Sending quotes to customers

You can create quotes in SortScape and send them to your customers. SortScape makes it easy to send quotes and track their progress after you’ve sent them to your customers. Once a quote is accepted, you can schedule the work in the click of a button.

Creating a quote

You can create quotes from a few places inside of SortScape. The primary way is to:

• Navigate to the Quotes screen
• Click “New Quote”
• Select the property you want to quote for
• Set the quote date and expiry date
• Add your line items with descriptions and prices
• To offer a discount, add a line item with a negative unit price (see Applying discounts)
• Add any notes or special instructions
• Save the quote as a draft or send it immediately

Reorder quote line items

Put line items in the order you want the customer to see them before you save the quote:

1. Find the grip handle on the left of a line item.
2. Press the handle and drag the line item to its new position.
3. Repeat for any other line items you want to move.
4. Save the quote.

The new order appears on the online quote and quote PDF. Only the grip handle starts a drag, so you can still click the description to edit the line item or use the cross to remove it.

Nothing changes until you save. If you move a line by mistake, close or cancel the form without saving.

You can reorder line items while the quote is a draft or has been sent. Accepted and scheduled quotes are locked. Change the quote back to Draft or Sent before editing its line items.

When you schedule work from the quote, SortScape carries the quote’s line item order onto the new job. That order also carries onto repeating jobs, copies of the job, and invoices created from those jobs.

There is no drag-to-reorder control on a job. Items added directly to the job are listed after the items carried from the quote. Reordering the original quote later does not update jobs you already created from it.

You can still arrange the lines separately on the Create invoice form before you create the invoice. See How line items are ordered on an invoice.

Two Premium experimental features can make quotes clearer for customers:

• Optional line items let customers choose add-ons before they accept.
• Line item photos attach images to individual line items on the quote and PDF.

Contact support if you want either experimental feature enabled on your account.

Customer view lets you choose which quantities, prices, and totals appear on a quote. It is available on every plan. Contact support if you do not see the Customer view row yet.

Wrong property or client selected?

SortScape ties each quote to the property selected at creation, and that cannot be changed later. If you picked the wrong client or property, see How do I change the property on a quote? for the Copy workaround.

Sending new quotes to clients

You can also set a quote to be sent immediately upon it getting created.

To email a quote

• Check the “Email Quote” box when creating/editing the quote
• SortScape will send the quote using the default “new quote” email template. To edit it, open Settings → Messaging → Quote messages.
• The client will receive a professional-looking PDF quote attached to the email.
• The client can also view and accept the quote through a secure link.

To send the quote by text message

• Check the “SMS Quote” box when creating/editing the quote
• The system sends a text message with a secure link to view the quote
• SortScape will use the default “new quote” SMS template. To edit it, open Settings → Messaging → Quote messages.
• Clients can view and accept the quote directly from their phone or computer You can also send quotes after they have been created.

Accepting or declining quotes

Clients can accept or decline the quote themselves once it’s been sent to them. Here’s how it works:

• The client receives the quote via email or SMS
• They click the secure link to view the quote
• They click the “Accept quote” button
• When the client clicks the “accept” button or “decline” button then all administrators will receive an email letting them know the quote has been changed. Administrators can optionally unsubscribe from this email. You can also click the quote as accepted or declined yourself.

Note - when a client declines a quote we prompt them to optionally provide a reason for declining.

Changing quotes

If you change a quote after sending it to the customer, the online quote the customer sees when clicking on the quote link will be updated. However, if you sent the quote as an email then the PDF version of the quote attached to the email will not be updated so you may want to send the quote again.

Tracking quote status

SortScape allows you to track all quotes through their lifecycle. To view quotes and their statuses, please visit the quotes screen.

Quotes will show as having the status:

• Draft - hasn’t yet been sent to the customer.
• Sent - has been sent to customer and waiting on a response.
• Accepted - quote has been accepted by the customer and needs to have the work scheduled
• Declined - customer has declined the quote. No further action needed.
• Scheduled - quote has been accepted and quoted work has been scheduled.
• Archived - hidden from the default list. Search still finds archived quotes, or choose Archived in the status filter. The primary “green” button on the quote will change based on the quote status in anticipation of the next action required. For example, a quote with the “draft” status will have a green button saying “send quote.” You can always change the quote status by editing the quote.

Track acceptance and scheduling with the quote reports under Reports → Quotes. You can also export the quotes list to CSV and calculate acceptance rates in Excel using the Status column. See Exporting quotes.

Archiving quotes

As the business grows, the Quotes list can fill up with work that is already finished or no longer relevant. Archiving lets you hide those quotes without deleting them.

To archive a quote:

1. Open the quote.
2. Open the quote menu (⋯).
3. Click Archive.

The quote shows as Archived and is hidden from the default Quotes list. You can still search for it, or choose Archived in the status filter.

To unarchive a quote:

1. Open the archived quote.
2. Click Unarchive.

To bulk archive multiple quotes:

1. Open the Quotes screen.
2. Select the quotes you want to archive.
3. Click Archive.

Exporting quotes

Administrators can export the quotes list as a CSV file for Excel, Google Sheets, or Apple Numbers. Only administrators can view and export quotes.

1. Open the Quotes screen.
2. Optional: filter the list first. The export uses the same filters as the list:
   • Status (All, Draft, Sent, Accepted, Declined, Scheduled, or Archived). All hides archived quotes unless you search.
   • Quote date range
   • Search (quote number, contact name, or property address)
3. Click Export in the top right of the list. A CSV file downloads to your computer.

Each row is one quote, with these columns: Contact, Quote #, Status, Property, Quote date, Expiry date, Sent date, and Total.

Scheduling jobs from accepted quotes

Once a quote is accepted, you can easily schedule the work by:

• Opening the accepted quote
• Clicking the “Schedule job” button
• Choose whether to schedule a one-off job or a repeating job.
• Set your preferred dates and times and create the job
• If you have the new job invoice settings feature (customers who signed up since October 2024) then any line items from the quote will automatically get added to to the job.

When quote line items are copied onto the job, the job shows the prices only. Tax from the quote is not copied onto the job. See Tax on jobs vs invoices.

Quotes stay after you delete jobs

A job linked to a quote is still a separate record. Deleting a repeating job removes that job and future jobs in the series. The quote stays on the Quotes screen and the property Quotes tab.

Use Delete on the quote only if you want the quote itself gone. To see linked jobs, open the quote menu and choose Related jobs.

Following up on open quotes

The Automatic quote reminders feature requires a subscription to the SortScape Premium plan

Automatic quote reminders allow you to schedule SMS and email notifications to be sent to customers automatically to follow up on outstanding quotes. This saves you time and helps you close more business, helping you stay on top of potential work and improve your quote acceptance rates.

Enable automatic quote reminders in Settings → Messaging → Quote messages.

Once you enable the feature, reminder notifications will begin to be sent to customers with outstanding quotes that have been sent but not yet accepted or declined. By default, the reminder notifications will be sent 7 days after they were originally sent.

Message configuration

By default we have created quote reminder schedules for you. You can configure when reminders are sent (e.g., 3 days after sending the quote, then 7 days after, etc.) and choose whether to send by SMS, email, or both.

You can add up to 6 automatic quote reminders. Email and SMS count toward the same limit. On Settings → Messaging → Quote messages, click Add automatic message under Quote reminder messages.

You can edit existing reminder schedules to change the following fields:

• What time to send it
• How many days after the quote was sent
• Who it is sent from
• Message type (email or sms)
• Which template to use Click on the “Upcoming messages” link to get a preview of upcoming quote reminders scheduled to be sent.

Managing individual quote reminders

You have granular control over quote reminders:

• Disable reminders for specific quotes: When viewing a quote, you can use the “Turn off reminders” option in the quote dropdown menu to disable automatic reminders for that particular quote. This is useful for quotes that don’t need reminders or have been handled through other channels.
• Disable quote reminders for specific contacts: If you don’t want a specific contact to receive automatic quote reminders, you can go to that contact and disable the “Quote reminders” setting.

To get a copy of quote emails SortScape sends, open Settings → Messaging → Quote messages, then add your address under Email addresses to cc when emailing quotes and invoices.

Below is more detailed information on how automatic quote reminders work:

• Reminders are only sent for quotes with “Sent” status that haven’t been accepted or declined
• Messages are sent to the billing contact for the quote’s property
• Emails are sent to the email address specified for the contact and SMS notifications are sent to all SMS reminder numbers on the contact (primary mobile plus any additional numbers)
• Each SMS number receives its own message and uses its own SMS credit(s). See Multiple mobile numbers for SMS reminders.
• We will not attempt to send an email to a contact that doesn’t have an email specified or an SMS to a contact that doesn’t have a primary mobile number specified
• All contacts are set to receive quote reminders by default unless you change this setting
• SMS notifications will not be sent before 7:00am or after 9:30pm
• If you change a quote status to “Accepted” or “Declined”, automatic reminders for that quote will stop

Managing quote settings for your account

Open Settings → Quotes & requests → Quotes. The page groups its settings into four sections. Each section has an Edit button that opens the quote settings form.

What customers see

This section shows your company logo, company details, quote instructions, item-name setting, and the defaults for Customer view.

Your company logo appears on quote PDFs and the online quote. To change it, open Settings → Company → General. Use a PNG at least 400 pixels on the longest side so it stays sharp. See General account settings.

Quotes settings show the current logo but do not let you change it.

Company details identifies your business as the quote provider. Quote instructions adds text at the bottom of each quote, such as terms and conditions or payment requirements.

Show item names on line items controls whether customers see the item name as well as the description. This is the same setting used on SortScape built-in invoices, so changing it here updates both. See Show item names on line items.

Under Defaults for new quotes, choose whether new quotes show quantities, unit prices, line item totals, and totals and tax. The preview underneath updates to show the current choices. See Choosing what customers see on quotes and invoices.

These are toggles on the settings page. You do not need to click Edit.

Creating quotes

Default quote expiry sets how many days new quotes remain valid.

Sending

This section shows the addresses that receive a copy when SortScape emails a quote. They also receive copies of invoice emails when SortScape sends those emails. QuickBooks sends its own invoice emails, and Xero may send its own, so those systems do not use the SortScape copy list. It also links to your quote notification settings.

To change quote notifications, open Settings → Messaging → Quote messages.

Tax

Default tax treatment controls how tax is displayed and calculated on new quotes. With SortScape built-in invoicing, a billing contact can override this for new quotes:

• Tax Inclusive (non-US customers) - Line items shown on the quote already include taxes (common in Australia). The quote will display the total amount and indicate how much tax is included. For example, if the tax rate is 10% and quote items total $100, the final amount remains $100 with $9.09 included as tax.
• Tax Exclusive (non-US customers) - Line items shown on the quote do NOT include taxes. Taxes will be added on top of the quoted amounts. For example, if the tax rate is 10% and quote items total $100, the final amount will be $110 with $10 added as tax.
• Taxable (US customers) - Taxes will be added to each quote by default, following US tax regulations.
• No Tax - No taxes will be applied or shown on quotes.

Default tax rate is applied to new quotes. If you use SortScape built-in invoicing, you can set a different default tax rate on an individual billing contact. See Setting invoice defaults for a contact.

The tax rates table lists the rates available when you add quote line items. SortScape may add system rates for your country, and you can add custom rates.