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A quote is your estimates added up. An invoice is your approved hours added up. Between them sits the work, and the work is where the two numbers separate. This guide shows you how to build the quote, and how to spot the drift while you can still do something about it.
The example: Northwind Studio quotes Bluebird Coffee for the website redesign. Priya Raman (Project Manager) builds the quote. Daniel Okafor (Finance) sends the bill.

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Before you start

Plan requirement. Tasks and estimates are free. Budgets, approvals and invoicing are Pro. See Free vs Pro.

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Step 1 – Priya builds the quote from estimates

An estimate is on a task – how long that piece of work should take. Put an estimate on every task, multiply each one by the rate of the person who will do it, and you have a quote. Now check whether the job is worth doing, using cost rates: Expected margin: 7,600−7,600 − 3,790 = $3,810, or 50.1%. That is the number to decide on. If your target margin is 45%, this job clears it with room. If your target is 55%, you need to re-scope or raise the price before you send the quote. → Task estimates · Billable rates · Cost rates
Ana is a contractor and her margin is thinner (31.3%) than Sarah’s (55%) or Jonas’s (50%). A quote that leans heavily on contractors looks the same on the top line and earns less. See Manage contractors.

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Step 2 – Priya turns the accepted quote into a project budget

Once Bluebird accepts, put the number on the project as a money budget so the work has a ceiling it can be measured against. The budget is not the same as the estimates. Estimates are per task. The budget is the ceiling for the whole engagement. → Set a project budget · Budget vs estimate
You can also cap individual tasks, which is useful when one line of the quote must not run away. See Task-level caps.

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Step 3 – the work happens, and Priya watches for drift

Turn on budget alerts. They fire at 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% of the budget. The alert is only half the signal. The other half is how much of the work is actually finished. Compare the two every week. → Monitor project profitability · How budgets work

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Step 4 – see where the numbers drifted

Bluebird finishes. Here is the quote against the reality. Eight hours over. **880∗∗ofworkyouquotedat880** of work you quoted at 7,600. Cost went up too: Sarah 36 hours (1,620),Jonas34hours(1,620), Jonas 34 hours (2,040), Ana 10 hours (550)=∗∗550) = **4,210**. On a fixed quote you absorb the overrun. Margin drops from the planned 50.1% to 44.6%. That is what eight unbilled hours cost you.

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Where the drift comes from

Nearly every overrun is one of these five.
Compare estimate against tracked time per task, not per project. A project that is on budget can still be hiding one task at 200%, paid for by another that came in early. See Build a report.

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Step 5 – Daniel raises the invoice

1

Approve the time first

An invoice built from tracked time pulls approved billable entries only. Anything still in draft or submitted will not appear.→ Approve a timesheet
2

Choose how to bill

  • Fixed price. Raise an invoice with your own lines for the quoted $7,600. The hours still sit on the project for margin reporting. See Create an invoice.
  • Time and materials. Build the invoice from tracked time and bill the real $8,480. See Invoice from tracked time.
3

Review and reword the draft

A draft invoice is fully editable. Rename line descriptions to language the client will recognise, add discounts or tax lines, and set the due date.→ Edit a draft invoice · Taxes and currency
4

Send it and record the payment

Sending moves the invoice from draft to sent. When Ruth opens it, it becomes viewed. When the money lands, record it.→ Send an invoice · Record a payment

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Common questions

There is no separate quote document. You build the quote from task estimates and rates, agree it with the client outside the product, then record the agreed number as the project budget. The invoice is the document TimeTracker produces.
Yes. A budget is a measuring stick, not a hard stop. It warns you at 50%, 75%, 90% and 100%, and it keeps counting past 100%. What you bill is your decision. See Budget alerts.
Agree it with the client first, then raise a separate invoice for the extra hours. Keeping the change order on its own invoice makes the conversation and the paper trail clear.
The most specific rate wins: task rate, then project member rate, then the person’s default, then the client default, then the workspace default. See How rates are chosen.
No. A time entry snapshots the rate that applied on its date, so history stays as it was billed. See Rate snapshots.

Track work for a client

The full chain this sits inside.

Monitor project profitability

Spot the drift while you can still fix it.

Run a monthly retainer

Billing that repeats instead of quoting each time.

Month-end close

Doing this for every client at once.

Manage contractors

Why contractor hours change the margin.