Estimates, Work Orders & Invoices
The counter flow from first quote to paid invoice.
How estimates work
An estimate is the first stage of a job, not a separate document: what that means for numbering, status, and what happens when the customer says yes.
Creating an estimate
Start a new estimate, attach the customer and vehicle, and build the quote.
Adding line items
The six item types, canned jobs, discounts, and how lines flow from estimate to invoice unchanged.
Sending an estimate to the customer
Email, share link, or PDF; what the customer sees; and how they approve or decline without an account.
Approving, declining, and revising an estimate
Record the customer's answer, convert to a work order, revise a declined quote, and the rules for deleting.
AI Estimate
Describe the customer's complaint in plain words and get a draft estimate with line items you can edit.
How work orders work
Statuses, the fields on every job, and which changes ripple into inventory and the books.
Managing a work order
Assign a technician and bay, move the status, keep notes, source parts, and hand the job to invoicing.
Billing types
Standard, No Charge, Warranty, Internal, Prepaid, and Flat Rate: what each one does to the invoice and the ledger.
Job costing
See revenue, parts cost, and gross margin per job, and why a margin can be provisional.
Creating and issuing an invoice
Make the invoice from the work order (or standalone), understand draft vs. issued, and choose between sending and issuing quietly.
Recording payments
Take cash, check, card, or ACH against an invoice; partials, references, deleting a mistaken payment, and how status is derived.
Share links and online payment
The no-login customer view for estimates and invoices, and paying by card from the invoice link.
Voiding and correcting invoices
Why issued invoices are voided rather than deleted, when a void is refused, and how to fix a mistake without breaking the books.
Declined services
Log work the customer turned down, set a follow-up date, and turn it into a sale later.