Request for quotes — get trade partners to price your job

Build a request-for-quotes (RFQ) package from selected estimate line items, send it to one or more trade partners by email, let them fill in their prices on a simple public page, compare their answers side by side, and pull the price you want straight back into your estimate.

> This is for native estimates (the spreadsheet-style Estimate tab). If your deals are > estimated in Buildxact, this feature doesn't apply. > > If you don't see a "Request for quotes" tab on a deal, an administrator hasn't turned > this feature on yet.

Building a package

On a deal's Request for quotes tab, tick the line items you want priced from the current estimate, give the package a name (e.g. "Framing subcontract"), and click Create package. Only the description, category and quantity of each item travel with the package — never a price. Trade partners see what needs pricing, not what you paid, or what the client's paying.

Adding trade partners and sending

With the package selected, add each trade partner's email (and, optionally, their business name) under Recipients, then click Add recipient. When you're ready, click Send — this emails every newly-added recipient a link to a simple public page where they can enter their prices.

If email delivery isn't set up for your business (or you'd rather send the link yourself — text, a phone call, whatever works), click Copy link next to a recipient any time after they've been sent, and paste it wherever you like. It's the same link the invite email carries.

A recipient's status moves through:

• Draft — added, not yet sent.
• Sent — the invite went out (or the link is ready to copy/share).
• Viewed — they've opened the link.
• Submitted — they've entered and submitted their prices.
• Declined — they've told you they're not quoting this one.
• Expired — the response window passed with nothing submitted.

What a trade partner sees

The public page lists every requested item — description, category, quantity — with a price and a notes field for each. They don't need an account; the link itself is their access. They can price some items and leave others blank, add notes (lead time, stock availability, anything relevant), and submit. They can also decline the whole request if they're not interested. Nothing about your estimate's other pricing, or any other trade partner's numbers, is ever visible to them.

Comparing and accepting

Back on the deal's Request for quotes tab, a comparison table lines up every priced item against every trade partner who's responded, so you can compare them side by side at a glance, with each partner's running total.

Once you're happy with a trade partner's numbers, click Accept prices on their row — this writes their submitted price straight back into the matching line item's cost on your estimate, so your numbers stay in sync without re-typing anything.

Reminders and expiry

If a trade partner hasn't responded after a couple of days, a reminder email goes out automatically — capped at a handful of reminders so nobody gets spammed. If they still haven't responded by the due date you set when sending (a week, by default), their link stops working and their status flips to Expired; they'll need a new package if you still want a price from them.

Tips

• You can build more than one package per deal — one per trade, one per supplier,

whatever suits how you buy the job.

• A trade partner's link only starts working once you've clicked Send — adding them

doesn't email or expose anything on its own.

• Declining or letting a request expire doesn't stop you sending a fresh one later.