Estimates & Approvals
Send digital estimates by text, get line-by-line approvals with a signature, and keep a bulletproof authorization trail.
Phone-tag kills approvals. Shop Commander sends the customer a link they can open anywhere, approve what they want line by line, and sign — usually in minutes, not hours.
Sending an estimate
From the repair order, open the Share menu and choose Send Estimate. The send dialog is pre-filled from the customer's profile, with a preview of the exact text they'll receive.
The customer gets a secure link to a mobile-friendly estimate showing every recommended service with parts, labor, and total.
What the customer does
On their phone, the customer can:
- Approve or decline each line individually — the total updates live as they choose.
- Sign with their finger — a real signature pad, right in the browser.
- See exactly what they're authorizing — itemized, no surprises.
Want to see it from the customer's side? Try the live demo estimate on our website.
The moment they sign
The shop gets an instant notification — the RO updates in real time with each line's decision, and the job can move straight to Authorized on the board. No callback, no "did they answer yet?"
The paper trail
Every authorization generates a timestamped PDF snapshot with the customer's signature, IP address, and the exact decisions they made. If a dispute ever lands on your counter, you have the receipt.
Declined work isn't dead work
Lines the customer declines are tracked automatically. Shop Commander follows up at 7, 30, and 60 days — that's the declined-work recovery engine, and it routinely brings back thousands per month that would have walked. See the follow-up campaigns docs for tuning it.
Next: Payments — collecting what you've earned.