Creating Proposals

Proposals in ServiceCortex are how you present pricing to clients before work begins. A proposal can be either a Quote (a firm price commitment) or an Estimate (an approximate price). Both follow the same creation workflow, but they are numbered separately and can have different validity settings.

Creating a new proposal

Navigate to Proposals and click New Proposal. You will need to provide the following:

1. Client -- select the client this proposal is for. The client must already exist in your system.
2. Property -- choose the service address where the work will be performed. A property is required for every proposal.
3. Kind -- choose Quote or Estimate. This controls the document label and numbering sequence.
4. Title -- a short summary such as "Annual landscape maintenance" or "Bathroom renovation."
5. Notes -- optional internal or client-facing notes that appear on the proposal document.
6. Valid until -- the date after which the proposal expires. If you leave this blank, ServiceCortex uses your account-level default validity period from Settings > Proposals.

Click Create to save the proposal in Draft status.

Adding line items

Line items define the services and products included in the proposal. Each line item has a type, name, quantity, unit price, and optional tax rate. There are three line item types:

• Service -- a service from your catalog. When you select a catalog service that uses a pricing module, ServiceCortex automatically calculates the price based on the module inputs (such as square footage, number of rooms, or frequency). You can review and adjust the calculated price before saving.
• Product -- a physical product from your catalog with a set unit price.
• Custom -- a one-off item you define manually with a name, description, quantity, and unit price.

Each line item can also include a discount as either a percentage or a fixed dollar amount, and a tax rate pulled from your configured tax rates or inherited from the catalog item.

Optional and grouped items

Proposals support optional line items that let clients choose between alternatives or add extras:

• Optional items -- mark a line item as optional to let the client decide whether to include it. Optional items that are not selected by the client are excluded from the proposal total.
• Optional groups -- assign multiple optional items to the same group to create a "pick one" choice. Within a group, only one item can be selected at a time. When a client selects a different option in the group, the previously selected item is automatically deselected.

Use optional groups when you want to present tiered packages (for example, "Basic cleanup," "Standard cleanup," or "Deep clean") and let the client choose one.

Contract and scheduling terms

For recurring service proposals, you can configure contract details directly on the proposal:

• Initial term -- the contract length in months (for example, 12 months).
• Renewal type -- choose Auto-renew to automatically extend the contract, or Manual to require explicit renewal.
• Service frequency -- how often the service is performed, in months.
• Billing cadence -- choose Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual billing.
• First service date and Next service date -- control when recurring visits begin.
• Max future visits -- limit the number of visits that can be scheduled ahead.

These fields are carried forward when the proposal is converted to a job, so you only need to set them once.

Travel charges

If you charge a travel or trip fee, enter it in the Travel charge field. This amount is added to the proposal total separately from line items and appears as its own line on the proposal document.

Proposal numbering

Each proposal receives a sequential number automatically when it is created. Quotes and estimates have separate numbering sequences. The number cannot be changed after creation and appears on all emails, PDFs, and portal views linked to the proposal.

What to do next

• Send the proposal to your client for review.
• Learn about client approval and how proposals convert to jobs.