Building Quotes with Line Items
A well-structured quote with clear line items helps customers understand what they are paying for and reduces disputes. Trade2Base gives you full control over how your quotes are built — from individual line items and sections through to optional extras and line-level discounts.
Adding line items to a quote
Open or create the quote
Go to Quotes and open an existing draft or click New quote.
Click Add line item
A new row appears with fields for description, quantity, unit price, and VAT rate.
Fill in the details
Enter a description (e.g. “Supply and fit 22mm copper pipework”), the quantity, and the unit price. Trade2Base calculates the line total automatically.
Select the VAT rate
Choose from your configured VAT rates — typically Standard (20%), Reduced (5%), or Zero (0%). The VAT amount is shown separately on the customer PDF.
Line item types
Each line item has a type that categorises it for reporting and cost analysis. Select the type when adding or editing the line.
Labour — time and effort charged to the customer. Used for job profitability reporting against logged hours.
Materials — physical parts and components you are supplying. You can record a cost price to track material margin.
Sundries — small miscellaneous costs such as fixings, tape, or consumables that are charged as a lump sum.
Subcontractor — work being passed to a third party. Keeps subcontractor costs separate in your profitability reports.
Using the saved items library
If you quote the same items regularly — a standard call-out charge, a boiler service, or a set of electrical tests — save them to the items library so you can add them in one click rather than typing from scratch every time.
Go to Settings → Quote Items
Click Add item and enter the description, default unit price, VAT rate, and item type. Save.
Add from library on a quote
On any quote, click Add from library. Search or browse your saved items, select one or more, and they are added as line items instantly.
Edit as needed
Library items are a starting point — you can adjust the description, quantity, or price on each quote without affecting the saved version.
Grouping lines into sections
For larger jobs with many line items, grouping them into named sections makes the quote much easier to read — for you and the customer.
Click Add section to insert a section header (e.g. Labour, Materials, Sundries).
Drag line items underneath the relevant section heading.
Each section shows its own subtotal on the quote PDF.
Common sections for trade quotes: First Fix, Second Fix, Labour, Materials, Subcontractors, Sundries.
Reordering line items with drag and drop
Hover over any line item to reveal the drag handle on the left. Click and drag the handle to move the item up or down within a section, or into a different section entirely. The order you set is the order the customer sees on the PDF and in the portal.
Adding optional extras for the customer to select
Optional extras let customers choose add-ons when they view the quote in the portal — increasing your average job value without requiring back-and-forth conversation.
Add a line item as normal
Enter the description and price for the optional extra (e.g. “Upgrade to chrome fittings — £85”).
Toggle it to Optional
Click the line item menu and select Mark as optional. The line is shown separately in an “Optional extras” section on the portal.
Customer selects or deselects
When the customer views the quote in the portal they can tick or untick optional extras. The quote total updates in real time as they choose.
Tip
Good optional extras include upgrades (better quality materials), additional scope (flush tank vs. close-coupled), or preventative work discovered during the job (e.g. replace old valves while you're in the system).
Applying line-item-level discounts
You can apply a discount to an individual line item rather than (or in addition to) an overall quote discount.
Click the discount icon on any line item row.
Enter a percentage (e.g. 10%) or a fixed £ amount.
The discounted price and the saving are shown on the line.
Line-item discounts are visible to the customer on both the PDF and portal.
Overall quote discounts are set separately in the totals section and apply after all line totals.
Showing or hiding cost price from the customer PDF
When you record a cost price on a materials line item (your trade price for the part), it is used internally for margin calculation only. Cost prices are never shown on the customer PDF or in the customer portal — the customer sees only the sale price you have entered. You can confirm this in Settings → Quote Settings → PDF preferences, where you can also choose whether to show or hide individual line item prices (some businesses prefer to show a single lump sum rather than an itemised breakdown).
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