---
title: Build and Send an Estimate on a Service Order
description: Price each work item on a service order's Estimate tab, check the total and routing hint, then send the estimate for approval or release the technician.
---
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3. [Estimates](https://support.metafleet.ai/estimates-approvals?hsLang=en#estimates)
# Build and Send an Estimate on a Service Order
## Price the diagnosed work items on a service order's Estimate tab, then send it to the customer or release the work to the technician.
**For:** Dispatchers · **Permission:** Send Estimate · **Time:** ~5 minutes
Need a price for a customer or prospect with no service order? See [Create an Estimate Without a Service Order](https://support.metafleet.ai/create-an-estimate-without-a-service-order?hsLang=en).
### Quick summary
1. Open the order's **Estimate** tab.
2. Price each **work item**: labor, parts and fees.
3. Check the **total** and the line under it.
4. Click the send button on the summary card. Its label depends on the total and your approval gates.
### Before you start
- The service order is at **Diagnosis Complete** and has one or more work items from the technician's diagnosis.
- Where the estimate goes depends on your approval gates. See [Understanding the Approval Gates](https://support.metafleet.ai/understanding-the-approval-gates?hsLang=en).
### Open the Estimate tab
On the service order, click **Estimate**. With the default approval gates, the **Estimate Progress** bar runs from **Create Estimate** through **Customer Review**, **Wait for Repairs**, **Approve Repairs** and **Create Invoice** to **Invoice Sent**.
### Price each work item
Each work item has a **Service** section (the complaint and diagnosis), **Notes**, **Labor** and **Parts**.
> The complaint and diagnosis text is often drafted by MetaFleet's AI from the technician's notes. It is marked with sparkles and "Generated from…". Click the pencil icon to edit it.
1. **Add labor.** Click **Add labor**, pick the rate, set the start time and enter the hours. The **Rate breakdown** shows the price before you click **Save**.
With time-based labor, the hours you type on each work item are priced together for the whole order. They show in the **Labor Details** card on the tab, under the work items and above the totals, not in the Labor Details window that **Add labor** opens. It starts closed, so click it to open it. **Stated** shows the priced hours and dollars, and the totals include it. **Actual** shows the time technicians were clocked in On Site. It doesn't change the price. Inside the card, click **Show details** to see each rate with its hours and amount. The start time is the expected start until a technician clocks in. Click **Change** next to **Expected start** to move it.
1. **Add a part.** Click **Add part**, search for the part, pick a result, set the quantity, then click **Update**.
- Each part line starts with the part number (**No part #** for a one-off part). If you can view cost, the line also shows its cost and margin, for example *Cost $85.00 ea · Margin 23%*, and the search results show cost and margin too.
- To change a part, open the line's **⋮** menu and click **Edit**. The **Edit part** window shows **Part #**, **Quantity**, **Cost each**, **Price each** and **Line total**, with the margin under it if you can view cost.
- Until the estimate is sent to the customer, a part's price follows the catalog (cost × markup). It locks once the estimate is sent to the customer or the order is closed for edits. Older part lines keep the price they had, and a price someone typed never moves.
- A kit can be priced as a whole, with its parts shown as *Included in kit*; otherwise each part is priced on its own.
1. **Add fees.** Click **+ Add fee** in the **Estimate** card.
- Pick one or more fees from the list. A fee already on the order is grayed out and tagged **On this order**.
- Each fee you pick goes into the panel at the bottom with its quantity and **Price each**, which starts at the fee's set price. Change it to charge a different price on this order, or click **Reset** to go back.
- Click **Add fee**, or **Add 2 fees** (and so on) when you picked more than one. If a fee doesn't go on, the window stays open and says which one.
- To change a fee later, click **Edit** on its row. A fee at a changed price shows a **Custom price** tag that only your team sees.
Click **Add work item** if the diagnosis missed something. It opens a card where you write the **Complaint**, then the **Cause & Correction** (the diagnosis), then click **Finish**. A work item needs both before it can be added, including one added through the AI assistant. To remove an unfinished **New Work Item** card, click its trash icon and click **OK** on **Delete Work Item**. The **Vehicle Details** block at the bottom of the tab shows the unit. Click **Edit vehicle** to correct it.
### Check the total and where it goes
The summary card shows **Subtotal**, **Fees**, **Surcharges**, **Taxes** and **Total**. A line under the total says where the estimate goes when you send it. It compares the total with the customer's auto-approval threshold.
If your company uses QuickBooks Automated Sales Tax, click **Show details** while the tax can still be edited. Under **Taxes**, click **Use QuickBooks' Sales Tax** to use the tax QuickBooks works out. To go back, click **Use MetaFleet's Sales Tax**. Your choice carries to the PDF, the email, the approval page, the approval threshold and the Invoice tab. If you change the estimate afterward, the tax goes back to MetaFleet's until you click the button again.
### Send the estimate
Click the button under the summary. Its label follows the total and your approval gates:
| What the line under the total says | Button | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The total exceeds the customer's threshold: the line ends with *will be sent to customer for approval on Submit* | **Send Estimate to Customer** (**Update Customer Estimate** once an estimate exists) | Emails the estimate to the customer for approval and sends a text with the same approve link. |
| The total is at or below the threshold: the line ends with *will auto-approve on Submit (customer not notified)* | **Send Items to Technician** | Releases the work to the technician. The customer is not asked. |
*Over the customer's threshold, the button is **Send Estimate to Customer**. The email goes out as soon as you click. There is no confirmation step.*
When every job is declined, approved or already under way, the button is grayed out. The reason under it reads *Nothing new to ask about. Add work, or Resubmit a declined job.* **Send to Manager for Approval** is refused the same way.
A work item can't be sent, approved or skipped until it has a complaint and a diagnosis. The send buttons stay off and name the work item, for example *"Inspect Brakes Pulling Left" still needs a complaint and a diagnosis.* With more than one, the message reads *2 work items still need a complaint or a diagnosis* and lists them. Click **Go to it** to jump to the work item. **Skip Approval** is refused the same way.
When the work is approved without the customer, the Estimate card banner reads **Auto-approved. Go ahead with the repair.** It reads **Approval was skipped** only when someone used **Skip Approval**.
To ask the customer to approve even when they don't have to, for example when the total is under their threshold, use **Send for approval** on the Estimate card. See [Send an Estimate for Approval When It's Under the Threshold](https://support.metafleet.ai/send-an-estimate-for-approval-under-the-threshold?hsLang=en).
If manager approval for estimates is on, the estimate goes to a manager first. A dispatcher sees **Create Estimate** (a PDF only) and then **Send to Manager for Approval**. A manager sees **Approve Estimate** and **Reject Estimate**. Everyone else sees a disabled **Awaiting Manager Approval**. See [Manager Review and Reject an Estimate](https://support.metafleet.ai/manager-review-and-reject-an-estimate?hsLang=en). Read the line under the total before you click.
### Where the estimate goes
Your approval gates and the customer's threshold decide the route. Find your setup in the table. The gates are on **Settings › Workflow › Approvals & Alerts**, in the **Service Order Settings** card. For the full picture, see [Understanding the Approval Gates](https://support.metafleet.ai/understanding-the-approval-gates?hsLang=en).
| Your setup | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Customer approval is required before work can begin** is Off | No estimate email goes to the customer, whatever the total. Work starts right away, unless a manager or dispatcher step is on. |
| Customer approval On, total at or under the threshold | The estimate is approved automatically. The customer is not told. |
| Customer approval On, total over the threshold | The customer gets the estimate approval email and decides. |
| **Require Manager Approval for Estimates** On | A manager reviews first. The customer step follows only if the total is over the threshold. |
| **Estimates require Dispatcher approval before sending to Customer** On | Nothing goes out when diagnosis is finished. The order waits at **Diagnosis Complete** until a dispatcher checks the estimate and sends it on: to a manager, to the customer (over the threshold) or to the technician. |
| No contact on the order can receive the email | The estimate is held, and the shop users on the order get one email about it. It goes out on its own once you add a contact who can receive it. You can also click **Send Estimate to Customer** after adding one. If someone clears a work item's complaint or diagnosis, the held banner goes away and the button is grayed out, with a line naming what's missing. Fill it in, then click **Send Estimate to Customer**. It no longer goes out on its own. |
### What your customer gets
The customer gets the estimate approval email with a button that opens the estimate review page. They do not need to sign in. The estimate-ready text has the same **Approve** link. A contact who isn't allowed to approve estimates gets the text without a link. They approve or decline each line, add a reason for any line they decline, and send their decision. If the link has expired, click **Resend Approval Email** to send a fresh one. See [Approve or Decline an Estimate](https://support.metafleet.ai/approve-or-decline-an-estimate?hsLang=en).
### When the customer approves by phone
While you wait, each work item reads **Waiting for customer. Mark Customer Approved?** If the customer says yes by phone, click **Skip Approval** on that work item. This approves the work item without the customer's own decision, so use it only when you have their word.
1. Click **Skip Approval**.
2. Confirm the question **Are you sure you want to approve this work item for repair?** by clicking **OK**.
The banner changes to **Approval was skipped.** When the total is over the limit, it names the total and the limit, then says **Go ahead with the repair.** **Skip Approval** only stands in for the customer's approval of the estimate; any later step your shop requires still applies.
### After you send
When the estimate goes to the customer, the card changes to **Awaiting customer approval**. Repair work cannot begin until the customer approves. The estimate card offers **Resend Approval Email** while you wait. It sends a new estimate with your latest changes, and that estimate replaces the one the customer has. The link in the earlier email stops working: it opens **This estimate isn't available** and tells the customer to check their email for the current version. If the labor price changes after you send, the card adds a line: *Labor re-priced since: the customer now sees* the new total.
When the customer approves, the work starts. Nobody has to release the technician after it. The banner on the Estimate tab names who answered, with their email and the time, for example **Approved by Jordan Lee (jordan@yourcustomer.com) · Oct 13, 4:12 PM.** A decline reads the same way. The **Estimate History** section shows the same name, email and time in the **Customer's answer** column for each estimate.
If you change a work item after sending, it is marked **CHANGED** and the summary shows the new total. The **Estimate History** section at the bottom of the tab keeps earlier versions. The banner still shows the total that was sent, so the customer decides on the sent version until you update it.
If you change a job the customer declined, it shows **CHANGED - NOT SENT** and the Estimate card shows **Resubmit** (or **Resubmit 2 jobs**, and so on). It needs the Send Estimate permission or the all-orders admin right. Click it and confirm **Resubmit to the customer?**. One email goes to the customer about only the changed declined jobs. Approved jobs stay locked, and the technician keeps working on what is already approved. If manager approval for estimates is on and a price went up, a manager approves it first. If no price went up, no manager approval is needed.
### Who receives the estimate
The email goes to the contacts assigned to the order. Open the order's **Details** tab and check **Members & Contacts**. A contact with the **Authorizer** label can approve estimates. If the customer must approve and no contact has a valid email, add one with **Add member or contact** before you send. If you send without one, the estimate is held. Add a contact with a valid email, then click the send button again.
### The service fee
Besides the fees you add on the Estimate card, your shop can turn on a tenant-wide **Service Fee**. When it is on, it applies to every estimate and invoice. You can remove it from an order, and the removal is logged. A removed Service Fee stays off, even when the invoice is created. See [Add a Service Fee to Every Order](https://support.metafleet.ai/add-a-service-fee-to-every-order?hsLang=en). Set it up under **Settings › Fees & Surcharges**, on the **Service Fee Config** tab.
### Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The button reads **Awaiting Manager Approval**, or there is no send button | The estimate is with a manager or with the customer | Have a manager approve it, or use **Resend Approval Email** for the customer. |
| The estimate never reached the customer and the order shows it is held | No contact on the order can receive the estimate | Add a contact with a valid email on the **Details** tab (enterprise customers: one with the **Authorizer** role). The estimate goes out on its own, or click **Send Estimate to Customer**. |
| The total looks wrong | A labor rate, quantity, part or fee is off | Open the work item and adjust **Labor** or **Parts**, or click **Edit** on the fee row in the Estimate card. |
| The customer did not get the estimate | The total is at or below the threshold, or no assigned contact has a valid email | Read the line under the total. Add a contact with a valid email on the **Details** tab. |
### FAQs
**Can I add a work item that wasn't in the diagnosis?**
Yes. Click **Add work item** on the Estimate tab.
**Can I download the estimate?**
Yes. On the Estimate card, click **View estimate** to open the PDF in a new tab, or **Download PDF** to save it. Both show the current work items and work before anything is sent. They do not email the customer or change the order.
**How are labor hours rounded?**
Hours are rounded once per order, to your shop's rounding step. See [Choose How Labor Is Rounded](https://support.metafleet.ai/choose-how-labor-is-rounded?hsLang=en).
**Where do labor rates come from?**
From your configured rate types, such as Tier 1 Rate. The **Rate breakdown** in the labor window shows how the hours are priced.
### Related articles
- [Create an Estimate Without a Service Order](https://support.metafleet.ai/create-an-estimate-without-a-service-order?hsLang=en)
- [Understanding the Approval Gates](https://support.metafleet.ai/understanding-the-approval-gates?hsLang=en)
- [Auto-Approval Threshold](https://support.metafleet.ai/auto-approval-threshold?hsLang=en)
- [Approve or Decline an Estimate](https://support.metafleet.ai/approve-or-decline-an-estimate?hsLang=en)
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