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 "Requests For Quotes" tab on a deal, an administrator hasn't turned > this feature on yet.
Which plan includes it
Request for Quotes is included on the Crew and Company plans. On the Solo plan the "Requests For Quotes" tab doesn't appear — an owner can upgrade any time under Settings → Billing.
If your business is later moved down to Solo, any packages you've already sent stay exactly as they are — a trade partner who was already emailed a link can still open it, price the job, and submit, even after the downgrade. Automatic reminder emails stop going out while you're on Solo (they resume once you upgrade again), but an already-sent link itself keeps working the whole time. You just can't build or send a new package until you upgrade again.
Building a package
On a deal's Requests 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.
Attaching plans, specs and photos
Line items and notes only go so far — most trades want to see the drawings before they price anything. Under Attachments on the selected package, click Add attachment and pick a file: a plan set PDF, a spec sheet, a photo of the site, a takeoff spreadsheet. Anything up to 20 MB, in whatever format the trade needs.
Every trade partner on that package sees the list on their own quote-request page and can open each file straight from the link — no account, no separate email. Add or remove an attachment any time; partners always see the current list, including after you've already sent the request. Removing one takes it away from their page immediately, so if you've issued a revised plan set, delete the old one and upload the new one rather than leaving both up.
Attachments are only reachable through a live quote-request link. Once a partner has submitted, declined, or their link has expired, the files stop opening for them too.
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 Requests 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.
The table then remembers who won. Each accepted price is marked ✓ in estimate, the partner gets an accepted badge on their row, and the bottom of their column shows won N of M with the total you awarded them. So a week later you can open the tab and see which numbers in the estimate came from which partner, instead of guessing.
Awards are per item, so a split is fine — take the framing from one partner and the roofing from another and each column shows its own share. Only one partner can hold a given item at a time: accepting a rival's price for an item you'd already awarded moves the mark across, matching the single cost the estimate actually carries. Accepting the same partner again (their button reads Re-accept prices once they've won something) simply re-applies their prices.
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, adjustable each time you send), their link stops working and their status flips to Expired; add a fresh recipient to the same package and re-send if you still want a price from them — there's no need to start a whole new package.
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.