Client options are line items your client chooses for themselves. Mark a line item as an option and it moves out of the base bid into a selectable Options section on the shared bid page — the client picks, sees a running total, and their choice is recorded when they accept. Use them for good-better-best packages ("Asphalt shingles / Metal roof") or optional add-ons.
Marking line items as options
In the line items grid, check the Client option column on any row. In the takeoff panel's line item editor, turn on the Client option switch, which reveals two more controls:
Control | What it does |
Option group | Items with the same group name become one either-or choice |
Preselected | The option starts selected when the client opens the bid |
Line items with the same Option group name (for example "Roofing package") are presented as a single pick-one choice. Items without a group are independent add-ons the client can check on or off.
What appears in the bid
When the AI assistant generates the bid, option-marked line items are left out of the base bid's pricing and collected into an Options section at the end, with each group under its own heading. Each option's price is its quantity times unit cost, with markup applied.
A line item without a cost shows Price on request instead of a number. Exayard never invents a price — add a cost to the line item and regenerate the bid to make the option selectable.
What the client does
On the share page, the Options section is interactive: checkboxes for add-ons, and one-choice groups where picking one option deselects the rest. Every group also offers a None row, so the client can skip it entirely. Price-on-request options are shown but cannot be selected.
Below the options, a running total updates as the client picks: the Base bid, the Selected options subtotal, and the combined Total. Option prices always show, even when Client view hides other pricing — a choice without a price would be meaningless.
When the client accepts
The selection is recorded as part of the acceptance. Exayard recalculates every amount from the prices stored on the bid — the totals in the record are always your numbers. The accepted page then shows the chosen options and final total as a fixed record, and the selection can no longer change.
Where you see the choice
Click the Accepted badge in the document header to see the recorded selection: each chosen option with its price, the options subtotal, and the accepted total. The acceptance email you receive includes a summary line such as "3 options selected (+$1,250.00)". For the rest of the acceptance flow, see Client signatures.