Sending a quote and then wondering whether the customer even saw it is one of the most common frustrations in contracting. CashWrench tracks every milestone on every quote, from the moment you create it to the moment the customer signs, and logs the exact time each step happened. No more guessing. No more awkward "did you get my quote?" calls.
Every quote in CashWrench has a History section. It sits at the bottom of the quote and builds itself as the quote moves through its lifecycle. There is nothing to configure and nothing to switch on: it happens on every quote, every time.
A signed quote in CashWrench. Sent at 5:24 PM, opened the same minute, signed and approved at 5:25 PM, with every step on the record.
The four milestones CashWrench tracks
The History panel on every quote records four core events. Each one is timestamped to the minute, giving you a precise record of how a quote moved from your phone to an approved job.
Milestone 1
Quote created
Logged the moment you save a new quote, before it has gone anywhere. It records when the price was put together, which matters if you ever need to show a timeline on a disputed job.
Logged automatically on saveMilestone 2
Quote sent
Delivered to customer
Logged when CashWrench sends the quote to your customer by text, email or both. It is only written once the send has actually gone through. If it fails, say the customer has no phone number on file or has opted out of texts, you see the error straight away and the quote stays unsent. A quote never looks sent when it was not. What this milestone cannot tell you is whether the customer has looked at it yet. That is the next one's job.
Logged when your text or email goes outMilestone 3
Opened by customer
Logged the first time your customer opens the quote link, from the text or the email, and the quote loads on their screen. This is the milestone most contractors have never had before. It tells you the quote is in front of them: the line items, the total and the approve button. From here on, the next move is theirs. A "Quote opened" alert also lands in your notifications, and your own previews while you are signed in never count as an open.
Logged on the customer's first openMilestone 4
Quote approved
Signed by customer
Logged the moment the customer draws their signature and taps Approve. The signature itself is stored on the quote, along with the time it was signed and the IP address it was signed from. The job is confirmed. The scope is agreed. The price is locked. If you mark a quote approved yourself, after a yes over the phone for example, the approval is logged without the "Signed by customer" line, so the record always shows how the yes arrived.
Signature, time and IP stored on the quote
Three more lines appear when they apply. Reminder sent shows when you follow up on a quote, with a count once you have sent more than one. Quote declined shows if the customer turns it down. And if the quote has a validity date, the History shows when it expires ahead of time, then marks it Quote expired once that date passes without an answer.
Why this changes how you follow up
Without quote tracking, every pending quote creates the same uncertainty: you do not know if the customer has seen it, ignored it, or simply forgotten about it. The only way to find out is to call or text and ask, which feels uncomfortable and often produces a non-answer.
Before
Every follow-up started from zero
You sent the quote. You heard nothing. You did not know if the message reached them, if they read it, or if they had decided not to go ahead. Every follow-up opened with "did you get my quote?", which made you sound unsure of your own process.
With quote tracking
You follow up with context
You open the quote, check the History, and know exactly where things stand. Opened but not approved means they have seen it and have not decided yet. Sent but never opened means it may not have reached them. Each situation has a different right response, and now you have the information to give it.
"Knowing a customer opened your quote three minutes after you sent it changes how you follow up, or whether you need to at all."
Four things you can do with this information
- 1
Follow up with precision, not assumption
A customer who has opened the quote but not approved it has seen the price and has not said no. That is a very different situation from a customer who has never opened it. Your follow-up message changes completely depending on which one it is. "Just checking you got it" versus "Happy to answer any questions about the scope": the second only works because you know they have read it.
- 2
Catch a quote that never reached them
If a quote shows Sent but no Opened after a day or two, the message may never have landed: a wrong number, a filtered inbox, a text lost among a hundred others. That is your cue to resend by the other channel or pick up the phone, rather than wait for a reply that is not coming. Without this visibility, jobs get lost to delivery problems that look exactly like a customer who is not interested.
- 3
Understand your quote-to-approval speed
The timestamps show how quickly customers move from opening to approving. If most of your approvals land the same day the quote is opened, a quote that has sat opened for two days is telling you something specific gave this customer pause. Patterns across your quotes show you what drives fast approvals and what slows them down.
- 4
Protect yourself in a dispute
The Approved milestone records the exact date and time the customer signed, and the signature on the quote carries the same time and the IP address it came from. Together they give you a documented timeline: when the quote was written, when it went out, when it was opened, and when it was approved. If a customer ever claims they did not agree to a price or scope, this is the record you point to.
The quote history as a business record
The milestones that matter most are written once and never overwritten. The first send keeps its time even if you send the quote again later, because a follow-up goes in as a reminder with its own line. The first open keeps its time no matter how often the customer comes back to the link. And the approval keeps the moment the customer signed.
That matters most in two situations. The first is a payment dispute, where a customer starts a chargeback or claims the work was never agreed. A history showing the quote was sent, opened and signed before the work began, with the signature stored alongside it, is the kind of documentation that dispute needs. For how a signature captured this way holds up legally, see how CashWrench e-signatures comply with ESIGN and UETA.
The second is simply your own memory. Six months after a job, you might not remember when you sent the quote or how quickly the customer came back to you. The History panel remembers it for you, and it is there every time you open the quote, not buried in a text thread or lost in an email chain.
Where to find the History panel
Open any quote in CashWrench and scroll to the bottom, below Download PDF. The History section is always there, showing every milestone with its time. It reads straight from the quote's own record, so it already covers the quotes you sent before reading this.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see if a customer has opened my quote?
Yes. CashWrench logs an "Opened by customer" milestone the first time the customer opens the quote link from your text or email, and records the exact time in the quote's History section. You also get a "Quote opened" alert in your notifications. Your own previews of the link while you are signed in are not counted.
What milestones does CashWrench track on a quote?
Four core milestones: Quote created (when you save it), Quote sent (when your text or email goes out), Opened by customer (their first open of the link), and Quote approved, marked "Signed by customer" when they signed it themselves. Reminders, a declined quote and the quote's expiry also appear in the History when they apply.
How long does it take a customer to approve a quote in CashWrench?
It depends on the customer and the job. The History log shows the exact time of each milestone, so you can see the gap between Sent, Opened and Approved on every quote you send, and spot the quotes that are taking longer than usual.
Can I use the quote history as proof that a customer agreed to a job?
It gives you a timestamped record of when the quote was created, sent, opened and approved, and the customer's drawn signature is stored on the quote with the time and IP address it was signed from. That documented timeline is what you point to in a dispute or chargeback. CashWrench e-signatures are built to meet the requirements of the ESIGN Act and UETA.
What does it mean if a quote shows Sent but never Opened?
The quote went out from CashWrench, but the customer has not opened the link yet. Sometimes they simply have not got to it. Sometimes it never reached them: the number is wrong, the email was filtered, or the text got buried. If a day or two passes without an Opened line, resend by the other channel or call the customer directly rather than waiting for a reply that may not come.
Does the History panel work on existing quotes, or only new ones?
It works on existing quotes too. The History reads from each quote's own record, so quotes you created and sent before this post show their milestones as well. The one exception is a quote opened before open tracking was added, which will not show an Opened line.
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Quote tracking history is live on every CashWrench account, with no setup required. Build a quote, send it by text or email, and watch the milestones log themselves. Two months free to try it.