Quote it, send it, convert it
The Quotes page is where you create and send quotes. Quotes are emailed to the customer, who can accept online — and an accepted quote converts straight into a work order or a maintenance job. Every quote moves through four statuses: draft, sent, accepted, and rejected.
Create a quote
- 1Open Quotes and click Create Quote.
- 2The form is two steps: customer details, then line items and send.
- Work order quotes price with line items (title, price, and an optional description each). Maintenance quotes price with a single Price Per Visit plus a chemical billing choice (below).
- Valid For is required — 7, 14, 30, 60, or 90 days. The quote page shows "Valid for N days" in its timeline.
- Customer Message is included in the quote email sent to the customer; Internal Notes are only visible to your team and never appear in the email.
- On work-order quotes, Add Discount adds a described dollar-amount discount that shows as its own line in the total.
Require a deposit on a work-order quote
Work-order quotes can require a deposit. Check Require Deposit in the pricing section and enter a flat dollar amount — the deposit is calculated on the subtotal before discounts. Your Stripe account must be connected; until it is, the form shows "Connect Stripe to require a deposit on quotes".
- When the quote is accepted, the deposit gets collected first. If the customer has a saved payment method, the accept dialog shows a "Charge deposit to" picker: choose Send Invoice to email a deposit invoice, or pick a saved card to charge the deposit on acceptance.
- With no saved payment method, a deposit invoice is emailed to the customer automatically.
- The quote page shows a Deposit Required card with live status: Pending before acceptance, then Awaiting Payment with a View Deposit Invoice link once the invoice goes out.
- Once paid, the deposit moves into the pricing breakdown as a Deposit paid line and the total becomes Remaining.
- Try to create the work order before the deposit is paid and a Deposit Not Yet Paid warning asks you to confirm first.
Chemical billing on maintenance quotes
Maintenance quotes carry a Chemical Billing choice that flows into the maintenance job when the quote converts:
- Chemicals billed separately — chemicals used are billed as additional line items.
- All chemicals included in price — the visit price covers all chemicals.
- Specific chemicals included — set included amounts per visit; overages and other chemicals bill separately. The quote page shows an Included Chemicals card listing what the per-visit rate covers.
Send and manage a quote
- On a draft quote: Send Quote emails it to the customer.
- On a sent quote: Resend, Mark Accepted, or Mark Rejected — useful when the customer answers by phone instead of clicking the link.
- Customers can also accept the quote themselves online from the emailed link — no marking needed on your end.
- On draft and sent quotes, Preview Email shows the exact branded email the customer receives before (or after) you send it.
Timeline: who did what, when
Every quote page has a Timeline card — a full audit log of the quote's life: Created, Updated, Sent, Accepted, Rejected, Archived, Unarchived, Job Linked, Invoice Created, and Invoice Paid. Each entry shows who performed it, with an Employee or Customer badge, and when — so you can see at a glance whether the customer accepted online or someone on your team marked it.
Archive a quote
- Archive (on the quote or from the list) hides a quote from the main list — useful for dead quotes you don't want cluttering the page.
- Check Show Archived above the quotes list to see archived quotes, and Unarchive to bring one back.
- Archiving and unarchiving are recorded in the quote's Timeline.
QuickBooks Estimate sync
With QuickBooks connected and quote syncing on, sent quotes sync to QuickBooks as Estimates. The quotes list shows a per-quote sync status icon (synced, pending, or failed), and the quote page shows the live state: QB Pending, a View Estimate in QuickBooks link once synced, or QB Sync Failed with a Retry button to re-sync that quote on the spot. See QuickBooks sync.
Convert an accepted quote
Once a quote is accepted, a card appears on it with two buttons: Create Work Order (for one-time work — see work order billing) or Create Maintenance Job (for recurring service — see create jobs). The quote becomes the job, so nothing gets re-typed.
Quotes elsewhere in Pool Founder
- The customer portal has a Quotes toggle on the Customer Portal Settings page, controlling whether customers see their quotes there.
- Technicians and owners can create a quote from the field: the mobile app's Route tab has a Create Quote action under the "Sales" heading. See mobile invoices and leads.
Frequently asked questions
Can my customer accept a quote online?
Yes — quotes are emailed and the customer accepts online from the link. You can also mark a sent quote accepted or rejected yourself if they answer another way.
What happens after a quote is accepted?
A card appears on the quote with "Create Work Order" and "Create Maintenance Job" buttons, so you convert it into the actual job without re-entering anything.
What statuses can a quote have?
Draft, sent, accepted, and rejected.
Can I collect a deposit when a quote is accepted?
Yes — check Require Deposit on a work-order quote (Stripe must be connected). On acceptance you either charge a saved card or send a deposit invoice, and the quote shows the deposit status live until it's paid.
How do I hide old quotes without deleting them?
Archive them. Archived quotes leave the main list but stay searchable under Show Archived, and can be unarchived any time.