Line items and the library
Line items define what the client is agreeing to buy. A library entry or AI suggestion is a starting point; the reviewed quote freezes the offered quantities, prices, and applicable terms.
Choose a source
The quote editor separates sources with different jobs:
- Quote Library: reusable descriptions and quote items.
- Pricing Catalog: your business's configured pricing options, including eligible service and retainer entries.
- Surcharge Catalog: configured extra charges.
- Custom items: scope and prices you enter for this quote.
Search the appropriate source, add an item, then review its description, quantity, unit price, and total. Available categories and entries depend on your organization's setup; the library is not limited to your primary industry.
One-time and recurring items
| Row | Where it belongs | Who collects payment |
|---|---|---|
| One-time work or materials | One-time quote total and applicable deposit | Your business |
| Monthly service | Separate monthly commitment | Your business, unless marked provider-direct |
| Annual service | Separate annual commitment | Your business, unless marked provider-direct |
| Provider-direct recurring cost | Disclosed outside-provider costs | The outside provider |
A recurring row's quantity matters: three seats at a monthly unit price represent three seats each month, not one charge with an informational quantity.
Business-billed recurring services
Required and selected optional business-billed rows contribute their first month or year at acceptance. That first period can be added to the upfront invoice or invoiced separately when there is no upfront one-time charge.
A recurring label alone does not create a Stripe subscription or an automatic renewal schedule. Eligible catalog-linked monthly retainers with complete, frozen terms can establish the supported retainer billing workflow. Conflicting or incomplete agreements require review. Other monthly services and annual renewals need a separately managed renewal workflow.
Paid directly to a provider
Use provider-direct only for recurring outside services the client pays themselves, such as hosting or a software subscription. These costs:
- Stay out of your invoice, deposit, business revenue, and recurring retainer fee.
- Remain visible as separate monthly or annual commitments.
- Do not create or activate an account with the provider.
Accepted provider-direct rows can be recorded as project expense disclosures using the accepted quantity, cadence, amount, and currency. If there is no linked project, tracking is pending; quote acceptance does not manufacture a project expense in an unrelated job.
Do not switch a client-paid provider service into a business-billed service merely to make it appear in an invoice.
Optional add-ons
Optional rows are choices on the hosted acceptance form. The PDF shows the proposal but is not an interactive selection form.
Only selected optional rows become accepted commitments. The acceptance preview recalculates the one-time amount, deposit, and separate recurring commitments accordingly. Unselected provider costs are not recorded as accepted project expenses.
Milestone quotes cannot include optional add-ons because changing the total would change the agreed stage amounts.
Materials markup and presentation
Applying a materials markup changes the client-billed price of that row. It is different from provider-direct billing: materials you supply and invoice remain your charge.
Check the price before applying markup so you do not mark up an already-marked-up selling price twice. Materials rollup options change the presentation of the quote; they do not remove underlying rows or change the arithmetic.
AI prices need review
A draft may distinguish catalog, stated, agreed, retail, estimated, and unpriced values. Review source evidence and freshness rather than treating every populated amount as verified.
For physical products, check location, unit of measure, pack quantity, specification, availability, shipping, and tax. Cached research is not a live supplier commitment. Historical job actuals can inform review, but do not by themselves establish a price for the new job.
When an agreed or catalog selling price already exists, compare a suggested alternative explicitly. Do not silently replace the accepted price with a new supplier estimate.
Frozen prices and retainer identity
Editing the catalog does not authorize changing an existing accepted price. Retainer agreements preserve the selected plan identity and agreed fee, included hours, overage rate, quantity, and currency where applicable.
Replacing a plan must select the actual intended catalog plan and review its proposed terms. Renaming the old line is not a plan change. To change an existing client's retainer, use the reviewed terms-change workflow described in Recurring invoices.
Read the totals separately
Keep one-time charges, business-billed monthly and annual commitments, provider-direct commitments, and unselected options distinct. Do not add monthly and annual numbers together and label the result a single monthly price.
The quote uses one currency. A different currency label does not convert a price, and an unpriced row must be resolved before it can be relied upon.