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Building a Quote

Published July 07, 2026

Engagement type

Every new quote starts with an Engagement type, picked in the Quote Details section: Time and materials, Statement of work, Fixed price, Retainer, Subscription, Mixed, or Other. The type describes how the engagement is priced, and it tailors the quote editor - choosing one reveals the line-item fields that match it, so a time-and-materials quote and a retainer quote each show only the fields they need:

  • Time and materials adds a Not-to-exceed amount field to each line item - a place to record the spending cap you have agreed with your customer.
  • Statement of work and Fixed price add a Section heading plus Start date and End date fields, so line items can be organized into named phases with dates.
  • Retainer adds a Billing frequency (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) and a Minimum commitment amount.
  • Subscription adds the Billing frequency selector along with the start and end date fields.
  • Mixed shows every extra field at once, for engagements that combine styles, and Other keeps just the standard fields.

The engagement type is separate from each line item's own billing category, described next: the type shapes which fields you see while you build, and the per-line category drives how the totals are broken down.

Line items and categories

Each line item on a quote gets a category: one-time, recurring, time and materials, milestone, expense, or fee. Categories drive how the totals are broken down for you and your customer, so a services engagement and its reimbursable expenses show up in their own subtotals rather than one blended number. Added a line by mistake? The x at the end of its row removes the whole line item.

Adding items from your Product Catalog

Click Add from catalog next to + Add item - on a brand-new quote or while editing one - to pick from your Product Catalog. Search by name or SKU, filter by category, and click Add: the line arrives pre-filled with the item's name, description, default quantity, and price, and stays linked to the catalog item it came from. See Product Catalog for managing the catalog itself.

Retainer lines

Set a line's billing type to Recurring and its retainer settings appear: a unit (hours or dollars), a period amount - say 35 hours a month - and a rollover policy for unused balance (expire, roll over one period, or roll over without limit). Those terms show on the customer's quote, and once the quote becomes a contract they drive the retainer usage ledger - see Retainers and Usage Tracking.

Bundling line items together

To group related items, drag one saved line item onto another in the quote editor to nest it underneath as a bundle. A bundle can price two ways: rolled-up, where the parent's price is simply the sum of its children, or fixed, where the parent carries its own price and the children are shown for information only. Bundled items are indented under their parent everywhere the quote appears - on the editor, the quote view, and the PDF.

Optional items and add-ons

Mark any (non-bundled) line item as an "Optional add-on" and it moves into its own Add-ons section on the quote, separate from the required line items. You can also pre-select an add-on on the customer's behalf if you expect them to want it. The customer decides for themselves whether to include each add-on when they view the quote - see What Your Customer Sees for that side of it.

Discounts, tax, and the tax disclaimer

Discounts work at two levels: each line item has its own discount fields (a percentage or a fixed amount off that line), and the quote can carry a quote-level discount and a tax rate on top. Your customer sees the arithmetic laid out plainly - a Subtotal, a Discount line showing the percentage and amount, Tax if configured, and the Grand total; a quote with no discount or tax shows just the Grand total. If you need a caveat about tax - for example, that the final amount can vary by jurisdiction - add it in the Tax disclaimer field on the quote's Pricing section; it renders as a footnote next to the tax line for your customer.

Payment terms

The Commercial Terms section near the bottom of the quote form carries the payment term - the Net-X timing your customer is quoted, drawn from the CRM > Quote Library payment terms (every account starts with Net 15, Net 30, and Net 60). Leave the dropdown on "(none)" when creating a quote and your account's default term is applied on save; pick a specific term to override it. The same section holds the terms version, attached clauses, and the payment schedule - see Clause Library and Commercial Terms.

Multi-currency display

Pick a currency for the quote from the Quote Details section. This controls how amounts are displayed and printed - it does not convert prices between currencies. An admin can add more currencies to the picker, and set up a base currency for cross-currency reporting, under CRM > Quote Configuration.

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