Estimates and customer approval¶
An estimate is a written price for the work on a job card. You send the customer a link, and they approve or decline it from their phone. It records what you proposed and what they agreed to. Nothing is charged: no payment is taken, no invoice or receipt is made, and the booking's own total does not change.
Not every business has this yet
Estimates are part of job cards, which are for workshops only and are switched on one business at a time. If there is no Jobs item in the Provider Portal's menu (on a phone, no Jobs card at the top of your bookings), job cards are not on for your business yet — ask us.
Writing an estimate¶
In Jobs, tap the car to open its job card. Estimates sits above Intake photos and History. Tap New estimate: the editor opens with one Part line and one Labour line ready. Add more with Add line. You can remove any line with the ✕ beside it, as long as at least one line is left. Each line has a type (Part, Labour or Other, which the customer sees), a description of what will be done or fitted, a quantity (it starts at 1) and a price for one unit.
- A service from your menu. Pick it under Add from your services and tap Add. It arrives as a Labour line at your menu price, and that is the price saved. Type over it and your price is used instead. If the service has since left your menu, saving is refused.
- A labour line left blank takes your labour rate: your own if you set one under Availability & Pricing, otherwise the platform default (see Services & prices). The editor shows the rate as a hint. A service priced on request comes in with no price, so if you leave it blank it is priced at your labour rate too. Type a price if that is not right.
- A part or other line needs a price you type. Zero is allowed.
- A note for the customer is optional. It shows on their page under the total, as "Workshop note: …".
The editor shows a running total as you type, but it is only a preview. When you save, our side prices every line again (menu services at your menu price, blank labour lines at your labour rate, everything else at the price you typed) and works out each line and the total. The saved estimate is what counts.
Limits¶
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Lines per estimate | 30 |
| Quantity | More than 0, up to 999, up to two decimals (e.g. 1.5) |
| Price for one unit | AED 0 to AED 50,000 |
| Whole estimate | Up to AED 1,000,000 |
| Description / note | 200 / 500 characters |
Type amounts without a thousands comma: 1,200 is refused, so type 1200. Arabic digits and the
Arabic decimal mark are accepted.
Drafts¶
Every estimate is saved as a draft first: when the lines are right, tap Save draft at the bottom of the editor. The editor has no send button; Send to customer appears on the saved draft. A draft is marked Draft and the customer cannot see it. Only a draft can be changed with Edit or removed with the bin button (Discard draft), which asks you to confirm first. A card has one undecided estimate at a time, so New estimate is hidden while a draft or an unanswered sent estimate is on the card.
Sending it¶
Send to customer makes the estimate live and creates the customer's link. The first send also moves a card in Checked in, On lift or Awaiting parts to Awaiting approval; a card in Ready for pickup stays where it is.
The link is shown once
It appears straight after sending, in a panel titled "Customer link — shown only now". We do not keep the link itself, so it cannot be shown again. Copy or share it right away. If it gets lost, use Send again (new link) for a new one.
- Copy link copies it (the button changes to Copied).
- Share on WhatsApp opens your own WhatsApp with a message already written, in the language your app is set to, with the link in it. If the booking has a phone number, the chat opens to that number. You send it; Markaba AI sends nothing on WhatsApp for estimates.
A customer who booked with a Markaba AI account also gets a notice in the app and can answer there. A customer with no account (a walk-in, or a booking made without one) hears nothing from us, so share the link yourself.
How long the link works¶
Until the end of the day (23:59:59, UAE time) seven days after you send it: sent at 10:00 on Monday 5 October, it works until the end of Monday 12 October. Seven days is our current setting and may change, so tell the customer the day your card shows ("Sent … · the link works until …"). The customer's page shows the same day as "Valid until …", and the prices hold until then.
Changing a sent estimate¶
A sent estimate cannot be edited, because the customer may already be reading it. While it is unanswered you can:
- Send again (new link) — creates a new link with a fresh last day, shown to you once. The old link stops working immediately. This also works on a link that has run out. Account customers do not get a second notice in the app.
- Replace — opens a copy as "Replace estimate 1". When you save, the customer's link to the old estimate stops working and it drops off your card and their page. The replacement is a new draft with the next number, so you still have to send it; until then the customer has no working link. If they answered the old one while you were editing, the save is refused so you can check.
What the customer sees¶
No account or app is needed. The page shows your business name and area, the car and its plate, and every estimate you have sent on this job (never drafts or replaced ones): each line with its description, type, quantity × unit price and line total, the total, your note and, while it is waiting for an answer, the valid-until day. Below that are the card's intake photos, as "Photos from the workshop", then Approve estimate and Decline. Opening the link changes nothing; only pressing a button records an answer.
- Phone number. On the link they must give one before answering: a link can be forwarded, so
you need to know who answered. A number without a country code is read as a UAE number; other
countries need a
+code. It is not confirmed with a code. It is saved in international form (0501234567 becomes +971501234567), and that is the number your card shows after "Answered from:". In the app it is optional, because the account shows who answered. - Declining opens an optional box, "Tell the workshop why", then Confirm decline. The reason shows on your card as "Customer's note: …". Approving has no note box.
- If something changed while they were reading (for example, you added or removed an intake photo), their answer is refused. They see "This estimate changed or can no longer be answered here. Reload to see the latest." and must answer again.
- A link that no longer works (replaced, sent again, or past its last day) shows "This estimate link is not available. Ask the workshop to send it again."
Recording an answer given at the counter or by phone¶
On a sent estimate, even one whose link has run out, tap Record the customer's answer, choose They approved or They declined, optionally add their phone number and what they said, then Save answer. It is kept with your name and shows on the card as "recorded at the desk".
Once answered, it is locked¶
An approved or declined estimate never changes, however it was answered. Your card shows who answered, how and when (for example "Approved 5 Oct, 14:02 — by the customer, from the link"), plus the phone number and any note. You can no longer remove the intake photos that were on the job when the customer answered.
Found more work on the lift? Once an estimate is approved, the button reads Add supplementary estimate. It goes out on its own new link, and the customer approves it separately with Approve this addition; what they already approved stays as it was. After a decline, with nothing approved yet, New estimate starts a fresh one (Estimate 1 declined, then Estimate 2).
How you see the answer¶
The app does not alert you, and an answer does not move the card: you move it on yourself. Nothing stops you moving it before an answer arrives, so check first. Look for the answer in your Jobs list and on the job card. Until you next change its stage or start another estimate on it, an answered card sits at the top of your Active jobs with an amber line, Customer approved the estimate or Customer declined the estimate. A card whose link ran out goes to the top with Estimate link out of date — send it again. The list refreshes itself about once a minute; an open job card does not, so reopen it.
A card left in Awaiting approval past its limit shows "Awaiting approval: longer than usual" and moves to the top. The limit starts at 24 hours and may change. Only you see this; nobody is messaged. If the job closes with an estimate unanswered, it is kept as Not answered.
The record kept for each answer¶
For every approval or decline, Markaba AI keeps a separate record of what was agreed. You do not see this record in the app; your card shows the estimate itself, with the answer, how and when, the phone number and any note. The record holds exactly what was shown (your business, the car model, every line, the total, your note, the valid-until day and which photos were on the page), the time, the phone number given, how the answer came (link, app or desk), any note and, for a desk answer, who recorded it. Device details (internet address and browser) are recorded only when the customer answered on the link or in the app, never for an answer you record at the desk. If an account customer deletes their account, their phone number, device details and note are erased, but the record of what was answered stays.
Behaviour checked against Markaba AI v0.191.0 · reviewed 2026-10-05