***

title: Quotes
description: How to build, send, and manage quotes for clients before work begins.
---------------------

For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.esoapp.co.uk/guides/financials/llms.txt. For full documentation content, see https://docs.esoapp.co.uk/guides/financials/llms-full.txt.

<Warning>
  Finance feature is in Development and subject to change.
</Warning>

Quotes allow you to produce a costed estimate for a client before raising an invoice. Each quote is linked to a **client** and contains one or more **service lines**.

## Quote statuses

| Status     | Meaning                                         |
| ---------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| `draft`    | Being prepared; not yet shared with the client. |
| `sent`     | Sent to the client for review.                  |
| `accepted` | Client has agreed to the quote.                 |
| `declined` | Client has rejected the quote.                  |

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## Quote fields

| Field             | Description                                                                  |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Quote Number**  | Auto-generated unique reference per organisation.                            |
| **Client**        | The client this quote is for.                                                |
| **Base Currency** | All buy amounts are converted to this currency for total margin calculation. |
| **Notes**         | Free-text commentary to include with the quote.                              |

***

## Service lines

Each service line represents a single chargeable service:

| Field                                                                            | Description                                                                                                      |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Description**                                                                  | What the service is.                                                                                             |
| **Supplier Service**                                                             | (Optional) Link to a catalogue entry from your [Suppliers](/financials/suppliers) list to pre-fill the buy rate. |
| **Unit of Measurement**                                                          | e.g. `per job`, `per day`, `per kg`.                                                                             |
| **Units**                                                                        | Quantity.                                                                                                        |
| **Buy**                                                                          | Your cost for this service.                                                                                      |
| **Buy Currency**                                                                 | The currency of the buy amount. If different from the base currency, it is converted automatically.              |
| **Sell**                                                                         | The amount you will charge the client.                                                                           |
| The platform calculates **margin** (sell − buy converted) per line and in total. |                                                                                                                  |

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## Multi-currency buy costs

If a service is purchased in a currency other than the quote's base currency, the platform fetches a live exchange rate and stores:

* The original buy amount and its currency.
* The converted buy amount in the base currency.
* The exchange rate used.
  This gives you an accurate margin view even when your costs span multiple currencies.

***

## Creating a quote

1. Navigate to **Finance → Quotes** and click **New Quote**.
2. Select a client and set the base currency.
3. Add one or more service lines. Use the supplier service picker to pull in catalogue rates.
4. Review the totals and save as `draft`.
5. When ready, change the status to `sent`.