Introducing seamlessly integrated quotes in Xero Projects

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A key challenge for small businesses in services industries is accurately quoting for their time and expected costs on jobs. So we’ve made the process of quoting and tracking profitability on jobs simple with the launch of quotes in Xero Projects.

Now, it’s easy to estimate jobs, send and track acceptance of quotes, and track costs back to budget, all within Xero Projects. This results in more accurate quotes, easier invoicing and better visibility of profit on every job.

How it works

Create a new draft project

We know that not all quotes end up being in-progress projects, so we’ve added a new draft state for projects, so business owners and staff can separate their upcoming or quoted projects from those in-progress. This means it’s always clear what jobs are coming next, already underway or complete. Projects in draft status are only visible to Admin and Standard level users so new leads and upcoming quoted work is kept confidential.

Estimate the work

We’ve added the ability to create an ‘estimated expense’ to capture any expected costs related to the job. This means you can estimate how much a particular item (e.g. crystal chandelier) or group of items (e.g. light fittings) will cost, and how you will on-charge it on the project. When adding an estimated expense, you can choose to pass on the exact cost, add a mark-up, or set a custom price.

Transform your estimates into an online quote

Once you’ve estimated the work, creating a quote is a breeze. You can create a quote from a project based on the project amount or tasks and estimated expenses. The project amount option creates a single line item for the estimated total. The tasks and estimated expenses option lets you select the tasks and expenses you’d like to include.

Monitor quotes and track costs to budget

Users with Admin or Standard level permissions can see all quotes sent from Projects with the creation date, status and expiry date. When an actual expense is added to a project, it can be matched back so you always know how you’re tracking to budget. Multiple actual expenses (e.g. flights and meals) can be bundled into a single estimated expense (e.g. travel). And there’s never any duplication of information required from projects to quotes to timesheets and invoices.