Offering discounts on the phone app

In this article, you'll learn how to give a customer a discount from the phone app, on a job or on an estimate. It's handy when you're on site and agree to take something off the price. You can make the change right there and the totals update straight away.

The steps are a little different for a job and for an estimate, so each one has its own section below.

Note: The Finance tab on a job only shows if your role is allowed to see financial data. If you can't see it, ask whoever manages your team's permissions.

Adding a discount to a job

To open a job's totals:

  1. Open the job you want to discount.
  2. Tap the Finance tab at the top of the job.
  3. Tap Items to open the list of line items. The totals sit under the items.

To set the discount:

  1. In the totals, tap Discount. The row shows the current discount in dollars with its percentage beside it, for example $0.00 (0.00%).
  2. The Set discount sheet opens. Tap % to enter a percentage, or $ to enter a dollar amount.
  3. Type the number in the Discount box.
  4. Check the button at the bottom. It spells out what the discount works out to in both dollars and percent, for example Apply $25.00 (10.00%).
  5. Tap that button to save it.
Setting a discount on a job from the Finance tab

The job's Total and Due update to match. The discount comes off the subtotal. Sales tax is still worked out on the full price of the taxable items, so the discount doesn't lower the tax.

If the job already has an invoice that hasn't been paid yet, the invoice picks up the new discount too. A paid invoice stays as it was. The invoice screen in the app shows the Discount line but doesn't let you change it there, so make the change on the job.

Percentage or dollars: which to pick

The two behave differently when you add or remove items later:

  • A percentage stays a percentage. Set 10% and then add another item, and the discount grows so it's still 10% of the new subtotal.
  • A dollar amount stays fixed. Set $25 and it's $25 off however the items change.

If you promised "10% off the whole job", use %. If you promised "$50 off", use $.

Tip: To take a discount off, tap Discount again, enter 0 and tap the apply button.

Done jobs are locked

Once a job's status is Done, you can't tap the Discount row. Everything on a done job except the status is read-only. To change the discount, set the status back to something other than Done, adjust the discount, then mark the job Done again. You can still add payments to a done job without reopening it.

Adding a discount to an estimate

Estimates have their own Discount line in the app.

To set a discount on an estimate:

  1. Open the estimate. If it belongs to a job, open the job's Finance tab, tap Estimates and tap the estimate.
  2. Scroll down to the totals, below the items, notes and photos.
  3. Next to Discount, type the number in the box.
  4. Tap $ for a dollar amount or % for a percentage. Switching saves straight away.
  5. Tap somewhere outside the box. The number saves when you leave the box, and the estimate's Total updates.

When a percentage discount is in place, a line under it shows what it comes to in dollars, for example "$40.00 off". Just like on a job, a percentage keeps up with the items and a dollar amount stays put.

Note: You can't change the discount on an estimate that's already been turned into a job, or one that's been approved while your company locks approved estimates. The box and the $/% switch are greyed out.

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