Quote-to-Job Workflow

Overview

This workflow covers the full path from preparing a pricing proposal through to a confirmed job in a team business. It walks through creating a quote, adding line items, materials and labour, producing the quote PDF, sending the quote to the client, recording the client’s acceptance, editing a quote where needed, and converting the accepted quote into a job ready for delivery. In a team business the Business Owner, an Admin user, a Supervisor, or a Finance user creates and sends the quote; the same person or another permitted user monitors the quote for acceptance and converts it into a job, which is then handed to the field team for scheduling and delivery. It is the starting point for most paid work in MyApprentice.

Who This Workflow Is For

Business Owners, Admin users, Supervisors, and Finance users who handle quoting. The Business Owner, Admin, Supervisor, and Finance can all create, edit, and send quotes; deleting a quote is limited to the Business Owner. A Tradie can view quotes for jobs they are assigned to, and Apprentices have no quote access.

Before You Start

Set up your business profile in Business Settings — including your quote logo, payment terms, and quote validity period — so quotes are branded correctly. You will need the client’s name, email address, phone number, and site address. The client must have a valid email address before a quote can be sent. If materials or service items are needed, having them in your Materials list makes quoting faster.

End-to-End Workflow

Step 1: Create the quote

A Business Owner, Admin user, Supervisor, or Finance user prepares the quote.

1. Go to Quotes in the left sidebar (or use the Create Quote quick action on the Dashboard) and select Create Quote.
2. Enter or search for the client name — selecting an existing client auto-fills their details, or you can enter details for a new client (an inline-created client becomes a permanent record once the quote is sent).
3. Enter the client email, phone number, and site address, then a description of the work being quoted.
4. The issue date is auto-filled. Review the expiry date, which defaults to around 30 days from creation, and change it if needed.
5. If the quote relates to an existing job, select Link to Job, search for the job, and select it.

Step 2: Add line items, materials, and labour

1. Add line items for the services or activities being quoted — type the item name and select an existing item or create a new one.
2. To attach materials to a line item for internal costing, select Edit Materials within the item and choose from your materials list; this internal material cost is visible to your business but the customer sees the quoted service, not the material breakdown.
3. To charge materials directly to the client, select Add Materials, choose the material, enter the quantity, and confirm.
4. To add labour, select Add Labour and enter the labour task, allocated hours, and price per hour.
5. Review the customer-facing quote view and check the subtotal, GST, and total.

Step 3: Save or send the quote

1. Select Save as Draft if the quote needs further review by another permitted user, or Save & Send if it is ready for the client.
2. You can also produce a quote PDF at any time — open the quote, scroll to the actions area, and select Download PDF. The PDF reflects your business branding, client details, line items, and totals.

Step 4: Send the quote to the client

1. Open the quote from the Quotes page, review the details, and select Save & Send.
2. Review the email recipient, subject, and body, then send. The quote status changes to Sent.
3. Note that how the client receives the quote depends on your Client Portal setting:
   • If the Client Portal is enabled, the client receives an email with a portal link to view and accept the quote online.
   • If it is disabled, the client receives the quote as a PDF attachment and accepts by email reply.

Step 5: Record client acceptance

Any permitted user can monitor the quote for acceptance.

1. Record the client’s acceptance, depending on the pathway:
   • When the Client Portal is enabled, the client opens the email, selects the action button to view the quote, and accepts in the portal — acceptance is recorded automatically.
   • When the portal is disabled, the client replies to the email with acceptance wording such as “I accept” — MyApprentice automatically detects an “I accept” email reply from the client and updates the quote status to Client Accepted.
   • If approval was received outside MyApprentice (for example by phone), open the quote, use the action menu, and select Accept to manually mark it accepted.
2. In all cases the quote status updates to Client Accepted and the Dashboard surfaces it as an item needing attention.

Step 6: Edit a quote where needed

All quotes are edited from the Quotes page.

1. Select the quote, then select Edit.
2. Edit according to the quote’s status:
   • A sent-but-not-accepted quote and an expired quote can be edited. After editing, a manual Save & Send is required to resend the revised quote to the client.
   • An accepted quote can be edited. When you select Edit, a warning appears: “Careful: this quote has already been accepted. The client has formally accepted this quote. Editing line items, prices, labour, or dates can create a mismatch with the approved document. Continue only if you intend to update the system record and manage any client follow-up.” Select Go back to cancel, or Proceed to continue. If you Proceed, edit the quote and select Save & Send — the email quote draft pop-up appears, and Send email delivers the revised quote.
   • An invoiced quote cannot be edited, as it has been paid.
3. The quote expiry date can also be edited after a quote has been sent — open the sent quote and change the expiry date.

Step 7: Convert the accepted quote to a job

A permitted user converts the accepted quote.

1. Open the quote showing Client Accepted and select Accept & Create Job.
2. Choose Create New Job for new work, or Add to Existing Job when the quote is additional work or a variation on an existing job. Client and address details carry across from the quote.
3. Enter the job description, add internal Job To-Do’s if required, and add a schedule if the job needs to be booked immediately.
4. Confirm the job creation action.
5. If the Client Portal is enabled, you can choose which job details to share with the client. From here the job is handed to the field team for scheduling and delivery.

Common Issues & Limitations

• Quote not received by the client. Check the email address on the quote is correct and ask the client to check their junk folder.
• Incorrect totals. Review the subtotal, GST, and total before sending; check that line items, materials, and labour were entered correctly.
• No rejection status. MyApprentice does not have a “quote rejected” status, and clients cannot reject a quote through the Client Portal. The portal may show Not accepted — the business records and follows up rejections by contacting the client and revising the quote where required.
• Expired quotes. A quote moves to Expired automatically once the set number of valid days has passed. An expired quote can still be edited; after editing, change the expiry date and use Save & Send to resend.
• Invoiced quotes are locked. Once a quote has been invoiced and paid, it can no longer be edited.
• Client Portal dependency. The acceptance pathway depends on whether the Client Portal is enabled in Business Settings.
• Delete access. Deleting a quote is limited to the Business Owner.

What Happens Next

Once the accepted quote is converted to a job, the work moves into delivery — scheduling shifts, executing the work, and completing the job (see the Job Management Workflow). After the job is completed it is marked Ready to be invoiced — this exact label is shown against the invoice on the Invoices page and called out on the Dashboard and in attention items.

Related Guides

• Client Management Workflow
• Job Management Workflow
• Feature Library — Quotes