From the Bids page or a project’s Bids tab, click + New Bid. The form covers who the bid is for, what it says, and when the pricing expires.
The Items & Pricing section gives you three ways to add lines, and the totals update live as you type. Reorder lines with the grip at the left of each row: drag, or focus it and use Space, arrow keys, then Space. The up and down arrows under the grip move a line one place within its group, which is the easiest way on a phone. The customer sees the saved order.
Sections
A section is a named group of line items, for example one per system (“Plumbing”, “Electrical”) or per phase. Click Add Section, name it, and its items appear directly under its header with the section’s own subtotal. Use Add item to this section inside the section, drag a line in by its grip, or pick the section in the line’s section menu. Lines that are not in a section sit under General at the bottom, and Add Item at the top of the card adds there. The arrows on a section header move the whole section, items included. The customer sees the same groups and subtotals on the bid.
Each section header has two slider switches, Itemize prices and Itemize hours, both on to start. Turn Itemize prices off and the customer sees that section’s items by name and description with no price beside each one, and one total for the section: handy for a package price where you do not want each piece questioned. Turn Itemize hours off and lines billed by the hour show without their hours or hourly rate, and the section shows its total hours instead. The switches only change what the customer sees on the bid page, the PDF and the email; every amount and the bid total stay the same, and your own editor always shows every figure. The bid page you work from tags the section Section total only or Hours total only so you can tell at a glance. Both switches go with the section to the job and on to the invoice, along with which section each item is in.
Cost, markup, and price
Each line has a Cost field to the left of Price. Cost is internal only: customers never see it on the bid, the PDF, or the email. Type your cost and Conduit fills the price as cost plus your markup, using the Markup % on the row, which starts at your company default (set it once in Settings > Markup, Pricing & Sales Tax under Default Markup). Change the markup on any row to override it for that line, or type a price directly; your typed price stays until you change cost or markup again. Typed-in items that are not in your pricebook yet are added to it automatically when you save the bid, so the catalog grows as you work.
- Pick the customer in the Customer search. Search by name, email, or phone.
- A project is optional. Quick-create one here to group the example’s work.
- Type a descriptive Title (like "Panel Upgrade, 200A") so you and the customer both recognize it later.
- Click AI Assist to draft the Description from your title and line items. Edit the result before saving; it is a starting point, not a final draft.
- Open the Item Catalog (your pricebook) and add an item. Name, price, unit, and taxable flag carry over from the pricebook.
- Use From Takeoff to pull measured quantities straight off a plan you already took off (see [Plans & Takeoff](/help/bids-and-takeoff/plans-and-takeoff) for the measuring side of that flow).
- Add a manual line, enter Cost, confirm the company-default Markup computes Price, then flip Taxable to see the tax helper total move.
- Add a Discount, choosing a fixed dollar amount or a percentage off.
- Set a Deposit requirement as a percent or fixed dollar amount. On acceptance, Conduit auto-generates the deposit invoice for this amount.
- Attach a plan, photo, or contract PDF so the customer sees it attached to the bid.
- Add a Section for one system or phase and put its line items under its header (Add item to this section, drag a line in, or pick the section on the line), then set its per-section retention override where the contract calls for a different holdback.
- Save the bid. New bids land in Draft status.