I use FreeAgent, a cloud based accounting software for estimates, invoices, expenses, etc etc. I recently asked a question of the support team and just wanted to see if they’re just giving me a fudge answer…as I haven’t a clue.

When I do estimates, often, they will include various options as when I’ve visited the client, I’ve perhaps raised a few issues about how they might like the job to be done, so some of the options will be an either/or, so say, eg. I might say xyz £450 or abc £525, and it will be up to the client to choose. However, the software simply adds everything up, often leading to a fairly meaningless (and sometimes, very much higher than what the job would eventually cost) total. So, I raised a support ticket asking if there could be an option to have a box to tick saying “Do not show estimate total” so my client could choose what he’d like to do, and add up the sub-totals himself.

The answer I got was along these lines:

Sadly no addition to FreeAgent can ever be implemented quickly, even something that may look as though it should be easy. My colleagues in the technical team assure me that there would always be additional work to do to check that this code didn’t impact anywhere else in the system, and then everything must be thoroughly tested and reviewed. Plus the fact that our engineers do have to ration their time carefully and develop new features based not only on customer demand but also on FreeAgent’s business strategy as a whole. Unfortunately, we simply can’t bring in every new feature that our customers ask for, much though we’d like to.

I would have thought my request would be reasonably simple, but perhaps it’s not? I honestly don’t know. I have a feeling that her response is reasonable, but just wondered what webbies with relevant experience think.

Why not just use a combination of Word and Excel to produce your estimate?

I’d go with what they say for a package solution (I run a software development company).

Can you create multiple quotes or are there two many permutations on the options?

Or download quotes and amend yourself?

I’d go with what they say for a package solution (I run a software development company).

Fairy nuff. 🙁 Just wanted to hear an opinion from someone who knew…

Why not just use a combination of Word and Excel to produce your estimate?

&

Or download quotes and amend yourself?

The software allows me to convert an estimate to an invoice, which saves some time. I just want a job thats going to cost, say £2175 not to start with an estimate with £4500 in big bold 18 pt. Helvetica when the client opens it 🙂

Can you create multiple quotes or are there two many permutations on the options?

I can, but tbh, sometimes, I’d just end up sending four or five estimates, and besides being lazy, and confusing enough when my poor clients meet me, I don’t wish to prolong the experience through the estimate system. Also, it’s nice to see in my stats, what estimates have been successful/rejected over the year.

I meant put it all in their software and download estimate form to amend and send. When customer makes choices remove lines on their system that aren’t relevant and convert to an invoice?

I meant put it all in their software and download estimate form to amend and send.

Ah right, I wondered. Yes, I could do that. The software allows me to export as a .pdf which I can amend using mrs DD’s grpahic designery software. It’s just that the ease of sending directly to the client by email from the cloud, with it appearing from my email address (it has that ability) is nicer to use.

Sounds like a reasonable response – they’ve looked at it, probably logged it somewhere, and as you’re the only person who (so far) has asked for it they’ve decided to use their time+resources on something else. As and when they receive more demand they’ll give it a bit more priority.

They’re not wrong about the testing bit either – programming is as much art as science, most of us who’ve got a bit of experience could tell you of times that a superficially simple modification has led to a whole world of pain when something apparently unconnected has gone wrong…

Ah right, I wondered. Yes, I could do that. The software allows me to export as a .pdf which I can amend using mrs DD’s grpahic designery software

I bet if you asked them for an export to Excel (xlsx) format you’re more likely to get a positive response, which would probably be easier to process before sending.

Yeah, ok, I know what you mean.

Tbh, the support forums are full of various requests for sometimes the same thing over and over from lots of customers…and they’re not massively responsive. I suspect they’re a fairly small operation and as such, don’t have a lot of resources to allocate to some hardwood flooring dude who is a bit sensitive about his customers’ feelings when they receive his crazy looking estimates. 🙂

Anyway, regarding the software itself, while some aspects are excellent, it’s not very well fitted to hairy arsed tradesmen I think, so I may try some other one next year once I’ve had a bit more time to research the various different products.

Their answer is quite reasonable. Its probably not a massive job to add the feature you want, but the knock on effects are quite significant. If lots of people are not demanding it then its a low priority request. I don’t use free agent but do they operate something like “User Voice” that lets their users suggest and vote on features? you are just a lone voice, but if there are actually others who think it would help then it may move things on.

I assume FreeAgent have an invoice / quote template editor of some sort. It may be possible to fudge this to do what you want. A bodge like making the total text colour white may be possible if you know what you are doing.

poly is right – you can create a custom template that hides the total, however it uses the same theme for both estimates and invoices, and you are only allowed one custom theme. If you don’t already use a custom theme this could be a simple solution. If you do it wouldn’t work.

Could you create multiple estimates for each permutation? This may work if say you wanted to offer two types of wood. There is a “duplicate estimate” function in the more menu at the top of the estimate page.

polytykt, I can’t see where I would do that on FreeAgent…are you familiar with the package and do you know?

Well yes, the answer is _technically_ correct.

But it’s a crap way to deal with your users. They could handle this sort of thing mech better, see voting system as above. If not then it makes it sound like they are saying ‘go away little man, we know better’

ama – Member
Well yes, the answer is _technically_ correct.

But it’s a crap way to deal with your users. They could handle this sort of thing mech better, see voting system as above. If not then it makes it sound like they are saying ‘go away little man, we know better’

If you think that’s crap try dealing with Oracle 🙂

deadlydarcy – which one? I use Freeagent daily.

Creating an estimate template…I can’t see where I’d do it. 😕

DD, not sure how time you’ve invested into Freeagent or if it is tied in with your accountant but do look at Xero. They have a lot of 3rd party apps that link into it including Quotient which does exactly what you’re asking for.

DD, not sure how time you’ve invested into Freeagent or if it is tied in with your accountant but do look at Xero. They have a lot of 3rd party apps that link into it including Quotient which does exactly what you’re asking for.

Have paid for a year upfront Craig. Y’know, it’s fine really for the important stuff (invoices and expenses), and my accountant gives me a hefty discount as he can log in and export details to do my return without having to chase my ass all day for stuff. However, I’ll probably be looking to change next year, so will definitely have a look at Xero. Thanks for the suggestion.

Settings in the top right, then Theme Galley in the Invoices & Estimates section. Edit the custom theme and pick your normal theme in the “Reset theme to:” box and hit Generate CSS. Scroll to the bottom of the text box and add this line:

#total_currency, #total_amount { display: none; }

Works for me. We can get rid of the net total and vat total rows too if you want?

I’d suggest you do not use the custom theme as your default (don’t pick it in the theme gallery) as it will mean your invoices miss totals too. You can switch themes for specific estimates using the more menu in the estimate when you are creating a draft.