Estimates & Quotes

Prepare polished proposals for your clients and seamlessly turn approved quotes into billable invoices -- all from your desktop.

Creating an Estimate

Kantivo stores every estimate in your local PostgreSQL database, so your pricing details never leave your computer. To build a new quote:

1. Open the Estimates section from the left-hand navigation
2. Press the Create Estimate button
3. Pick the relevant Customer from your contact list
4. Specify the Estimate Date along with an Expiry Date that defines how long the quote remains valid
5. Populate line items with the goods or services you are proposing (details below)
6. Verify the calculated totals are correct
7. Choose Save to keep it as a draft, or Save & Send to deliver it to the client right away

Line Items

Each row on your estimate represents an individual product or service being proposed:

• Description: A brief explanation of the item or work being quoted
• Quantity: The number of units you are proposing
• Rate: The per-unit price for this line
• Amount: Computed automatically by multiplying quantity by rate
• Account: The revenue account that will be assigned if this estimate becomes an invoice

Sending Estimates

Deliver a polished quote directly to your client by email:

1. Navigate to the estimate you want to send and open it
2. Select the Send Estimate option
3. Look over the email preview to confirm the content
4. Hit Send to dispatch it

Your client will receive the estimate as a professionally formatted PDF attachment. You can prepare estimates at any time and queue them to send when you are ready.

Digital Acceptance & E-Signature

Instead of asking the client to print, sign, and scan a PDF back to you, Kantivo can send them a secure online link that lets them review and electronically sign the estimate in their browser. Their signature is captured along with a complete audit trail (IP address, user-agent, timestamp, and a tamper-evident SHA-256 hash), satisfying the requirements of the E-SIGN Act and UETA for legally binding electronic signatures.

Sending an Estimate for Acceptance

1. Open the estimate from the Estimates list
2. Click Send for Acceptance in the detail view
3. Confirm or override the recipient email when prompted
4. Kantivo emails the client a unique secure link that expires after 30 days by default

What the Client Sees

The link opens a clean, branded view of the estimate with your company name, logo, contact details, line items, and totals. Two buttons appear at the bottom: Accept & Sign or Decline.

When they choose to accept, a modal collects:

• Their full name and optional title (e.g., "Owner", "CFO")
• Their email address (pre-filled from the estimate's customer record)
• Their signature, with three method options:
  • Type to sign -- name rendered in a cursive script
  • Draw signature -- finger or mouse on a signature pad
  • Checkbox only -- a single agreement checkbox (least friction, slightly weaker legal posture)

When they submit, a confirmation banner appears showing the audit hash, and the estimate's status flips to Accepted on your side immediately.

The Signed Record

On your detail view of any accepted estimate you will see a green "Accepted & Signed" panel showing the signer's name, title, email, IP address, exact timestamp, the signature image itself, and the audit hash. This is the legal record of the agreement.

If the Client Declines

The decline modal asks for a name, email, and an optional reason. Knowing why a quote fell through is valuable pipeline insight -- the decline reason is stored on the estimate and visible from the detail view.

Audit Trail

Every meaningful event -- the customer viewing the link, accepting, or declining -- is appended to a dedicated audit log table with IP address and user-agent. The acceptance hash is computed from the estimate total, signer name, IP, and timestamp; if the estimate body is later edited the hash no longer matches, so tampering after acceptance is immediately detectable.

Estimate Status

Converting to Invoice

Once your client gives the green light, turning that quote into a formal invoice takes just a moment:

1. Open the approved estimate
2. Select Convert to Invoice
3. Kantivo transfers every line item automatically -- confirm the details look correct
4. Modify dates or payment terms if the situation has changed
5. Save the newly generated invoice

Payment Schedule (Draws / Milestones)

When a project will be billed in stages, attach a payment schedule directly to the estimate. This is especially valuable for contractors, builders, consultants, and any engagement where work is completed and paid for in defined phases.

Adding a Payment Schedule

1. While creating or editing an estimate, check the Payment Schedule (Draws / Milestones) option at the bottom of the form
2. Press + Add Draw to insert a payment milestone
3. For each draw, provide:
   • Description: A label for the milestone (e.g., "Foundation Complete," "Final Walkthrough")
   • Amount: The payment expected at this stage
   • Due Date: When payment is expected (leave blank if using a condition instead)
   • Condition: A milestone trigger such as "Upon completion" or "At rough-in inspection"
4. Use Split Evenly to distribute the total equally across all draws
5. Use Auto-fill Remaining to assign whatever balance remains to the final draw

Conversion to Invoice

When you convert an estimate that includes a payment schedule into an invoice, Kantivo transfers the entire schedule automatically. Every draw's description, amount, due date, and condition is preserved on the resulting invoice so you can begin tracking payments immediately.

Editing & Deleting Estimates

• Draft estimates: Fully editable and may be removed at any time
• Sent estimates: Modifications are permitted, though the client will receive a notification about the updated version
• Converted estimates: Deletion is not allowed -- if the related invoice needs to be cancelled, void the invoice instead

Estimate Reports

Monitor how effectively your proposals are converting into real work:

• Pending Estimates: A complete list of quotes that are still awaiting a client response
• Total Value: The combined dollar amount across all outstanding proposals
• Acceptance Rate: The proportion of sent estimates that ultimately became invoices
• Estimates by Customer: Narrow the view to see quoting history for a particular client