A lock over everything that contributes to the approved figure, with a small padlock beside each affected value explaining why. Unlocking is available from the green approval bar and writes a timestamped record. A newer customer approval re-engages the lock automatically.
Also called: can't edit after approval · locked estimate · unlock to revise · re-negotiation
An approved price stays approved until someone deliberately reopens it
When the customer approves, every field that contributed to the figure locks, with a padlock beside each value explaining why. Nobody nudges a rate on a job that has already been signed off, and nobody has to remember which numbers were part of the agreement.
Unlocking is a recorded act of re-negotiation, not a quiet edit
Reopening an approved estimate asks for confirmation, states that the customer has to approve again, and writes a timestamped entry with the name of whoever did it. The lock re-engages by itself when the customer approves the revision. An edit after an approval with nothing recorded beside it is indistinguishable from a mistake.
The customer's copy can't be quietly rewritten either
Automatic refreshes skip an approved link outright, refused where the write happens rather than trusted to each screen that might trigger one. From that point the document is the record of what was agreed, and a price change becomes a change order.
A gap between the approved amount and the live one announces itself
The figure the customer approved is compared against what the estimate now says, and a difference of five cents or more is reported with both numbers and the version each came from. You find out on the estimate, not at invoicing, with the customer holding the old number in writing.
- 1Approval with a timestamp locks the pricing controls.
- 2'Unlock to revise' asks for confirmation and appends a timestamped, attributed unlock record.
- 3The lock is considered lifted only while the latest unlock is newer than the latest approval.
- 4Every unlock renders as a bold line in the activity log.
- 5The server also refuses to refresh an approved customer document.
Once a customer approves a price, the priced fields on that estimate are part of what they signed off on — and a colour, a markup or a payment schedule edited quietly afterwards leaves nobody able to say what was actually agreed. Approval now locks those fields. Unlocking is deliberate and recorded with the name of whoever did it, because an unlock is an act of re-negotiation and it explains every edit that follows an approval. The lock re-engages on its own when the customer approves the revised estimate.
- Silent edits to a document a customer has agreed to
- No record explaining why an approved estimate changed
See it on your own jobs
Twenty minutes, your numbers, no slide deck. We’ll build one of your real buildings in front of you and send you the estimate link at the end — yours to keep either way.
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