Generic Quote Builder
Create custom quotes with manual line items for ad-hoc projects.
Generic Quote Builder
Clean Estimate V2 web builder
Clean Estimate V2 keeps Generic Quote as a full estimate type. It removes the old multi-step wizard navigation, not the ability to build an itemized custom quote.
From Estimates, choose Generic Quote. The V2 builder keeps the work on one screen:
- Add an optional quote name, customer description, and estimated hours. Use
zero/blank for an unspecified duration, or enter 0.25–24 hours. That matches the scheduler's 15-minute minimum and single-day maximum; split longer work into separately schedulable scopes.
- Add up to 50 manual line items with a description, quantity, unit, and unit
price.
- Open Details on a line to add customer-visible scope detail or an
internal crew alert.
- Apply an optional dollar or percentage discount and, when appropriate, a
sales-tax rate.
- Review the server-calculated line totals, subtotal, discount, tax, and total
before saving or sending.
The available V2 units are Flat, Each, Sq Ft, Linear Ft, Hour, Per Visit, and Per Vehicle. A flat-price line ignores its quantity; every other unit multiplies quantity by unit price. Discount and tax calculations run through the shared server pricing engine, so changing browser code cannot change the authoritative amount.
Flat is one fixed price for the entire row, so its quantity is locked to one. Choose Each, Sq Ft, Linear Ft, Hour, Per Visit, or Per Vehicle when quantity should multiply the unit price.
V2 validates every computed line, subtotal, tax, and final total before saving. If a quantity/rate combination would exceed the estimate database's supported cent range, the quote is rejected with a clear amount error instead of failing mid-save or leaving a partial price behind.
The quote name becomes the customer-facing option label. The customer description appears as the project overview, followed by the itemized scope, on both the secure proposal and PDF. Every customer line shows its quantity, unit, unit price, description, and reconciled line total so the signed scope is not reduced to an unexplained total. Crew alerts, internal notes, estimated hours, price-book identifiers, and pricing-control fields stay outside the public response. When the customer accepts, each line's crew alert becomes a clearly labeled checklist instruction on the resulting crew job; internal notes remain office-only. The accepted option's estimated hours become the new job's dispatch duration, so an eight-hour quote does not fall back to the generic two-hour schedule placeholder.
V2 Generic Quote drafts reopen in the same one-screen builder. Sending uses the same immutable revision, approval, email/SMS, secure proposal, signature, deposit, and resend safeguards as the other V2 estimate types.
Once accepted, Generic Quote value appears as Generic Quote in Top Services reporting instead of being combined with unknown legacy rows. Customer-authored line descriptions are not treated as canonical catalog service names.
The first V2 parity slice restores manual line items, discount, tax, notes, and customer delivery. Synced Generic Quotes are labeled correctly in the focused V2 mobile app and provide a view-only itemized presentation with the server-priced total for field reference; edit, send, and resend them from web. Central price-book selection, optional-item packages, and a native mobile Generic Quote builder remain follow-up parity work; the sections below describe those established Clean Estimate workflows and should not be read as already shipped in V2.
Established Clean Estimate workflow
After saving a generic quote draft, use Proposal Options A/B/C in the quote summary. You can build multiple scopes from the manual line items, recommend one, and send them through the same web proposal, PDF, email, selection, and signature flow.
The Generic Quote Builder lets you create custom quotes for projects that do not fit your standard service-based pricing. Open the Manage section in the admin sidebar, click Estimates, then choose New Quote.
Select Add from Price Book to use any enabled visible item from the central catalog. Generic Quote intentionally ignores specialized module assignments, so it can combine residential, commercial, fleet, holiday-lighting, asphalt, product, equipment, and custom items on one quote. The imported name, description, unit, price, tax setting, and inventory-package link remain editable on the quote.
Native Mobile Generic Quote
On mobile, open Create > Estimate > Generic Quote. Generic Quote stays in the app instead of opening a browser.
- Enter or confirm the customer name, phone, email, and full service address.
- Select Add from Price Book to choose a live service, product, or
equipment item.
- Select Add Custom Item to add a custom service, product, or equipment
item.
- Confirm the description, unit, quantity, unit price, and taxable status.
- Review the line items, tax, customer message, and quote total.
- Select Save Quote.
If the live unified price book cannot load, mobile can use the last verified residential service catalog stored for the active workspace. It does not label those fallback services as products or equipment without verified item-type data.
The mobile flow saves a resumable draft on the device first and queues it to sync into the shared Estimates workspace. If the phone is offline, keep working normally; the queued quote syncs when a connection is available. Open the draft from Proposals or Home to continue, or use the synced estimate to review and send the customer-facing quote.
When to Use Generic Quotes
Use this builder when:
- The job is a one-off project outside your normal service menu.
- You need to quote specialty work like custom restoration, construction cleanup, or equipment rental.
- A customer requests a service you have not added to your pricing configuration yet.
- You want full manual control over every line item and price.
For standard residential or commercial cleaning, use the dedicated estimate builder instead. Those builders pull pricing from your configured defaults and save time. V2 uses single-screen builders rather than restoring the old wizard navigation.
Adding Line Items
Click + Add Line Item to add a new row to the quote. Each row has four fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Description | Free-text description of the service or item |
| Quantity | Number of units |
| Unit | Measurement type for this item |
| Unit Price | Price per unit in dollars |
Unit Types
The unit dropdown offers five options:
| Unit | When to Use |
|---|---|
| Flat | Fixed-price items with no quantity multiplier |
| Each | Per-item pricing (e.g., per window, per fixture) |
| Sq Ft | Area-based pricing (e.g., floor cleaning, surface treatment) |
| Linear Ft | Length-based pricing (e.g., gutter work, fencing) |
| Hour | Time-based pricing (e.g., labor charges, consultation) |
Managing Rows
- Click + Add Line Item to add more rows. There is no limit.
- Click the delete button on any row to remove it.
- The line total for each row updates automatically as you change quantity or unit price.
Each row's details area also includes an internal Crew Alert field. Use that space for access codes, setup reminders, parking instructions, or other job-execution notes that should stay with the quote internally. Crew Alerts now save with the draft when you reopen the quote later, carry into jobs created from that quote, and show up in both the web job detail view and the mobile crew job screen without appearing on the customer-facing quote page or PDF.
That same details area also includes the customer-facing description text for the line item. Anything entered there now shows under the line title on the shared quote page and in the generic quote PDF, so the office can keep extra scope detail visible to the customer without mixing it into the main line-item title.
Totals Panel
The totals panel on the right side updates in real time as you add or edit line items.
The panel displays:
- Subtotal -- the sum of all line item totals (quantity x unit price).
- Discount -- an optional flat-dollar or percentage reduction.
- Taxable Amount -- the amount remaining after the discount is applied.
- Tax -- calculated from your organization's configured tax rate.
- Total -- subtotal plus tax.
Property Visuals And Photos
As soon as you enter the service address, the Generic Quote Builder now shows the same shared property-visual workspace used in the other quote builders.
The panel gives the office quick context without leaving the quote:
- Street View for the curbside and front-of-property view
- Satellite imagery for rooflines, lot shape, and surrounding access
- CompanyCam links for jobsite photo references
- Site Photos for estimate-linked photo uploads that stay attached to the quote after you reopen it later
On a brand-new standalone quote, the panel will ask you to Save Draft To Enable Photos the first time you open the Site Photos tab. After that draft record exists, photo uploads use the same saved estimate-photo gallery shown elsewhere in CE Pro.
This is especially useful for standalone quotes where you still need location context but do not want to run the full residential or commercial wizard.
Saving and Sending
The current V2 Generic Quote uses the shared single-screen estimate workspace. Draft scope saves in place; wait for the Saving scope indicator to clear before leaving the page.
When the quote is ready, select Review & send. The checkpoint shows the customer's exact active primary email and mobile number, identifies a missing or unconsented channel, and offers Email and text, Email only, or Text only. Review or edit the email Subject and Message and/or the SMS preview, then select Confirm & send. V2 adds the newly rotated secure proposal link after the editable message on the server, so it cannot be removed or replaced in the checkpoint.
After a proposal has been issued, Preview and Download PDF are available in the estimate header. Use Review & resend for a sent proposal. When current pricing must be refreshed first, follow the on-screen refresh step and then open Review & resend again.
The V1 Generic Quote Builder used Save as Draft, Preview Quote, and Send to Client before its editable-copy modal. Those are V1 baseline entry labels. Current V2 preserves the useful editable email/SMS review on the single-screen builder under Review & send and Review & resend.
The customer receives the quote email and, when a phone number is available, the matching text message in the same send action. They can open the quote online, accept it with an e-signature, or decline it.
Current V2 generic quotes preview, send, and reopen through the same estimate record and quote-core customer page. Every send or resend records a new immutable proposal revision and mints a fresh secure customer link; the prior link is no longer valid after rotation. The customer-facing page also uses the workspace's organization name in the header instead of a hardcoded platform brand.
For older V1/shared Generic Quote records that already have a persisted /quote/[token] link, that legacy public URL can remain interactive. The shared quote page validates approval, PDFs, payment actions, and other customer interactions against the saved public token. This compatibility behavior does not make a current V2 single-screen Generic Quote link stable across resend; current V2 uses the rotating signed link described above.
If CE Pro cannot generate any usable customer quote link at all, the send flow now stops before delivery instead of emailing or texting a broken quote URL.
Generic quote acceptance now also runs through the shared quote-core acceptance helper. Customer signatures and manual accepted-status changes still behave the same in the UI, but the accepted event log, webhook dispatch, pipeline transition, gamification credit, and accepted-estimate automation all now come from one shared path instead of a separate generic-only side-effect branch.
Saved drafts now reopen in the same Generic Quote Builder instead of dropping you into the residential estimate wizard. Your manual line items, discount, tax settings, and assigned rep are restored when you come back to edit the quote later.
The same rule now applies everywhere the record appears: Edit on the main Estimates table, the client detail page, and mobile proposal detail all reopen the Generic Quote Builder. Duplicate opens a new unsaved Generic Quote draft prefilled from the source, so saving the copy cannot overwrite the original.
When a rep starts the native mobile builder from a client or lead, the available customer contact, service address, and lead-source context are carried into the mobile customer-information step. The separate web builder continues to support its full preview, delivery, and acceptance workflow.
Quote descriptions, internal notes, and estimated hours now round-trip with the saved draft too, so reopening the quote restores the same review context the office had when it was first created.
Quote creation, quote saves, and quote edits now all use the same resilient response path, so a successful draft save no longer shows a false server-error toast after the quote is already stored.
Tips
- Add a detailed description to each line item. Customers trust itemized quotes more than lump-sum pricing.
- Use the correct unit type. Choosing "Sq Ft" or "Linear Ft" shows the customer exactly what they are paying for and how quantities were measured.
- Save as Draft first if you need to verify pricing with a manager before sending.
- Check your tax rate in Settings before sending. The totals panel uses your organization's default tax rate.
Troubleshooting
Line item total shows zero
Make sure both the quantity and unit price fields have values greater than zero. A missing quantity defaults to zero, which zeroes out the line total.
Tax is not calculating
Verify that your organization has a tax rate configured. Go to Settings > Pricing and check the tax rate field. If it is set to zero, no tax will be added.
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