Proposals

A proposal is a sales document that presents your pricing to the customer. Unlike a plain estimate, a ContractorScope AI proposal is designed to be customer-facing and persuasive — it includes your branding, a professional layout, and optionally multiple tiers of service so customers can choose the level of investment that works for them.

Proposals are especially effective for replacement projects, full system installs, or any job where upselling is a natural part of the conversation.

Proposals vs. Estimates

Both estimates and proposals price out a job, but they serve different purposes:

	Estimate	Proposal
Audience	Can be internal or customer-facing	Always customer-facing
Format	Line-item detail	Polished, branded document
Tiers	Single price	Optional Good/Better/Best tiers
Customer approval	Accept/Decline	Select a tier and approve
Best for	Detailed scoping and internal pricing	Closing sales with customers

Many contractors use an estimate to build the price and then generate a proposal from that estimate to send to the customer.

Creating a Proposal

From an Estimate

The easiest way to create a proposal is to start from an existing estimate:

1. Open the estimate in ContractorScope AI.
2. Click Create Proposal in the estimate toolbar.
3. The proposal wizard opens with the estimate's line items pre-loaded.
4. Follow the wizard steps to configure the proposal.

From Scratch

1. Go to Proposals in the left navigation.
2. Click New Proposal.
3. Select the contact this proposal is for.
4. Build the proposal in the wizard.

From a Contact or Project

1. Open the contact or project.
2. Click the Proposals tab.
3. Click New Proposal.

Good / Better / Best Tiers

The tier system is one of the most powerful features of ContractorScope AI proposals. Instead of giving a customer a single take-it-or-leave-it price, you give them choices. Customers who choose their own level of investment are more committed to the decision — and many will choose a higher tier than you might expect.

Setting Up Tiers

In the proposal wizard, enable Multiple tiers and configure each tier:

• Tier names — The defaults are Good, Better, and Best, but you can rename them to anything (Economy / Standard / Deluxe, for example). These are free-text sales labels you choose — they are independent of the internal finish grades the estimate engine prices against.
• Tier description — A brief sentence describing what makes this tier different.
• Line items — Each tier has its own set of line items. You can share some line items across tiers and add upgrade items to higher tiers.
• Recommended tier — Mark one tier as your recommendation. It appears visually highlighted on the customer-facing proposal.

Building Tier Line Items

A common approach is to build tiers around material quality:

• Good — Standard materials, meets code, solid workmanship.
• Better — Mid-grade materials, enhanced performance or aesthetics, extended warranty.
• Best — Top-grade (deluxe-grade) materials, maximum durability, longest warranty, added features.

tip

Make the price difference between Good and Better smaller than the difference between Better and Best. Customers often choose the middle option — this is a well-established pattern in sales psychology. If Better is close in price to Good, most customers will step up.

Proposal Content

Beyond pricing, a proposal can include:

• Cover page — Your company logo, contact information, the customer's name, and the proposal title.
• Introduction — A brief paragraph about your company and why you are the right choice for this job.
• Scope of work — A plain-language description of what the job includes. This is different from the line items — it explains the work in terms the customer understands.
• Warranties — What you are warranting and for how long.
• Terms and conditions — Payment terms, timeline, what happens if the scope changes.
• Signature block — Space for the customer to sign and approve.

You can build a default content template in Settings → Proposal Templates so your standard language pre-populates every new proposal.

info

By default the customer sees a price on every line item. If you would rather show the full scope of work with a single bulk total and no per-line pricing, flip the Line item pricing / Bulk pricing toggle on the estimate's Edit Estimate page (Customer view) before sending — it applies consistently to the on-screen preview, the hosted proposal page, the emailed proposal, the PDF, and QuickBooks. See Estimate Display Options for the full grouping/pricing control set.

Proposal PDF Generation

Once the proposal is ready, ContractorScope AI generates a professional PDF:

1. Open the proposal.
2. Click Preview PDF to see exactly what the customer will see.
3. If everything looks right, click Finalize.

The PDF includes your branding (logo, company colors), the customer's name and address, the tier comparison table (if using multiple tiers), scope of work, and signature block.

info

To customize your branding on proposals, go to Settings → Company Profile and upload your logo and set your brand colors. These apply to all proposals, invoices, and estimates.

Sending a Proposal to a Customer

By Email

1. Open the finalized proposal.
2. Click Send Proposal.
3. Review the email preview. The customer's email is pre-filled from the contact record.
4. Customize the subject line and message.
5. Click Send.

The customer receives a branded email with a link to view the proposal in the customer portal.

By Link

Click Copy Link to get a direct URL to the proposal. Share it via text message, another email, or any other channel you prefer.

Download and Print

Click Download PDF to save the proposal to your device. Print it for in-person presentations or hand-delivery.

Customer Approval Flow

When a customer views the proposal in the portal, they can:

1. Review each tier — See the included scope and price for each option.
2. Select a tier — Click Select This Option on the tier they want.
3. Review and sign — A signature box appears. On desktop, they type their name. On mobile, they can draw a signature.
4. Confirm — They click Approve Proposal to finalize.

You are notified the moment a customer responds — whether they approve, decline, or request changes. The alert goes out across every channel you have turned on in Settings > Notifications (in-app, email, SMS, Telegram, and more), so you hear about it wherever you are. When a tier is approved, the proposal status updates to Approved and the approved tier is recorded.

Your customer also receives an automatic confirmation of their decision by email and/or text, so they know their response went through and that you have been notified.

tip

Follow up within minutes of a customer approving a proposal. Strike while the momentum is high — call to say thank you, confirm the timeline, and set up next steps. Customers who feel taken care of immediately after approving rarely back out.

What Happens After Approval

Once a proposal is approved:

• The proposal status changes to Approved.
• ContractorScope AI prompts you to create a project and an invoice from the approved tier.
• A permanent record of the approval (including the signature and timestamp) is stored on the proposal.

Proposal Tracking

The proposal list shows the status of every proposal you have sent:

Status	Meaning
Draft	Being built, not yet sent.
Sent	Delivered to the customer; awaiting a decision.
Viewed	The customer has opened the proposal in the portal.
Approved	The customer selected a tier and signed.
Declined	The customer formally declined.
Expired	The proposal expiration date passed without a decision.

Setting an Expiration Date

When creating a proposal, set an Expiration date to create urgency. Expired proposals can no longer be approved through the portal (though you can reactivate them manually).

A common approach is to set proposals to expire in 30 days, which is long enough to be fair but short enough to encourage a timely decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a customer approve part of a proposal and negotiate the rest? The portal is designed for a clean approve/decline decision. For back-and-forth negotiation, communicate directly with the customer and then revise the proposal before sending again.

Can I track whether the customer has viewed the proposal? Yes. The proposal status changes to Viewed the first time the customer opens the portal link. The activity feed on the proposal also records each view with a timestamp.

Can I reuse a proposal for a different customer? Yes. Open the proposal, click Duplicate, and it creates a copy you can reassign to a different contact and adjust as needed.

Do proposals integrate with projects and invoices? Yes. After a proposal is approved, you can create a project and an invoice directly from the approval. See Projects and Invoicing for details.

Next Steps

Now that you can create proposals, here's what to do next:

• Exporting and Sharing — all the ways to deliver your proposal to the customer (PDF, portal link, email)