Quotes, estimates & customer decisions

Priced proposals — called Quotes or Estimates depending on your workshop’s finance settings — turn planned work or inspection findings into customer decisions. They are where technical recommendations become commercial approval, so the quality of the document often determines how smoothly the rest of the workflow runs.

Starting a new proposal

Add quote / Add estimate uses the same shape as opening a job: pick the customer and vehicle, add the work sections that need doing (optional for parts-only), then set prices, parts, and travel on the document screen. You do not pick an open job first — the work job is created because the customer accepted the proposal, not the other way around.

What a good proposal should do

A good proposal should explain the work clearly enough that the customer can approve it without a long back-and-forth. That usually means the line items, totals, and planned work line up with what the workshop intends to do.

You can create and edit proposals, preview region-specific outputs where relevant, and manage how they are shared with customers through the workshop app and portal workflow. Quotes and invoices may exist with no vehicle attached when the sale is parts-only or bulk tyre work.

No live workshop job until acceptance

Creating or saving a draft or sent proposal does not open a live workshop job on its own. The proposal holds the customer (and optional vehicle or site) plus any planned work sections. When the customer approves — in the portal, by secure email link, or when staff record the decision on their behalf — TreadOS opens the work job from that plan and links it to the accepted proposal. That keeps the jobs board clear of ghost work that was only ever a price.

Draft, send, and customer reply

• Draft proposals are visible inside the workshop only until you send them.
• Use Send and choose how the customer should receive the document: Customer portal, Email, or both, plus an optional message. Email includes a secure review link (no login required) and a PDF copy.
• After a successful send, the document moves to an awaiting-reply state. Customers can approve, decline, or request changes.
• Changes requested means the customer asked for revisions — not a counter-offer price. Revise the document and send again when ready.
• If plans change, staff can withdraw portal visibility, revise the document, or add messages in the portal thread.

Portal messaging keeps a clear record inside the same business process instead of relying on informal email or memory.

Where customers see proposals

A proposal appears in the customer portal only after it has been sent through a portal channel. Drafts are never exposed. The secure email link works the same way — it stops working if the workshop withdraws the send or the link expires.

Staff decisions and on-behalf recording

When a customer responds online, staff see the outcome on the document so the job and invoice stages stay aligned with what was agreed. If the customer decides by phone or in person instead, an authorised staff member can record approve or decline on the customer’s behalf.

Creation history

Many documents show a small Created … by … line beneath the heading — for example when a proposal was created automatically from a job or manually from a customer record. Follow the link when present to see the source record.

Voiding

• Void cancels a quote or estimate that should no longer be used (for example after you copy to a new draft). It moves to the Lost tab and stays on the record.
• If Xero or QuickBooks is connected and the document was synced, Void also removes or voids the matching document there so the ledger stays aligned.
• Quotes that have already been invoiced cannot be voided until that invoice is voided first.

Useful operating habits

• Keep wording aligned with the job findings so workshop staff and customers are reading the same story.
• Revise the existing document rather than creating overlapping duplicates wherever possible.
• Record customer decisions in the system promptly so the workshop floor, service desk, and accounts team are not working from different assumptions.