Available to Accounting Premium
As a Patriot Software Accounting Premium customer, you can create an estimate of your products and services to give to a potential customer to show them what you will charge in the event they hire or purchase from you. You can then convert an accepted estimate into an invoice, and all of the estimate's information — including the department, discounts, comments, notes, and attachments — carries over to the invoice automatically.
Creating an Estimate
Creating an estimate is similar to creating an invoice.
Go to Accounting > Customer Tasks > Create Estimate
Select the Customer Name.
If needed, you can add a new customer here without leaving the estimate by clicking Add New.
Select an optional Department for the estimate. The Department field on estimates matches the Department field on invoices, and the Department field only appears if your company has departments set up. When you convert the estimate to an invoice, the department carries over to the invoice automatically.
The Estimate Number will automatically show the next available number since the last estimate you created. You can change the estimate number, if needed.
The Estimate Date is set to today. Change the date, if needed.
The Expiration Date is an optional field.
Select your Product or Service from the dropdown list.
If needed, you can add a new product/service here without leaving the estimate by clicking “Add New.” For more info on how to add Products and Services, see How to Add and Manage Products and Services.
The quantity (Qty) will be set to 1. Change the quantity, if needed.
The price will automatically display for that product/service, based on your Product or Service list. You can change the price on the estimate, if needed.
To discount an individual line item, add a line item discount as either a dollar amount or a percentage of the line item price. Line item discounts on estimates work the same way as line item discounts on invoices, and the discounts show on the estimate detail view.
The income account for this product will display. You can change the income account, if needed. You will not see this account when you print the estimate; the income account is only for your information.
Add an optional description for the product/service, if needed. The description will appear on the estimate and in reports.
To add another product or service, click Add Line Item beneath the row. You can remove a row by clicking the trashcan at the end of the row.
If you charge sales tax, the sales tax rate that you entered as the default rate on the Sales Tax Rate screen will be used. If needed, you can add a new sales tax rate on the estimate, and save this rate as your default tax rate for the future. For more info, see Setting Up Sales Tax.
To discount the entire estimate, add an optional overall estimate-level discount as either a dollar amount or a percentage. The estimate-level discount is applied to the estimate subtotal. These are the same discount options available on invoices.
The estimate total will automatically update.
To include supporting documents with the estimate record — such as quotes, specs, or contracts — add attachments to the estimate. You can upload files from your device or select files already uploaded to Patriot Software. You can download or remove attachments later from the estimate detail page.
Add a Project Description. The Project Description is required, and will appear to the customer.
You can add optional Notes that will also appear to the customer.
Click “Create Estimate.”
You will see an Estimate Detail page confirming that the estimate has been created. From the Estimate Detail page, you can download or remove attachments, and take other actions with the estimate as needed.
For more details about the available actions you can take with an estimate — including duplicating an estimate and converting an accepted estimate to an invoice — see Managing Your Customer Estimates.