Client and the quote
Everything the client has been sent, everything they owe you an answer on, and the version of each they are actually holding. Three tabs, in the order the work happens. Relationship is the spine: quote, then contract, then invoices, each read from the record that proves it (a sent document, a completed signature, a paid claim), with the version trail under each. What they see controls the client portal: which sections are shared, the milestones, the photo story and a live preview. Contacts holds the client company and the people at it, with the portal link each one holds. Admins and team members use it.
- A client company from Contacts is linked to the job. The page offers to link one.
- A quote is sent to a person, not a company. Add at least one client contact with an email, or the quote stage is blocked.
- The quote PDF is generated on the job's Documents from your Document Studio template.
- On Contacts, press Link client company (or change) and pick the company from Contacts. The picker can add a new one.
- Press Add contact and pick the person at that company and their role on this job (owner, architect, project manager, centre manager, franchisor). Tick whether they can approve variations and claims.
- The site brief under the contacts holds the physical and legal context of the site; expand it to view or edit.
- On Relationship, the quote stage says where it is: blocked (no client contact with an email), not started (Build it from the estimate), or sent with its versions. Sending happens from the job's Documents tab: open the quote document's Send quote….
- Choose how it goes out: Client signs in Base (their signature accepts the quote), Email the PDF only (no signing link), or Sign it as the company first.
- Pick the quote PDF, or have a fresh one produced from your template. Set who it goes to, a Cc, the message and how long it is valid for. Re-quoting? Tick Include what changed to attach a summary of the changes since the last quote.
- Send. The quote is recorded as a version, emailed, and the estimate is saved as a revision naming what went out. It went another way records the same version without emailing it.
- Once the job is won, the contract stage offers Send for signature. E-signing needs a PDF, so generate the contract (or the quote) as a PDF first; it then appears in the list.
- Pick what they sign and who signs. Each person gets their own link, signs in the browser, and the certificate comes back stamped on the document.
- Chase the signature opens the job's comms while it is outstanding.
- On What they see, progress claims and variations are always shared; clients approve those. Switch photo updates, milestones, defects and the handover pack on or off.
- Under Client milestones, press Draft from programme to have Base write six to twelve client-friendly milestones from your programme (you edit before saving; your real programme is never shown), or add them by hand and tick them done.
- Under Progress story, upload photos with a caption, and write the story or have the assistant write it and a caption per photo, then edit freely.
- The preview shows the portal with those settings applied. To see exactly what someone holding a link sees, open the copied link in a private window.
- On Contacts, under Portal links, each client contact has their own link. Copy link, or Send link to email it to them. A contact's own link is what lets them decide: before approving anything the portal emails them a one-time code.
- The project-wide link is view only. Anyone holding it can read, reply and report defects, but never approve or accept anything.
- New link issues a fresh one (the current one stops working straight away, so send the new one), Switch off revokes a link, and Expires sets a date. Portal activity underneath shows what has been opened, downloaded and decided.
- Comments the client leaves on the portal land in the feedback list on Relationship, each saying which document it was on.
- Mark one addressed when a newer version deals with it, or declined when it was considered and deliberately not actioned. It stays on the record either way. Reopen one if the version that claimed to answer it did not.
- Nothing on the relationship view is stored state. Each stage is read from the paperwork that proves it, so it cannot drift from what was actually sent and signed.
- When the client accepts the quote on their portal or signs it, the job is marked won and the estimate locks. See The estimate.
- Before a quote is sent, Base checks that the PDF's total matches the estimate's recorded total. If they disagree, nothing is recorded and nothing is sent; the message says why. A PDF it cannot read refuses too.
- Once the job is won, the invoice stage offers to invoice the deposit agreed at the win, or to raise the first claim.
- No client contact with an email means nothing can be sent, however finished the quote is. That shows as a blocked first stage, not a silent failure later.
- A quote emailed to your own address with a signing link, and signed by you "as the client", accepts the quote. Use Sign it as the company first or Email the PDF only for a copy to yourself.
- The portal link is a shared secret, not a login. Anyone holding the project-wide link sees whatever you have toggled on.
- Sending a revision keeps the old version in the trail; the client sees the new one.