Skip to content
Garrison
Log inRequest access

Create and send an estimate

Build an estimate with Good, Better and Best options, send it by text or email, and turn the approved option into an invoice.

Before you start

  • Creating estimates needs a role that can manage finances.
  • Link the estimate to a project. An approved estimate becomes an invoice only when it has one.
  • Items you sell often can come from your catalog, which lives in Assets, under Items.

Build the estimate

  1. Open Sales. It opens on Estimates. Select New Estimate.
  2. Choose the customer and the project. Set Valid Until, and add Client Notes for the customer or Internal Notes for your team.
  3. Name the first proposal and add its line items, from your catalog with Add Item from Catalog or as Labor.
  4. Add a Discount, as a flat amount or a percentage, and the Tax Amount if needed. Tax is entered as an amount, not a rate.
  5. Want to offer choices? Select Add Proposal for each option, and mark the one you suggest with Set as Recommended.
  6. Select Save Draft to finish later, or Create Estimate when it’s ready.

Create Estimate marks the estimate as sent, but doesn’t email or text it. Send it to your customer next.

Send it to your customer

  1. Open the estimate and select Send to Client.
  2. Choose Text, Email or Text & Email, check the recipient and select Send Estimate.
  3. An email includes the estimate as a PDF. If Garrison asks, select Generate PDF first. A text sends a link to the estimate.
  4. To share it another way, use Copy Link for the estimate link or the Portal Link.

Sent the link to the wrong person? Revoke Estimate Link stops that link from working.

Get it approved

  1. Your customer opens the link, compares the options and selects Choose this option, or Approve estimate when there’s only one. In the Portal, the buttons read Select This Option and Accept This Estimate.
  2. Approved by phone or in person? Open the estimate, select Approve on the option they chose and confirm.
  3. Approving one option sets the others aside and starts an invoice for the approved work. Give it a moment, then open the linked invoice to check it.

If no invoice appears, check that the estimate is linked to a project, then use Convert to Invoice.

Good to know

  • An estimate can’t be approved after its Valid Until date, or once it’s cancelled.
  • Before paying anything, a customer can switch to another option with Change Selection in the Portal.
  • When you approve for a customer, make sure it’s the option they actually chose.

Still stuck? Let’s work it out.

Tell us what you were trying to do, what happened, and the page you were on. A project or invoice number helps us find the right context.

hello@garrison.app
Contact Garrison