Writing a quote
Finance → Estimates → New estimate
Add lines from your price book or type them. Two things are worth knowing before you send the first one:
- Optional extras. Mark a line as an add-on and it is priced separately. The customer ticks it or does not, and the total follows — which is how the gutter guard gets sold without a second visit to quote it.
- Deposits. Ask for a percentage or a flat amount up front. You find out whether the job is real before you order the parts.
Where a job could be done three ways, the plus button also offers Good / Better / Best. You build three columns; the customer sees them side by side and picks one, and the quote records which. Shops that present tiers sell the middle one far more often than they sell a single number.
Sending it, and getting it back
- Mark as Sent. If you have texting on and the customer has a mobile, this sends them the link as well.
- The customer opens the quote in their browser — no account, no app — and either Sign & Accept or declines. Their signature and the time are kept with the quote.
- Convert to Job or Schedule Job turns the accepted quote into work, carrying its lines over.
A quote has to be sent before it can be accepted, so a draft cannot be signed by accident.
Invoicing
Create Invoice on a finished job brings the labour and the materials with it. You can also raise one from Finance → Invoices when there is no job behind it.
- Record Payment takes cash, a cheque, a card taken on your own terminal, or an ACH transfer. The amount defaults to the balance; type over it for a part payment and the invoice moves to partly paid on its own.
- Write Off reduces what is owed and says why on the invoice, so a settled dispute reads as a settled dispute rather than a payment that never came.
Taking card and bank payments
Finance → Stripe Payments → Connect with Stripe
Stripe pays into your own bank account; Corvin never holds your money. Once connected, every invoice gets a Collect payment button and a link you can text. Customers can pay the balance or a different amount, which is what a part payment or an agreed instalment actually looks like.
The button shows the cost before you send it. Stripe's own processing fee applies on every plan. What Corvin adds on top is:
- Solo Free — $1.00 per collection.
- Solo — $0.25 per collection.
- Starter and above — nothing. You pay Stripe and that is all.
We charge per collection rather than as a percentage, so a $4,000 invoice does not cost you more to collect than a $400 one.
Where the customer sees all this
Quotes, invoices, payments and the work itself all appear on one link per customer.