QuickBooks Online Advanced project quotes: setup gaps that block cost tracking

QuickBooks Online Advanced subscribers keep asking the same question about project work. They want to know what a job will cost before it starts, then check actual spending against that plan as the work proceeds. The capability exists, in the form of a project cost quote, but two account settings stand between users and a working comparison. Skip them and the costing side of the feature simply does not appear.

Which plans have this?

Project cost quotes ship with the Advanced plan. If your workspace shows no Projects app and no quote option on a project, the subscription tier is the first thing to check. Users on lower tiers will not find this quote type at all, and no amount of reconfiguration will add it.

The symptoms users describe

Two complaints recur. The product and service list will not show up on expense and purchase forms, so itemised costs are impossible to plan. And some users who open the Quotes page to raise an ordinary quote get redirected to the Project quote screen instead. Others never find the comparison report at all, because no quote exists to compare against. Both visible faults are configuration, not corruption.

Turn on the items table first

Start in Settings, then Account and settings, then Expenses. Edit the Bills and expenses section and switch on the option that places an items table on expense and purchase forms, then save and finish. Until this is enabled, the software will not accept products and services on a bill. The costing workflow halts at step one, which is why many users believe the feature is missing from their subscription.

Map each product to an expense account

The quote also needs each item linked to a cost destination. In Settings, open Products and services and edit an item. Tick the box stating you purchase the service from a supplier, pick an Expense or Cost of Sales account from the dropdown, and save. Repeat this for every item you plan to estimate. The link is what lets the quote carry an estimated cost rather than a bare line description.

Build the quote with both rates

From All apps, open Projects, choose the project, and pick Project quote from the Add to project dropdown. Each line takes a product or service and a quantity. Your rate holds the cost you expect to pay, and Customer rate holds the price you expect to charge. Leave one blank for an income-only or cost-only forecast. The markup column fills itself in from the two rates, and editing the percentage moves the customer rate with it. Totals for estimated costs, income, and margin update as you go.

Can you send the quote to a customer?

Yes. Save it, or choose the option to review and send, then check the email before it goes out. The customer sees your prices only. Your costs, your markup, and your margin stay on your side of the form, so the quote is safe to share as a proposal.

Why does the quote page jump somewhere else?

This is the redirect that puzzles people. Some accounts, when a quote is started from the Quotes page, land on the Project quote screen instead of the standard form. A conversion setting is responsible. On the Quotes page, open Manage, then Customisation, and switch off Project quote conversion. Ordinary quotes then open where they should.

Getting the actuals to line up

A quote on its own is only half the picture. Expenses and invoices coded to the project provide the actual side, and the project quotes versus actuals report sets the plan against what really happened. Keep the quote’s status current as the job progresses, so the comparison reflects where the work stands. Users who quote, code, and report against the same project get the answer they were after: whether the margin held.

Our read

Nothing here needs a repair, a rebuild, or a data fix. It needs settings, applied once and in the right order. Enable the items table, map the products, and quote from inside the project itself. The redirect is the only genuine surprise, and even that is a preference rather than a defect. Advanced subscribers who work through the sequence end up with the forecast-versus-actuals view that prompted the question in the first place.