From Quote to Paid: Deposits, Stages, Final Invoice

Igor runs a three-person plumbing outfit. A homeowner, Ben, wants a bathroom re-piped. Igor writes the quote in a Word file, emails it, and gets back a text that says "looks good, when can you start?"

Now the job has three loose ends. Nobody can say exactly which version Ben agreed to. The deposit Igor wanted has not been mentioned. And when the job is done, Igor will build the invoice from memory, a pile of receipts and last Thursday's timesheet.

None of this is unusual. This guide walks through a cleaner path from quote to paid: one quote, one acceptance you can prove, payments that follow the work, and a final invoice that adds up.

Step 1: Write the quote so the invoice can reuse it

A quote is a price agreement, so build it from the same pieces the invoice will use: hours by role, services, materials, or a mix. If the quote says "labor, 24 hours at $95" and the final invoice says "plumbing work, $2,280", the client will ask what changed.

Put on the quote:

• Lines the client can read. One per kind of work or material, with quantity and price.
• A valid-until date. Thirty days is a common default. After that date the client can no longer accept, and you can revise the quote with a new date.
• Your terms. Payment timing, what is and is not included, and any cancellation rights your law gives the client. Your terms set these, not your software.
• The payment plan. Decide it now, not at the end of the job (more on this below).

If you use a price list, pull the lines from it so a quote and the invoice that follows it use the same prices.

Step 2: Fixed price or estimate

Before you send, decide how the last invoice will be worked out. There are two honest options.

Neither is better. A fixed price protects the client from surprises; an estimate protects you when the scope is honestly unknown. What matters is that the client knew which one they agreed to.

Step 3: Send it and get a proof of acceptance

"Looks good" in a text is not the same as an acceptance you can show someone later. What you want is a record of who accepted, what exactly they saw, and when.

In TimeLeaf, the client opens a link on any phone. To accept, they ask for a 6-digit code that goes to the email address you sent the quote to, type their name, tick the terms and accept. TimeLeaf keeps the evidence: the exact version of the quote, the code check, the name, the time, the IP address and device, the consent text they were shown, and a PDF with a certificate page. It is a binding e-signature with a full audit trail: proof of who accepted what and when.

If the client wants changes, they can ask from the quote page. You revise the quote and send a new version; they accept the new one, and the earlier version stays on record. Once a quote is accepted it can no longer be edited, which is exactly what makes it useful as a record.

Step 4: Take the deposit while the client is still engaged

The best moment to ask for a deposit is the minute the client says yes. A deposit asked for a week later is a negotiation. A deposit built into the plan is just the next line on the page.

If your plan has a payment on acceptance, the invoice for it is issued as soon as the client accepts, and they can pay straight from the quote page: card or wallet through Stripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay where enabled, paid directly to your account. If Stripe isn't connected, the page shows your payment instructions instead.

For Igor's $4,800 job, a 30% deposit is $1,440, before tax. Ben sees that exact figure, and the date it is due, before he accepts.

Step 5: Bill in stages, with a person checking each one

A payment plan can mix three kinds of trigger:

1. On acceptance. The deposit.
2. On a set date. A draft invoice is prepared on that day for you to review.
3. At a stage. You bill it when you mark the stage done, such as rough-in complete.

Igor sets a second payment of 40% ($1,920) at the end of the rough-in. When the pipes are in, he bills that stage, checks the draft and issues it.

Dated and staged payments arrive as drafts on purpose: a schedule that sends invoices on its own will eventually send one for work that was delayed.

Step 6: The final invoice, with earlier payments subtracted

The balance is whatever is left. On the final invoice, TimeLeaf prints the job and subtracts each payment already invoiced, so the client sees the full price, what has been invoiced and what remains. For Igor that is $1,440 left on a $4,800 job.

For an estimate, the final invoice uses the real approved hours at the job site, priced at the rate you quoted for each role, and everything else as quoted. A home-care agency that quoted six weeks of daily aide visits, for example, bills the visits that were actually worked and approved, less the deposit.

Step 7: Keep hours from being billed twice

The quiet leak in this whole process is the hour that appears twice: once inside the fixed price, and again on a weekly invoice built from timesheets.

Once a quote is accepted, TimeLeaf holds the hours at its job site for the quote's invoices. On a fixed price, those hours are covered by the price. On an estimate, they are billed once, on the final invoice. Hours that were already on a draft or an invoice at the moment of acceptance stay where they are, and TimeLeaf lists them so you can check. A job site can have one live quote at a time.

Who in the office does this?

Quotes and invoices often belong to the office manager or bookkeeper. TimeLeaf's Billing role lets them write and send quotes and run invoices, clients and the price list, without access to settings, people or payment setup.

Quotes are part of Client Invoicing, $49/month flat on every plan from Professional up, with a 14-day free trial. You can see how the quote side works on the Quotes page, or start a trial and send your first one this week.