Every client is different. Some want every line, every quantity, and every unit cost spelled out so they can see exactly where their money goes. Others just want a clean total and a place to sign — show them a wall of numbers and they get nervous. The trouble is, you only build your scope once, and it’s full of the detail you need to price the job: unit costs, markup, cost types, the works.

That’s what Display Options is for. It lets you decide exactly how much of that detail your client sees on the quote — line by line, column by column — without ever changing the scope underneath. Your team keeps the full picture. Your client sees the version you’ve chosen to show them. Think of it like a chef’s kitchen versus the plated dish: all the prep and the raw ingredients stay in the back; the client gets the presentation you want them to see.

This article covers where to find Display Options, what each toggle does, how to choose how much pricing to show, how to tuck away the detail of a single section, and how to preview the result before anything goes out.

The way a quote is presented changes how it lands. A homeowner comparing three contractors might be reassured by a fully itemized breakdown — or overwhelmed by it. A repeat commercial client might only care about the bottom line per phase. And some clients will pick apart any number you put in front of them, so you’d rather they see the work in full but just one price for all of it. With Display Options you’re not rewriting the quote for each audience; you’re flipping a few switches on the same scope and sending the version that fits. And because none of it touches your internal numbers, there’s no risk of accidentally changing what the job actually costs or what your crew builds from.

Display Options lives on the final review page — the full contract layout you land on right before sending. To get there:

You’ll land on the review page with your full quote laid out. Look to the Display Options panel on the right — that’s your control panel for everything below.

(For the full walkthrough of previewing and sending — the preflight check, the PDF, the share link, what happens after signing — see How To Preview As Your Client and Send Out The Proposal.)

Each toggle in the Display Options panel controls one piece of what your client sees. Flip one off and that detail disappears from the client’s view — but stays exactly where it is in your own scope.

Nothing you turn off here changes your numbers, your team’s view, or what gets built. It only shapes the presentation. The math the client sees still adds up — you’re choosing which columns of the worksheet to show, not editing the worksheet.

Right under the Price toggle are three choices. Pick one:

Grand Total Only is how you give a client a lump-sum price. Reach for it when you want them to see the full scope of work but not argue line by line over what each piece costs. They still see exactly what they’re paying for, in detail. They just see one price for it.

A few details about how the three choices behave:

The toggles and price choices apply to the whole quote. But sometimes you want one section clean and another fully detailed — say, an itemized kitchen but a single tidy line for “Demolition.”

In the scope on the review page, every subproject and group row has two switches on the right:

Switches on a subproject row cover everything inside that subproject, groups included. Switches on a group row cover just that group, so you can collapse “Demolition” and leave the next group fully itemized. Mix and match section by section until the quote reads the way you want, then use Preview as Client (below) to check the result.

One rule sits above all of this: the Display Options panel wins. If you pick Subproject Totals Only or Grand Total Only, line prices stay hidden everywhere, no matter how an individual section is set. Think of the panel as the quote-wide setting and the per-section switches as fine-tuning inside whatever the panel already allows.

You don’t have to guess at how your choices look. Right inside the Display Options panel is a Preview as Client button. Click it any time to see the quote exactly as your client will — toggles applied, prices shown or hidden, sections collapsed or expanded. The summary box on the right shows the same thing: under Grand Total Only, it lists only the Total.

The rhythm is simple: flip a few switches, preview, adjust, preview again. A minute of this and you’ll land on a presentation that fits this particular client — before a single thing has been sent.

This preview is for the quote stage. Once the contract’s signed and the job becomes an active project, you can do the same thing from the project itself — see Previewing What Your Client Sees on an Active Project.

Once it looks right, you send straight from that same page. The blue send button’s label depends on your signing order:

Any of the three pricing choices can be sent and signed. The one setup you can’t send as a final quote is Price switched off: a client can’t sign a contract without seeing what it costs, so the send button stays disabled until you switch Price back on.

Either way, your client only ever sees the version you’ve set up in Display Options — on screen, in their client portal, and in the PDF they download or sign.

Does hiding a column change my actual quote total? No. Display Options only changes what the client sees. Your scope, your costs, your markup, and the real total are all untouched — and your team always sees the full picture.

If I hide Markup, do the line prices still make sense? Yes. The prices the client sees still add up to the same total; you’re just not showing the markup figure as its own number. It’s the most common toggle to turn off for exactly this reason.

How do I show my client only the total, but still list every item? On the review page, leave Price on and pick Grand Total Only underneath it. Every line item still shows, with its cost type, quantity, and unit if those are on, but the only price on the quote is the grand total at the bottom.

How do I give my client a lump-sum price? Pick Grand Total Only under Price on the review page. Your client still sees every line of work, but the only price on the quote is the total. If you mean pricing one line as a single amount rather than quantity times unit cost, see How To Start an Estimate & Edit Scope Price.

Where did the Item Price toggle go? It’s now part of the choices under Price. All Prices is the old Item Price on, and Subproject Totals Only is the old Item Price off. Grand Total Only goes one step further and hides the subproject totals too.

What’s the difference between Subproject Totals Only and Grand Total Only? Both hide the line and group prices. Subproject Totals Only still shows what each subproject costs. Grand Total Only hides those as well, so the only number left is the grand total.

Why can’t I turn on Unit Cost? Check whether Grand Total Only is selected. A unit cost would reveal the line prices, so it’s switched off in that mode. Pick All Prices or Subproject Totals Only and you can turn it back on.

Can I show a clean total for one section but itemize another? Yes. Turn off Show Sub-Group Items? on the group you want kept high-level, and it shows the client a single line with its total, while other groups stay fully itemized.

I collapsed a group but the client still sees the items inside it. Why? Check which row you switched. A group row’s switches only cover that group. To collapse a whole subproject, use the switches on the subproject row itself. Then confirm with Preview as Client.

My client already saw the price — can I hide it now? Not entirely. Once the final quote goes out showing prices, the Price toggle locks on, so the total stays visible. The other display toggles still adjust.

Will the client know I’ve hidden anything? No. They simply see the quote as you’ve set it up — there’s no “hidden detail” marker on their end. Use Preview as Client to confirm exactly what they’ll receive.

Can I make these settings my default, or save them in a template? Not right now. Display Options and each group’s switches are saved per quote. A new quote starts with Cost Type, Quantities, Unit, and Price showing and Unit Cost and Markup hidden, and scope and project templates don’t carry these choices. Set them on each quote before you send it.