Estimate Display Options
When you send an estimate, you can control exactly how much detail the customer sees. Two independent settings let you tailor the presentation for each job without changing the underlying scope or pricing.
These options apply to every customer-facing surface at once — the PDF, the email, the shareable web proposal, the on-screen preview you see before sending, and QuickBooks. A QuickBooks send honors the same setting as every other surface: Item pricing sends one QuickBooks line per item, each at its own price, exactly like the itemized view everywhere else. Any bulk-suppressing pricing level — Total, Package, or Module — collapses to ONE QuickBooks line carrying your estimate's full total, because QuickBooks Estimate objects have no concept of a section subtotal, so Package and Module grouping collapse the same way Total does there (every other surface still shows Package/Module's own section structure — only QuickBooks flattens all three the same way). That single line's description still carries the full scope of work: every item's description, quantity, and unit is folded into it, so nothing is lost — only the per-item dollar figures are hidden, matching what "bulk pricing" means everywhere else. If the combined scope text is longer than QuickBooks' own description-length limit, it continues onto additional lines at $0.00 rather than being cut off.
The Two Settings
Grouping — How much structure the customer sees
Grouping determines the level of detail shown in the line-item list.
| Level | What the customer sees |
|---|---|
| Package | A single section for the whole job — no individual trade or item breakdown at all. Great for presenting a package price when you do not want to invite line-by-line negotiation. |
| Module | Line items are grouped by trade or scope area (for example, "Tile Shower," "Plumbing Rough-In," "Demo & Haul-Off"). The customer sees the sections and the items within each, but your internal cost structure is not exposed. |
| Item | Every individual line item is shown. This is the default and reproduces the traditional fully-detailed estimate. Use it when the customer specifically wants to see everything that is included. |
Pricing — Where dollar amounts appear
Pricing controls where the dollar signs show up.
| Level | What the customer sees |
|---|---|
| Total | One grand total for the whole estimate. No subtotals at any level; no per-item prices. The customer sees the full scope of work but only one number. |
| Package | One dollar amount for the overall package. Equivalent to Total when there is a single package (the most common case). |
| Module | A subtotal appears at the end of each trade or scope group. No individual item prices are shown. |
| Item | Every line item shows its own price. Reproduces the traditional fully-priced list. (When you also use the Line Item Pricing toggle described below, the system automatically switches to Item grouping for you if you had a coarser grouping selected — see the note under that toggle — so "every line item shows its own price" always holds true whenever that toggle is on.) |
As of 2026-08-31, Total is the default pricing level for any estimate you have never explicitly set a pricing choice on — a lump-sum presentation, scope still fully itemized. Item pricing remains one click away via the Quick Toggle described next.
The Quick Toggle on the Edit Estimate Page
For the common case — showing the full scope of work with either full per-line pricing or one bulk total — you do not need to open the send dialog at all. On the Edit Estimate page, switch to Customer view and use the Line item pricing / Bulk pricing toggle next to the view switcher:
- Line item pricing — every line item shows its own price (Pricing = Item).
- Bulk pricing — the customer still sees every line item's description, quantity, and unit (Grouping stays at Item), but no line or section carries a dollar amount — only the single grand total at the bottom. This is standard lump-sum contracting practice.
Bulk pricing is now the default (2026-08-31) for any estimate you have not touched this toggle on — every pre-existing estimate, and every new one, starts on Bulk pricing until you flip it. Switch to Line item pricing any time to show a per-line price instead; the estimate remembers your choice from then on.
This toggle saves immediately and applies to every customer-facing surface for that estimate — the on-screen customer-view preview, the hosted proposal page, the emailed proposal, and both the attached and downloadable PDFs — so the contractor viewing the preview, and the homeowner receiving the document, always see the same thing. It takes priority over any Pricing level chosen in the send dialog below, so the two controls can never disagree about the same estimate.
The send dialog's Grouping choice stays independently adjustable with one guardrail: if picking Module or Package grouping would silently defeat what this toggle promises — Module grouping would hide individual item prices out from under "Line item pricing," and Package grouping never lists items at all, which would hide the whole scope of work out from under "Bulk pricing" — the system automatically switches to Item grouping instead, so the toggle's promise always holds. Grouping choices that do not create this conflict (for example, Module grouping while Bulk pricing is on, since Module sections already list every item with the price correctly hidden) remain freely adjustable as normal. The send dialog's Pricing selector is disabled whenever this toggle is set, with a note pointing back here, since pricing is no longer its decision to make.
The toggle is disabled once the estimate has been sent — what a customer was already shown must not change underneath them. Create a new version of the estimate to change it after sending.
The Validity Rule
Pricing can never be more granular than grouping. For example, if grouping is set to Module (the customer only sees groups, not individual items), setting pricing to Item makes no sense — there are no item rows to price. The system enforces this automatically:
- The send dialog disables invalid pricing options as soon as you change grouping.
- If a saved setting becomes invalid (for example, because a company default changed), pricing is silently coerced down to match the grouping level. The send always succeeds; you are shown the effective settings.
Common Use Cases
"Show every line item but one price for the whole job" Set Grouping = Item, Pricing = Total. The customer reads a detailed scope of work but sees only one dollar amount at the bottom.
"Show grouped sections with a subtotal per section" Set Grouping = Module, Pricing = Module. Each trade area shows its items and its own subtotal; the grand total appears at the end.
"Just show a package price — no breakdown at all" Set Grouping = Package, Pricing = Package (or Total). The customer sees one section and one number. Best for simple replacement jobs with a single, fixed-scope package.
"Full itemized detail with per-item pricing" Set Grouping = Item, Pricing = Item (or flip the Quick Toggle to Line item pricing). This is the traditional fully-itemized estimate — no longer the default as of 2026-08-31, but always one click away.
Tax, Subtotal, and Grand Total
Every sent estimate shows a Subtotal, a Tax line (when your company charges tax), and a Grand Total. These three lines always reconcile with each other regardless of which grouping or pricing level you choose — the Grand Total is always the Subtotal plus any applicable tax.
If your company does not charge tax, the Tax line is hidden and the Subtotal and Grand Total are the same number.
Where to Set the Company Default
A company administrator can set a default for the whole account from Settings > Estimate display defaults. This default pre-fills the send dialog for every estimate sent by any team member.
To change it:
- Go to Settings in the left sidebar.
- Select Estimate display defaults (requires Admin role).
- Choose the default Grouping and Pricing levels.
- Click Save.
The system default (if no company default is set) is Grouping = Item, Pricing = Total — a lump-sum presentation, scope still fully itemized (flipped from Item/Item 2026-08-31). Set your company default to Item if you want every new team member's send dialog, and every never-configured estimate, to start fully itemized instead.
Your Last-Used Choice Is Remembered
Every time you send an estimate with custom display options, the system remembers your choice. The next time you open the send dialog, it pre-fills with the same settings you used last — so you do not have to reconfigure every time.
The prefill priority is:
- Display options already saved on this specific estimate (if you sent it before with custom options).
- Your last-used choice (remembered per browser).
- The company default set by your admin.
- The system default (Item / Total, flipped from Item / Item 2026-08-31).
Availability
Estimate display options are available on every plan — the customer portal is included on all four tiers (Foundation, Starter, Professional, Business). The controls appear in the send dialog when the feature is enabled for your account. If you do not see the Grouping and Pricing selectors, contact support to confirm the feature is active.
Next Steps
- Exporting & Sharing Estimates — all the ways to deliver an estimate to a client.
- Proposals — present Good, Better, and Best pricing tiers.
- Markups & Pricing — configure the numbers behind your estimates.