically calculate a percentage of the Estimate total. There are also fields for Details and Payment Instructions, which you can use to further communicate payment expectations to your client.

The final piece of the Estimate is the Contract. You can simply copy and paste your current contract into the Estimate Default Settings and use it for all Estimates. This should include all pertinent legal information including Terms and Conditions. You can save your Contract in the Estimates default or add the information manually.

Attachments allow you to add information to the Estimate that you want your clients to view. Click on + Add photo or doc in the bottom left hand corner to the attachments and those will be sent along with your proposal to the client. Attachments don't show a preview to the client when viewing the estimate information but they do allow them to download them to their own devices to take a look!

The Approval section can be toggled on so that you can send the proposal for eSignature approval from your client. If for some reason you won't be sending this for approval or sharing it with a client, you can toggle this off.

Once you're ready to share your Estimate, here's an overview of the steps you want to take and what you can choose to share.

Estimates are only able to be accessed, created or shared by the Team Owner or Team Admins and that's because those are the only people able to see Opportunities. If you don't see the Opportunities tab or the More > Estimates option, you'll want to reach out to your team's owner or admin to have your permissions enhanced.

Each Opportunity get's an owner:

The owner is the person responsible for tracking and managing that Opportunity. These are the folks who will get notifications when an Estimate is approved or declined by the Client. We don't share those approvals with others on the team since each Opportunity only get's managed by one owner. You can change an owner at any time by clicking on the drop down and selecting one of your team admins or the owner.

Pro Team Members, Collaborators and Clients do not have access to Opportunities or to see Estimates. If you want to share information from an Estimate, you can use the share options on the estimate to send them that information.

Up Next

Create an Estimate

Send an Estimate for approval