Not every detail on a project is decided up front. Maybe you want to offer your client three dishwashers and let them pick the one they want installed. Maybe you’re quoting a repair and you’d rather show a low and a high option than commit to a single number. Selection groups let you bundle a set of scope items together as a single “pick one” choice, present them to your client in their portal, and record exactly what they chose — without the back-and-forth.
This article walks through building selection groups in your scope, making a choice on a client’s behalf, what your client sees, and how open choices flow into your pricing and proposals.
What a Selection Group Is
A selection group is a small set of scope items where the client picks exactly one. Think of it as a question with a few possible answers: “Which showerhead would you like?” with a rain shower and a basic shower as the options. The client has to pick one, and can only pick one — you can’t paint a room two colors at once.
Each option in the group is just a regular scope item with its own price, so the choice flows straight through to the project’s pricing once it’s made.
Building a Selection Group
Start by checking the boxes next to the items you want to turn into a choice. Then click Make Selection in the toolbar above the scope.
The Make Selection button in the scope toolbar, with two items checked and grouped into Selection (Choice #1)
A couple of ground rules when you group items:
The items have to live in the same section and be next to each other in the list. If you try to group items from different subprojects, or items that aren’t adjacent, you’ll get a quick heads-up asking you to fix the selection.
A selection group sits directly inside a subproject — it can’t be nested inside another group.
Once grouped, the items collapse under a Selection (Choice #1) header with a Not Selected badge, so it’s always clear at a glance whether a decision has been made yet. You can drag the whole selection block around your scope just like any other group, and you can drag extra items in to add them as options or drag items out to remove them.
If a group ends up with only a single option in it, that’s not really a choice — so it’s treated as an ordinary scope item when you generate a quote or PDF, and we’ll warn you before you get there.
Giving Each Option Its Product Details
Each option can carry its own product details — the brand, a description, where to buy it, and photos. Click into an option to open its drawer and fill in whatever you’d like.
The item drawer showing Seller, Seller URL, Brand, Description, and Photos fields
None of these are required. An option with nothing but a name and a price still shows up as a choice for your client. But the more you add, the richer the choice looks in their portal — a photo of the actual faucet goes a long way toward helping someone decide.
You can expand an option right from the scope using the arrow on its row to peek at its details without opening the full drawer.
The expand arrow on a selection option row, next to the Not Selected badge and the price range
Managing or Undoing a Group
Check the selection header row and open its … menu for the group’s options:
The selection group menu showing Client View, Ungroup, and Delete Group
Client View previews the choice the way your client will see it.
Ungroup turns the options back into ordinary scope rows and removes the choice, leaving the items in place.
Delete Group removes the group and its items entirely.
Once a choice has been locked in, the group settles down: you can’t delete it or its items, and you can’t edit the options — unless you unlock the selection first (more on that below).
Making the Choice for Your Client
Clients don’t always make their picks in the portal. Sometimes they’ll tell you over the phone, or you’ll just want to dial it in yourself. From the selection’s … menu, choose Client View to open the options and use Select for Client on the one they want.
The Options and Finishes choice view with a Select for Client button on each option
We’ll ask you to confirm before locking it in, since you’re recording a decision on the client’s behalf. Every choice — whether the client made it or you did — is written to the project’s audit trail, so the Overview tab and the global audit log both show what was picked, who picked it, and when.
What Your Client Sees
Open choices show up in the client portal under the Options and Finishes panel, grouped as Choice #1, Choice #2, and so on. Each option appears as a card with its price and any product details you added.
The client portal showing Choice #1 with two showerhead options, each with brand, description, and price
Even an option with only a name and a price gets its own clean card:
The client portal showing Choice #2 with two wall-repair options at different prices
Before anything is locked, your client can click freely between the options to watch the project total update with each one — it’s a no-commitment way to see what each choice would cost. To actually lock a choice in, they pick the option and confirm. One thing to know: locking a selection requires the client to be signed in to their account. If they’re viewing through a magic link without logging in, they can still explore the options and see how the price changes, but they’ll need to sign in to commit.
The client homepage also carries a summary of the choices still waiting on them, so even on a big project with lots of decisions, they get a quick reminder of what’s left to weigh in on.
Once a choice is locked, the other options drop away to keep things unambiguous, and the portal shows who made the choice and when. From that point the client can’t change it on their own — they’ll need to reach out to you to reopen it.
Locking and Reopening a Choice
Each selection locks on its own. If you’ve set up one choice for the living-room paint and another for the kitchen faucet, your client can lock the paint while leaving the faucet open — they’re independent.
Here’s how it shakes out:
Before a choice is made — whether or not the contract is signed — the client can pick or change an option, you can pick on their behalf, and you can freely edit the options in the group.
After a choice is made — it’s locked. The client can’t change it, and the options can’t be edited.
You’re never stuck, though. From your side you can Clear Selection to unlock a locked choice, which reopens it for editing and re-selection. That’s the lever to pull when a client changes their mind after committing.
How Open Choices Affect Your Pricing and Proposals
While a choice is still open, the project total shows as a range rather than a single number. The low end uses the cheapest option in each open group and the high end uses the most expensive.
The scope total showing a price range while a choice is still open
Say a tile choice offers green at $100, blue at $500, and orange at $300, and the rest of the project adds up to $10,000. Until that choice is made, the project reads $10,100–$10,500. As soon as the client picks blue, the total firms up to $10,500.
When you generate a PDF or send the contract out for signature:
Locked choices are baked into the final price, shown with the chosen option and a note of who picked it and when. The options that weren’t chosen are dropped.
Open choices are included so the client can see them, but they don’t contribute to the price — it’s up to you to add any contract language you want about open selections not being part of the quoted total.
Because choices lock independently, your client can sign the contract before every decision is in. The open ones stay open and can be made later, right alongside the rest of the project.
Selections Inside Optional Subprojects
Selection groups layer neatly with optional subprojects. You can offer an optional “Kitchen” subproject and put a green-tile-versus-blue-tile choice inside it. If the client opts into the kitchen, the choice comes along with it; if they skip the subproject, the choice goes too.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
Choices can keep evolving after the contract is signed — you can still add, edit, and remove options as the project takes shape, as long as that particular choice isn’t locked.
Selection groups don’t mix with change orders in this version. A change order can’t add or remove a selection group, though you can still edit the options inside an existing one.
Anyone who can edit the scope can build selection groups, and locking a choice in the portal requires the client to be signed in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my client sign the contract before they’ve made every choice? Yes. Each selection locks on its own, so any choices still open when the contract is signed simply stay open — your client can make them later, right alongside the rest of the project.
My client picked an option but now wants to change it. What do I do? Once a choice is locked, only you can reopen it. Open the selection’s … menu and use Clear Selection to unlock it — that frees up the options to be edited and re-selected.
Why is my project total showing a range instead of one number? Because a choice is still open. While a selection hasn’t been made, the total shows a range — the low end uses the cheapest option in each open group and the high end uses the most expensive. The number firms up as choices get locked in.
I tried to group some items and got an error. What happened? Items can only be grouped into a selection if they’re in the same section and sit next to each other in the list. If they’re in different subprojects or aren’t adjacent, move them together first, then make the selection.
Do the options my client didn’t pick get charged on the final quote? No. Only the chosen option counts toward the price. Unchosen options still appear in the PDF and signing envelope so the client can see what was offered, but they don’t add to the total.
Can my client lock in a choice from the link I texted them? They can explore the options and watch the price change from a magic link, but actually locking a choice requires them to be signed in to their account. If they want to commit, they’ll need to log in.
What happens if a selection group only has one option? That’s not really a choice, so Eano treats it as an ordinary scope item when you generate a quote or PDF — and you’ll see a warning before you get there. Add another option, or ungroup it.
Who on my team can create selection groups? Building a selection is part of editing the scope, so anyone who can edit it — typically Owners, Admins, Core Members, and Superusers — can do it. Field Workers with view-only access can see the scope but can’t make changes.