Quotes¶

Reviewers can open every quote, the client quote and the workings, but can't change anything. Where this page says "you", it means someone who can edit quotes.

Some parts of a quote show costs and margins. You see these only if you can see costs: estimators and reviewers always can, and quoting users can if the business allows it. This page marks those parts (cost viewers only).

The workflow at a glance¶

1. Create the quote.
2. Add work to its sections: rates, planting, muck-away and custom lines.
3. Price the planting on the Nursery list.
4. Check the totals, on-costs and labour plan on Review & price.
5. Mark as sent. The version is now locked, and its status is Awaiting decision.
6. Open the Client quote, select Download PDF and send the PDF to the client.
7. When the client decides, set the quote to Won or Lost.

Mark the version as sent before you download the PDF. A draft's PDF says "Draft: not yet sent" and is dated today.

If the client wants changes after you've sent it, make a new version.

Creating a quote¶

1. Go to Quotes. You can also select + New quote on the Dashboard, which takes you there.
2. Select + New quote.
3. Enter a Job title, for example "Rear garden redesign". You must enter a title.
4. Optionally enter the Client and the Site.
5. Select Create quote.

The quote opens straight away. It's given:

• A quote reference: your business's prefix followed by a four-digit number, for example BEE0042. Numbers go up by one for each new quote. The reference never changes, even if the prefix is changed later.
• Version 1, as a draft.
• Your business's default sections, for example "Demolition" or "Planting", with any rates your estimator puts on every new quote already in them, such as welfare in Preliminaries. Change their quantities or delete them like any other line.
• Today's rate card. The quote takes a copy of every rate, item price and labour rate as they are today. Later changes to the rate card don't affect it unless you choose to update it. See Updating to today's rates.
• The business's standard on-costs: markup, prelims, main-contractor discount and planting defects allowance.

Finding your way around a quote¶

At the top of the quote:

• All quotes takes you back to the list.
• The quote reference, and which version you're looking at, for example "v2, draft".
• Whether your changes are saved: "Saving…" while a change is on its way, then "All changes saved" with the time.

Under that is a card with the quote's details:

• Title: the job title. Change it in the box.
• Status: Draft, Awaiting decision, Won or Lost. See Won and lost.
• Client and Site. Change them in their boxes.
• "Priced on rates as at …", the date and time this version's prices were taken from the rate card, with a link to update to today's rates.

On a sent version, the card has only Status. Reviewers don't see the card: they see the title, client, site and status as text.

Down the left-hand side is the quote's step list. On a phone or tablet, this folds into a bar at the top of the page: tap it to open it.

• The version list: which version you're looking at, with + New to make another.
• Sections: one step per section, with its sell total.
• Nursery list: shows how many planting lines are still waiting for a price, for example "3 to price", or a tick when they're all priced.
• Review & price: totals, on-costs and the labour plan.
• Quote total: the total for this version. While any planting is waiting for a nursery price, it says "Provisional until the nursery list is priced".
• Mark as sent, Client quote and Workings (cost viewers only). Client quote and Workings open in a new tab.

Your changes save as you go. When you leave a box or press Enter, the change is saved and the totals update. If a save fails, you see a red box with the reason, such as "Couldn't save that change. Check your connection and try again.", and the page reloads to show what was actually saved.

Sections and elements¶

A quote is split into sections, such as "Hard landscaping". Each section holds one or more elements: a named piece of work, such as "Main terrace" or "Remove patio". Each element holds the priced lines.

Changing the sections on a quote¶

1. Under Sections, select Edit.
2. Now you can:
3. rename a section by changing its name
4. move it with the up and down arrows
5. turn prelims on or off for that section with its prelims tick box
6. select Delete to remove it, with everything in it. If it has elements, the app asks first: "Its 2 elements and their lines go too." Select Delete section to go ahead.
7. select + Add section, enter its name, for example "Phase 2 – Front garden", and select Add section
8. Select Done.

This only changes this quote. To change the sections every new quote starts with, ask your estimator to change the Default quote sections in Factors & settings.

Adding an element¶

1. Select a section in the step list.
2. Select + Add element to (section name).
3. Name the piece of work, for example "Main terrace", and select Add element.

To rename an element, change its name at the top of its card. To delete it and all its lines, select the bin icon at the top right of its card. If it has lines, the app asks first, for example "Its 4 lines go too. This can't be undone." Select Delete element to go ahead.

Adding lines¶

At the bottom of each element is a bar with four tabs. Pick the kind of line you want to add.

Rate lines¶

Use Rate for most work: anything on your rate card.

1. Select the Rate tab.
2. Start typing in the box, for example "dig", "paving" or a category name. The list narrows as you type and shows each rate's category and sell price.
3. Pick the rate, or keep typing until only one matches.
4. Enter the quantity.
5. Select Add rate.

If you see "No rate by that name", check the rate card or use a custom line instead. If the rate was added to the rate card after this quote was priced, the app tells you so. Use Update to today's rates to bring it in.

The sell prices shown already include prelims if the section has prelims turned on.

Planting¶

Use Plant / tree for anything priced by a nursery.

1. Select the Plant / tree tab.
2. Enter the plant or tree name, for example "Acer griseum".
3. Choose the size band. The list shows the band's sell price "+ nursery": the cost of planting it, before the plant itself.
4. Enter the quantity.
5. Select Add to schedule.

The line is tagged "awaiting nursery price" until you price it on the Nursery list, and its rate shows "—". Until then the quote total is provisional: the step list says "Provisional until the nursery list is priced", and the quotes list says "Awaiting nursery prices" under its value.

Muck-away¶

A quote has one muck-away line, usually in Preliminaries, that takes away the spoil of the whole job. Rates that dig, such as a reduce-level dig, lifting paving or breaking out a wall, say how much spoil each unit makes (see Spoil). The muck-away line adds it all up and prices it as whole loads.

When you add the first line that digs, the app adds the muck-away line to Preliminaries for you, so the spoil is never left unpriced. You can also add it yourself from the Muck away tab with Add muck-away line. A quote only has one: if it already has one, the app says "This quote already has a muck-away line. Add extra volume on it."

On the line:

• Taken away by: the grab lorry or skip from the plant library. It lists the machines priced by the load that have a price and a load size, and starts on one priced by weight, usually the grab lorry. If the plant library has none, it shows "Grab lorry", priced from your business's grab lorry settings from before the plant library.
• Extra m³ and Extra is: spoil that no rate on the quote covers, such as an old shed base, with its material.

The app shows its working on the line, for each material:

1. The m³ dug, from every line's quantity × its rate's spoil, plus any extra.
2. Dug material takes up more room than it did in the ground, so it adds the material's bulking percentage.
3. It multiplies by the material's density to get tonnes.

Then it adds the materials together and divides by the machine's load size, rounding up to whole loads: a grab lorry by tonnes, a skip by bulked m³. Each load is charged at the machine's price from the plant library, plus your on-costs. Until any line digs, the line says "No spoil yet".

Lines marked rate only don't add spoil, so the price per unit they show the client doesn't include taking spoil away.

Quotes made before muck-away worked this way keep their old muck-away line, worked out from an area and depth, and its prices.

Custom lines and provisional sums¶

Use Custom / provisional sum for anything that isn't on the rate card.

1. Select the Custom / provisional sum tab.
2. Enter a description, for example "Lighting".
3. Enter the quantity, the unit (it starts as "item") and the price.
4. (Cost viewers only) Choose how the price is treated:
5. sell rate as typed: the client pays exactly the price you typed. No markup, prelims or discount are added. Use this to pass a supplier's or subcontractor's price straight through.
6. cost + markup: the price is your cost, and the app adds your markup, prelims and any main-contractor discount.

If you can't see costs, the price you type is always the sell price. 5. Tick provisional sum if this is an allowance for work that can't be priced exactly yet. 6. Select Add line.

You can change a custom line's description, unit and price on the line itself. If you can't see costs, you can't change the price of a line someone priced at cost.

Changing a line¶

Change a line's quantity in its Qty box. Use the up and down arrows to reorder lines, and the bin icon to delete a line. A line is deleted straight away, without asking.

Select Options under a line's description to see its details and options. Select Options again to close them.

(Cost viewers only) The details show each part of the rate (labour, plant, materials) scaled to the line's quantity, the cost per unit split into labour (L), plant (P) and material (M), and what it sells at. Everyone sees the man-hours the line carries.

The options are:

• Client description (rate lines): replace the rate's name with your own wording on the client quote. The rate's name then shows in brackets next to it on screen.
• Price basis (custom lines, cost viewers only): switch between price is the sell rate (no markup) and price is cost (add markup & prelims).
• Override sell rate £: type a different sell rate for this line. The box shows the calculated rate as a hint. The line is labelled "rate overridden". Clear the box to go back to the calculated rate.
• provisional sum: mark the line as a provisional sum. It's tagged "provisional" on screen and "(Provisional sum)" on the client quote.
• rate only (not in total): show the rate to the client without adding the line to the total. Use this when the client wants a price per unit for possible extra work. The Total column shows "rate only".
• Notes: a note shown under the line on the client quote.

Line labels you might see¶

The Nursery list¶

Every planting line in the quote, from every section, collects on the Nursery list. This is where you enter the prices nurseries give you.

Adding nurseries and prices¶

1. Select Nursery list in the step list.
2. Select + Add nursery. Start typing the nursery's name and pick it from your nurseries, or type a new one, for example "Provender". Its email address fills in; you can change it, or add one. Select Add. Repeat for each nursery you're asking.
3. In the table, enter each nursery's price per plant in that nursery's column. Leave a box empty if the nursery hasn't priced that plant.

A nursery you type that isn't on your list yet is added to it, so it's there for the next quote.

To rename a nursery on this quote, change its name. To change its email address, edit the address under its name: this also updates your list of nurseries. To remove a nursery with all its prices, select the bin icon next to it. The app asks "Remove (nursery) from this quote?" and warns that any prices it gave go too. Select Remove (nursery) to go ahead.

Choosing which price to use¶

Supply price decides which nursery price each line uses:

The Price used column shows the price each line ends up with, or "awaiting". The top of the page says how many lines are still awaiting prices, for example "3 awaiting prices", or "all priced".

Defects allowance (cost viewers only)¶

Defects allowance % adds an allowance for replacing plants that fail. It's added to the whole cost of each planting line (the planting work and the plant), before markup.

Sending lists to nurseries¶

If you're using assigned nurseries, a nursery is sent only the plants assigned to it. Otherwise it's sent every plant.

To email a nursery its list:

1. Make sure the nursery has an email address under its name.
2. Select Email next to the nursery.
3. The app asks, for example, "Email 12 plants to Provender?". Select Send the list. The app emails the nursery a table of the plants (name, size and quantity) with the same list attached as a spreadsheet. On a draft version, the email also carries a new pricing link, so the nursery can type its prices in rather than reply. The new link replaces any link the nursery already had: the old one stops working.

The email comes from your business's name, and the nursery's reply comes back to your own email address. Under the nursery, the app shows when its list was last emailed, for example "Emailed 30/10/2026, 10:15", or "Email failed". See Nurseries for what the nursery receives.

You can email a list from a version that's been sent, but you can't change its nurseries. Reviewers can't email lists.

Pricing links¶

A pricing link lets a nursery type its prices straight into the quote, so nobody has to copy them from an email. The nursery doesn't need an account. The link opens a page showing your business's name, the quote reference and that nursery's own plants (name, size and quantity), each with a box for its price and one for a note on availability. It never shows your costs, other nurseries' prices or your client's details. See Nurseries for what the nursery sees.

Pricing links are only on draft versions. To send a nursery a link yourself:

1. Select Pricing link under the nursery. If it's greyed out, the nursery has no plants yet: hover over it to see "No plants for this nursery yet".
2. Select Copy and paste the link into your own email or message to the nursery.

The link is shown only once, when it's made: "Send this to (nursery). It shows only once: make a new one if you lose it." If you lose it, select New pricing link. The app asks "Make a new pricing link for (nursery)?" and warns that the link it has now stops working. Prices it already sent stay. Select Make a new link to go ahead.

When the nursery selects Submit prices, its prices go into its column on the Nursery list, and any note shows under the price. The nursery can change its prices and submit again while the link is open. Under the nursery, the app shows "Prices sent in" with the date and time, and the person who made the link gets an email to say so once email is set up.

A link stops working:

• 14 days after it was made (the app shows Pricing link open until the date)
• when you select Close link and confirm, or make a new link for that nursery, or email it its list from a draft
• when you mark the version as sent
• when you remove the nursery from the quote

Links belong to one version. A new version needs new links. Reviewers can't make links.

To export instead:

• Export next to a nursery downloads a spreadsheet (CSV file) of its plants: name, size, quantity and any price it has given.
• Export full list downloads every plant with each nursery's price, the assigned nursery and the price used.

Review & price¶

Select Review & price to check the whole version.

The panel on the left shows each section's total and the Sale price, which is always "excluding VAT". If any planting is still awaiting a nursery price, it says so, for example "Provisional: 2 planting lines are still waiting on nursery prices."

On-costs (cost viewers only)¶

You also see:

• Labour cost, Plant cost, Material cost and the Prime cost: the total cost before any markup.
• Markup, Prelims on each line and Main-contractor discount, as percentages you can change for this version.
• The margin your markup gives on its own, and the overall margin on the quote. The overall margin takes account of overridden sell rates and custom lines priced at sell.

Changing these changes only this version. The business's standard figures are set in Factors & settings.

How a sell rate is worked out¶

For each line, the app takes the cost per unit and:

1. adds the markup
2. applies the main-contractor discount on top of the cost plus markup
3. adds the prelims, as a percentage of the cost (only if the line's section has prelims turned on)
4. rounds the result to the penny.

The line total is the quantity times that sell rate, rounded to the penny. A sell rate you've overridden, or a custom line priced at sell, skips these steps.

Markup and margin aren't the same. Markup is a percentage of cost; margin is a percentage of the sale price. A 30% markup gives a 23.1% margin.

Labour plan & programme¶

The Labour plan & programme shows how much labour the quote carries, section by section, and roughly how long the job takes.

1. Choose the Working day: a 6, 8 or 10-hour day.
2. Enter the Crew on site: how many people will be working.

You see the man-hours and man-days for each section, the total, and about how many working days and weeks the crew needs. If you can see costs and the quote uses more than one labour type, By labour type splits the same hours by type, so you can see how many paver-days or labourer-days the job needs. This is a rough guide. It assumes the sections run one after another, and it leaves out plant, skips and grab loads.

Updating to today's rates¶

Each version is priced on a copy of the rate card taken when it was made. If the rate card has changed since, a draft shows a yellow box: "The rate card has changed since this quote was priced". It lists new rates, rates that now cost differently, and whether any labour rates have changed.

To re-price the draft on today's rate card:

1. Select Update to today's rates in the yellow box, or update to today's rates under "Priced on rates as at".
2. The app asks "Re-price this draft on today's rates?". Select Re-price.

Every line is re-priced from today's rate card, item prices and labour rates. Quantities stay as they are, and so do this version's markup, prelims, discount and defects allowance.

You can only do this on a draft. A sent version always keeps the prices it was sent with.

Versions¶

A quote can have several versions, for example when the client asks for changes. Each version is a full copy of the quote, with its own prices and totals.

To make a new version:

1. Select + New next to the version list at the top of the step list.
2. The new version opens. It's a copy of the latest version: the same sections, lines, nurseries and nursery prices, and the same on-costs.

A new version is priced on today's rate card, not the rate card the previous version used.

To look at another version, choose it from the version list. Each entry shows whether it's a draft or when it was sent, and which is the latest, for example "v1 — sent 12/10/2026" or "v2 — draft (latest)".

Marking as sent¶

When the version is ready to go to the client, mark it as sent, then download its PDF.

1. Select Mark as sent in the step list.
2. The app asks, for example, "Mark v2 as sent?". If any planting is still waiting on a nursery price, it also says how many planting lines have no nursery price, so the total is provisional.
3. Select Mark as sent to go ahead.

The version is now locked. Nobody can change it, so it stays a true record of what the client received. The quote shows "Sent (date) and locked." To make changes, create a new version.

If the quote was a draft, its status changes to Awaiting decision.

Mark as sent is the only way to make a quote Awaiting decision: the Status list doesn't offer it until a version has been sent. Once one has, the quote can't go back to Draft.

Won and lost¶

When the client decides, change the quote's Status at the top of the quote from Awaiting decision to Won or Lost. Won and Lost are always in the list. The dashboard uses these to work out your win rate.

Deleting a quote¶

You can delete a quote only while all its versions are drafts. Select Delete this quote at the bottom of the quote. The app asks, for example, "Delete BEE0042?". Select Delete quote to go ahead. This deletes the quote and all its versions, and can't be undone.

Once any version has been sent, the quote can't be deleted. It's the record of what the client received.

The client quote¶

1. Mark the version as sent first, so the PDF carries the date it was sent.
2. Select Client quote. The client quote opens in a new tab, for the version you're looking at.
3. Check what this client sees, in the box above the quote, and change it if you need to.
4. Select Download PDF to save the quote as a PDF to send to the client.

A draft's PDF says "Draft: not yet sent" under the title, and is dated today.

The PDF is A4 and lays itself out: a section heading never sits alone at the bottom of a page, a line is never split between pages, the column headings repeat at the top of each page the lines run onto, and the totals and VAT stay together. Every page after the first has your business name and the quote reference at the top, and every page has your registered name, company and VAT numbers and "Page 2 of 3" at the bottom. It's named for the client, for example Beesleys quotation GK-0012 v2.pdf.

To print the quote straight from the browser instead, select Print / save as PDF and choose your printer.

Choosing what the client sees¶

Some clients want every line priced; others only want to see what each part of the job costs, or just the price. Under Show the client, choose:

• Every line: each line under its section, with each section's total. This is what the client quote shows unless you choose otherwise.
• Section totals: one row per section with its total, and no lines.
• Total only: the sections listed as the Scope of work, with no prices, then the total.

With Every line, untick Quantities and rates to show each line's description and total only. Untick Payment terms and conditions to leave your payment terms and terms and conditions off this quote.

Your choice is saved with the quote as soon as you make it, so you pick it once for each client: every version of the quote, and every time you open its client quote, shows it the same way. You can change it at any time, even after a version is sent, because it changes only how the quote is laid out, not its prices. The box isn't in the PDF or the printout, and the totals and VAT are the same whichever you choose. A new quote shows every line, with quantities, rates and terms. Reviewers can see the choice but not change it.

The client quote shows your logo, business name, address and contact details, the reference and version, the date, the date it's Valid until, the client and site, and the title. Unless you choose otherwise, it lists every line under its section with a reference number, quantity, unit, rate and total, followed by each section's total and the quote's total. Under the lines come your Payment terms and Terms and conditions, and a footer with your registered name, company number and VAT number. It shows no costs, margins or build-ups.

Everything about your business comes from Setup > Business details, so a change there shows on every client quote, including ones already sent. Anything left blank there is left off.

VAT depends on your VAT number:

• With a VAT number, the quote shows the Total excluding VAT, VAT at 20% and the Total including VAT.

• Without one, it shows just the Total, with no VAT.

• Planting lines read "Supply and plant" followed by the plant and size.

• Planting without a nursery price shows "TBC", with a note that supply prices are to be confirmed.
• Rate-only lines show "Rate only" in the total column.
• If the version is still a draft, a "Draft" note appears under the title on screen. It isn't printed when you use Print / save as PDF. The downloaded PDF of a draft says "Draft: not yet sent" instead.

The date is the date the version was sent, or today's date for a draft. Valid until is that date plus Quotes valid for (days) from Business details.

Everywhere else in the app, including the quote editor, the quotes list and the dashboard, prices are excluding VAT.

The workings page (cost viewers only)¶

Select Workings to open the full workings for the version in a new tab. It's marked "Internal: workings, not for the client". Don't send it to clients.

It shows:

• the factors this version was priced on: the charge-out rate of each labour type, working day, the machine each muck-away line takes spoil away on with its load size and price a load (none if the version takes nothing away), markup and the margin it gives, prelims, main-contractor discount, defects allowance and the supply price rule
• the labour, plant and material costs, prime cost, sale price and margin
• for every line: the cost per unit, the on-costs applied, the sell rate, the line's cost and its total
• under each line, every part of the rate, the nursery prices and which one was used, the muck-away calculation (each material's volume, bulking and weight, and the loads of the machine chosen), and any notes.

Select Print / save as PDF to print it, or Back to the quote to return.

Exports¶

The spreadsheet exports are on the Nursery list: one per nursery, and Export full list. See Sending lists to nurseries.

To keep a copy of a whole quote, download the client quote as a PDF, or save the workings as a PDF from your browser's print window.

The quotes list¶

Quotes lists every quote in your business, 50 to a page.

The table has four columns:

• Quote: the reference and title, with the client and site underneath, and how many versions there are if there's more than one.
• Status: Draft, Awaiting decision, Won or Lost.
• Value: the total of the latest version, whether it's a draft or sent. "Awaiting nursery prices" under it means the value is provisional because some planting is still waiting on nursery prices.
• Edited: when the quote was last edited.

To find a quote:

• Search: type part of a reference, title, client or site in the box (it says "Ref, title, client or site") and select Search. Select Clear search to see everything again.
• Filter by status: select All, Draft, Awaiting decision, Won or Lost. Each shows how many quotes it has.
• Sort by: choose Recently edited, Newest first, Oldest first, Highest value, Title A–Z or Client A–Z.
• Use Previous and Next to move between pages.

The dashboard¶

Dashboard shows how your quoting is going.

• Four boxes show the number and value of quotes that are Draft, Awaiting decision, Won and Lost. Select one to see those quotes on the quotes list. Here a quote's value is its latest sent version's total, or its latest draft's if nothing has been sent yet.
• Win rate: of the quotes won or lost, the share you won, by number and by value.
• Margin on sent work (cost viewers only): sell less cost, as a share of sell, across the quotes you've sent.
• Average quote sent: the average value of the latest sent version.
• Time to send: the typical (median) number of days from creating a quote to first sending it.
• Quoted per month: the value sent in each of the last 12 months, split by whether each quote is now Won, Awaiting decision or Lost.
• Chase up: sent quotes still waiting on the client, oldest first, with how long ago each was sent. Anything sent 14 or more days ago is highlighted.
• In progress: drafts, most recently edited first. Drafts still waiting on nursery prices say "needs nursery prices".

Select any quote to open it. Each list shows up to eight quotes; the rest are on the quotes list.