Buildertrend Selections provides a centralized place to present options to your clients, track approvals, and monitor financial impact. 

Selections can include individual Options and may be tied to an Allowance for budgeting purposes. 

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Creating an Option

Options are the individual choices presented to your client within the Selections feature. 

To create an option, select a job, then navigate to the Selections feature under the Project Management dropdown.

Select the + Option button to add an Option. 

Enter in the Option details, including Title, Description, Pricing Information, and any images or files. (You can have multiple line items within an Option).

When finished creating your Option, select Save.

Once saved, the Option will automatically go into a Pending status and be viewable to your client within their Client Portal. 

 

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Managing Option Status 

When an Option is created, it is automatically labeled as Pending and available in the Client Portal for review. 

 Client Actions

 Clients can respond to Options in the Client Portal by selecting:

• Approve (✅)
• Decline (X)

Clients can only approve or decline Options through their Client Portal at this time. 

Builder Actions 

Builders can: can respond to Options in the Client Portal by selecting: 

• Approve (✅)
• Decline (X)

• Reset (↺) 

Resetting an Option resets its status back to Pending, allowing the client to review and respond again. 

Pricing Visibility

While an option is Pending, line item pricing remains visible. 

As Options are approved, the financial impact updates in real time, with a running total reflecting approved amounts.

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Using Allowances with Selections and Options

Allowances can only be created from the Estimate Worksheet and serve as budget placeholders for Selections. 

To create an Allowance, navigate to the Estimate under the Financial dropdown.

Within the Estimate worksheet, create an Allowance in one of the following ways: 

1. While building the estimate from scratch 
2. Using the Estimate Toolbar
3. Converting an existing line item into an allowance 

Complete the Allowance line item with a Title, Cost Code, Description, and Pricing Information.

 

Once created, the Allowance will appear on both the Estimate and the Selections list and will be marked with a coin icon for easy identification.

Within the Estimate:

Within Selections:

From the Selections feature, you can now create new options or tie existing options to the Allowance you created. 

To add a new Option to an Allowance, click the (+) icon next to the Allowance.

To add an Allowance to an existing Option, open the Option and select the appropriate Allowance from the dropdown menu.

 

To edit an Option, select the Pencil Icon.

To delete an Option, select the Trash Icon.

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Impact on Financials

When options are approved either internally or by the client, the associated Allowance automatically updates in both the Selections feature and the Job Costing Budget. 

The budget will display:

• The revised cost and remaining Allowance balance 

• The original Allowance amount for comparison

This allows you to track overages and underages as Options are approved.

If approved Options exceed the Allowances, the revised budget cost will reflect the overage amount.

In the below example, you can see that the selected Option was $100 over the Allowance, so the Revised budget cost is $100 more than the Original budget costs:

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Invoicing and Payments 

Allowances should typically be included in the original contract or payment schedule. 

If final costs exceed the Allowance: 

• Issue an additional invoice for the overage. 

If final costs are under the Allowance:

• Issue a credit memo or Change Order if required by your contract terms. 

For Open Book Jobs, invoicing should be based on actual vendor bills entered into Job Costing. 

For Fixed Price Jobs, Allowances should be included in the payment schedule, and adjustments handled separately as needed. 

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