Prepare your Proposal
As you prepare to turn your Estimate into a Proposal and share it with your client, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, check and make sure that any sections of the Proposal in addition to your Estimate (company information, payment schedule, scope of work, and contract) that you want to be included are toggled on. You can check this by scrolling through each section and clicking (or unclicking) the green toggle button.
Preview the Estimate
Before you publish the estimate, it's a good idea to preview it first and check that everything is accurate and the information included is what you want to be visible to your client.
To do this, click the "Preview & Share" button in the upper right of the estimate.
This preview is where you can choose exactly what you want the client to see and how you'd like your estimate to be displayed.
Client Visibility
You can customize which item details you would like to share including:
Categories (this is only applicable from the "Detailed" Total vs. the "Summary" Total
Category Totals
Individual Line Items
Descriptions
Price
Qty, Unit Price
Just click the "Client Visibility" dropdown in the upper left corner of the Estimate Preview, choose the items to display, and click "Apply Changes."
There are two options to display the total:
1. Summary with lump costs, taxes, and fees in a single total sum:
2. Detailed with costs, taxes, and fees as separate line items in the subtotal
eSignatures and Preparing for Approval
A fully-executed contract should include signatures from both parties. BuildBook generates a default signature on your behalf using the creator of the opportunity. If an opportunity is generated from the Portfolio lead form, the team owner will be used.
How to Change the Pro Signature
To change the Pro signature before publishing it, simply type the name or draw the signature of who you want to represent your company and click on Enter or tab over to the Draw button.
After this is done, you can publish the proposal and send it to the client. Pro signatures cannot be changed after it's been published, but you can change it be making a new draft, update the signature, then publish the proposal again.
Publish the Estimate
Once the Estimate is ready to share with the client and be approved, you can go back to the estimate and make the estimate live by clicking the "Publish this Version" button next to "Preview and Share."
This makes the current version of the estimate the "Published" version to send for approval that the client can access anytime using the estimate link.
If the client declines the estimate or if you need to make adjustments, you can click "Make a New Version" to create a new, identical draft of the version:
Note: You can only Preview and Share the most current version of the Estimate. If you have multiple versions of one estimate that you want to share, consider publishing the Estimate and then using Preview and Share to copy a Public Link or save the Estimate as a PDF. If you need to send out an earlier version of your Estimate, go to that version, then click on Make a New Version. This will create a current version of that older Estimate for you to share.
Send the Estimate for Approval
Once you're ready to send the Estimate to your client for approval, click "Preview and Share" in the upper right corner of the estimate.
From the preview, click the "Share Estimate" button in the top right corner to either email, print, download, or copy a link to the estimate.
Using 'Copy Link to Estimate' will allow you to copy the link and send it to anyone who needs access.
Pro tip: In order for your client to approve the estimate, you want to make sure that the Approvals section at the bottom of your estimate is toggled on.
Then you'll see Approve/Decline buttons in your estimate preview. If they appear in your preview, that means they will appear in the estimate when you send it to your client.
Note: The "Approve" and "Decline" buttons in your preview are read-only and cannot be used to approve or decline the Estimate on the client's behalf. It is intended to show you exactly what the client will see when they are approving your proposal.
Once your client receives the estimate they will be given the opportunity to either approve or decline using their eSignature. Here they can add additional comments along with their name.
You will receive a notification in your BuildBook account along with an email when your client marks the estimate as approved or declined.
Depending on your Notification Settings within BuildBook, you may also receive an email when the Estimate is Approved or Declined:
When you open the Estimate you'll see whether or not the estimate has been Approved or Declined by the Client.
The Approval section will also reflect if the Estimate was approved and will include the date it was approved along with the Client's signature:
Estimate Activity
The activity feed gives you a quick view of all activities effecting the estimate in one centralized place!
The activity feed of the Estimate shows you certain activity on the Estimate only and not the Opportunity. To see the Opportunities activity feed, click on the Details tab.
The activity feed is found at the bottom of the Estimates:
You'll be able to track or view information about the Estimate in this feed. Each activity will contain information about who created the activity, a time stamp and all the activities for the day will roll up into the date. Here's the type of information we track:
Estimate versioning - this will tell you if a new version of the Estimate was created and when that version was published.
Emailing an Estimate - Shows you if an email has been sent out and by whom.
Estimate Email Delivery Status - Emails that are marked as delivered will show a green "DELIVERED" sign next to them. These are emails that are successfully delivered and opened by the Client.
If the Estimate email is not delivered, a red "NOT DELIVERED" sign will appear next to the email activity. This will happen if the email and/or domaine name are incorrect.
Estimate Views - either by viewing the link in the email shared, or by viewing a shared public link. Currently, BuildBook does not capture information about who viewed the Estimate, it will simply say Someone.
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