Requesting quotes and contractor conversations

What it is

From a card, Request quote writes to contractors in your contractor directory. Pleno sends each message from your strata's Pleno address, in your name, and every reply comes back to the card. Contractors answer from their own mailbox and never need a Pleno account.

The card's Contractors list shows everyone asked to quote, whether the email reached them, and where their request stands. Once the card has a conversation, a Conversation tab shows every message.

Requesting a quote

1. Open the card and go to Content (on a project, Details). Under Contractors, choose Request quote. It opens inside the card, so it also works on an item opened over its project.
2. To: tick one or more contractors, up to 10. Contractors whose trade matches the card's categories are listed first. + New contractor adds someone who isn't listed yet: they are saved to the directory, so their history builds up in one place. If the address you type is already in the directory, Pleno uses that contractor.
3. With two or more contractors, choose Separate conversations (the default: each gets their own and they never see each other) or One group conversation (everyone in it sees each other's email addresses and replies).
4. Copy council members: tick anyone on council, or All council. They watch the conversation: each message and reply reaches them as a notification, they can answer it, and they can mute it. You're in every conversation you start.
5. Subject starts with the card number, such as [MNT-042]. Pleno uses it to file replies, so if you take it out it's put back.
6. Message starts from the card's own title, description and location. A unit number and who reported the problem are never added, but a card made from a resident's report starts with the report's own words in its description: when the card is linked to a report, Request quote reminds you to check the message for the resident's name, unit or contact details. Edit it as you like; your name and the strata's name are added under it.
7. Files to share: tick the photos and documents the contractor needs. Each contractor gets their own private link, never attachments, and only their own: in a group conversation too, each contractor's copy of the message carries just their link. The link goes under your name and the strata's. The message you see on the card says who got a link instead of showing it. See Sharing files with a contractor.
8. Choose Send request.

Right after you turn a report into a new card, Pleno offers Request quotes once, which opens this form on the new card.

Some contractors can't be ticked, with the reason shown: one already on this card or in one of its conversations (write to them in the Conversation tab), one with no email address, or an address that is blocked after an earlier bounce or spam report (update it in the directory).

Following each request

Each contractor you wrote to joins the card's Contractors list as Requested, with:

• What happened to the latest email: Sending, Delivered, Bounced, Marked as spam, Failed to send, or Not sent and why. A bounce shows on the card, so a request that never arrived doesn't go unnoticed. An email Pleno couldn't hand to the mail service is tried again a few times; once Pleno stops trying it shows Failed to send, never Sending for good. Under a problem, Pleno says what it means and what to do: for an address that doesn't accept mail, check the contractor's email; a full mailbox or a busy server is only for now, so a later message may get through. Details shows the mail service's own words, for the contractor's IT or for Pleno support.
• Share link views: how many times their link was opened, and when last.
• Status: change it to Quoted, Selected or Declined as the work moves on. Selecting a contractor fills in the card's Contractor field, and the change is in the card's Logs. Only one contractor can be selected on a card; change the selected one first to pick another. A contractor marked Requested moves to Quoted when a quote from them is added to the card's quotes: by hand, or on Pro from their reply (see below).
• Their quote: their latest quote on the card, beside the status, for example $2,850 + GST. A quote replaced by a later one isn't counted.

When a request bounces

When the address doesn't accept mail (a hard bounce), or is blocked after one, the contractor's row shows Fix address and resend:

1. Enter the corrected email and choose Send again. If the contractor's email was already corrected in the directory (from another card, for example), the form starts with that address.
2. Pleno saves it as the contractor's email in the directory (the change is in the card's Logs), and the conversation writes to it from then on.
3. The request goes to the new address only, in the same conversation, as you first wrote it, with a new private link to the same files. The link that went to the old address stops working. No other contractor gets it, in a group conversation too; council members watching the conversation are notified as for any message. The message in the thread says it was sent again and why.

If the new address was mistyped and nothing has gone to it yet, the row shows Send the request again to correct it once more. An address already used by another contractor in the directory, one of Pleno's own, or one that is blocked too is refused before anything changes. A full mailbox, a spam report or a send failure doesn't offer it: write again later, or ask the contractor another way.

The Conversation tab

The tab appears once the card has a conversation, after Documents. Each contractor's conversation is listed by contractor; a group conversation is listed once.

• Each message shows who wrote it (council members by name, contractors by name and company), when, in your strata's time zone, and its text without the earlier mail quoted under it.
• Files that came with a reply are filed in the card's Documents, and open from the message.
• Under a message Pleno sent, each contractor's line says whether it was delivered or bounced, and what to do about a bounce.
• Show full email shows the whole email as it was received, as plain text.
• A contractor's private file link quoted in their reply shows as [private file link removed], so it never reaches anyone else in the conversation. Show full email keeps it. A link their mail scanner replaced with one of its own (Mimecast) can't be recognised, so it stays.
• Reply sends to everyone in the conversation, from the strata's Pleno address, signed with your name.
• Watching or Muted: watching sends you an email for each message in that conversation.
• Open MNT-042 in Pleno in a message's email opens the card. If it's in another of your buildings, Pleno asks before switching you there.

The card's vendor quotes

A card's quotes are in Vendor quotes, on its Content tab (on a project, Details). A council vote that needs a vendor offers them, and each contractor's latest quote shows beside them under Contractors. Quotes come from forwarded email (Pro), from a contractor's reply (Pro, below), or by hand, on every plan. A forwarded quote keeps its tax as the email states it, for example $1,480 + GST.

Adding a quote by hand

For a quote you received by phone, on paper, or in mail that didn't come through Pleno:

1. Under Vendor quotes, choose Add quote. On an open card the section is there before the card has any quotes.
2. Contractor: pick one from your contractor directory (those whose trade matches the card's categories are listed first), or choose Someone not in the directory… and type their name. A name your directory already has, such as "Harbour Plumbing Ltd." for Harbour Plumbing, goes under that contractor, and the form says so.
3. Amount: as it is on the quote: 2850, $2,850.50, or 2 850,00 $ (a comma before the last one or two digits is the decimals). One figure only: for two options, add two quotes.
4. Tax: not stated, added on top (+ GST, + PST, + GST and PST, or + tax for HST or another), or included. The form shows how the quote will read, for example "Shows as $2,850 + GST."
5. Scope and Lead time (optional): a few words each, up to 120 characters.
6. File (optional): the quote's PDF or photo, from the card's own documents: an upload, a link, or a library document linked on the card. Attach it in Documents first. The quote then opens it.
7. Choose Add quote.

The card's Logs say who added it ("added a quote from Harbour Plumbing: $2,850 + GST"). A contractor whose request on the card is still Requested moves to Quoted; one already Selected or Declined stays as it is. The card's Quoted cost isn't changed.

Editing and deleting quotes

• Edit is on a quote added by hand. It changes everything the form holds, and the Logs keep the quote as it was and as it is now. A contractor newly named on the quote moves from Requested to Quoted. A quote added from a reply or from forwarded email keeps what was read from it: to correct one, delete it and add the right figures by hand.
• Delete is on any quote: added by hand, forwarded, or from a reply. The confirmation names the quote, for example "Harbour Plumbing · $2,850", and says what changes: "It won't count in vote totals any more." Deleting a quote added from a reply brings back the quotes it replaced (see below). The Logs say who deleted it.
• A replaced quote is the card's history: it has no Edit or Delete. To bring it back, delete the quote that replaced it.

Quotes are added, edited and deleted on open cards only (Planning, In progress, On hold), never on a draft, and never while a council vote on the card is open: Vendor quotes says "Council is voting on this card. Add, edit or delete quotes after the vote." Linking a quote to a contractor on the contractor directory, or unlinking it, waits for the vote too, whatever the card's status, and so does deleting a contractor with a quote on the card. A vote that already passed keeps the vendor and total it approved, whatever happens to the quote afterwards.

A quote forwarded by email while council is voting on the card waits too. Vendor quotes lists it under "Came in by email during the vote" with its contractor, amount (with its tax) and the day it came in, and "Added when the vote ends." When the vote passes, fails or is cancelled, it is added to the card's quotes, unless the card has the same quote by then, and the Logs say so ("added the quote Harbour Plumbing: $2,850 + GST when the vote ended"). On a card that is Done or archived by then, it isn't added, and the Logs say why.

When a card is split by location, its live quotes are copied onto each new card, once (a replaced quote stays with the original card as its history). Each new card's Logs say who copied each quote and from which card, for example "copied the quote Harbour Plumbing: $2,850 + GST from MNT-061".

Prices in a contractor's reply (Pro)

On Pro (and during the two-month trial), Pleno reads a contractor's reply for the prices they quote: in the text of their reply, and in the files they attached (PDF, Word, CSV or text). The prices it finds show under the reply. They aren't on the card's quotes until someone adds them: the property manager, president or vice-president checks each one and chooses Add as quote or Replace.

When Pleno reads a reply on its own

Pleno first looks at a contractor's reply without AI, and reads it on its own only when it holds a new price:

• its text names a price ($2,850, 2 850 $, 2850 + GST), or a plain figure such as "we can do it for 1850" while you're still waiting for that contractor's quote or when the reply talks about a quote or a price;
• a file in it has a total, subtotal or tax line, whatever the file is called;
• a file in it shows a dollar figure, and you're still waiting for that contractor's quote, the reply talks about a quote or a price, or the file is named as a quote.

Figures the contractor already sent, such as a price in their signature, don't count again, and neither do files already on the card. Pleno can't read scans or photos: the reply says so, and you add the price by hand. From one contractor it reads at most 5 replies a day on a card, and 10 in 30 days across your cards. Once their quote is in and two readings in a row found nothing, it waits for a reply that talks about a quote or a price. When the month's allowance is used it stops reading on its own. Read the quote still works up to the fair-use ceiling.

Most replies ("I'll come Tuesday") have no price and aren't read at all. A file that arrived before Pleno looked at files this way, or that it didn't get to (it checks up to six files a reply), is read when its name says it's a quote, or, when the reply talks about a quote, a price or options, whatever it's called ("Invoice.pdf" too).

• Which replies: a reply from a contractor in the conversation, on an open card (Planning, In progress, On hold). Never a council member's message. A reply waiting for approval is read once it's approved, never while it waits, and never after it's rejected.
• What's read: what the contractor wrote this time, not the earlier mail quoted under it, and up to five of its files: those with a total line first, then those with dollar figures, then those Pleno didn't check. A long file is read in part: its first page and the pages with prices, about 20,000 characters across the files of one reply. If Pleno runs out of time in a long PDF after finding a price, a price only on later pages isn't read: add it by hand. A price that's also written in earlier mail from someone else in the conversation, such as a budget in your request or another contractor's price, still shows, with a note saying where: "Also in your quote request", or "Also in earlier mail from" and who wrote it, as the conversation names them. Check that it's really their price before you add it: they may only be repeating it.
• What's kept: each price as written in the reply or the file, and what it is: Quote (the price for the job), Option (another price for it, instead of the quote), Add-on (optional work on top) or Part (a line of a price, shown only when no total in the same place adds the lines up). With it: whether tax is added on top or included (when the reply says), a few words on what it covers, and when the work can be done. A price must be written as a whole figure in the reply or the file; part of a phone number, a quote or invoice number, a date or a range, such as $1,200 to $1,500, is never kept.
• Add as quote puts the price in the card's Vendor quotes, as that contractor's, and shows the contractor's total with it, for example "Harbour Plumbing totals $5,950 with this". Replace puts it in their place: the contractor's quotes on the card stay in Vendor quotes, marked replaced, as the card's history, and a vote or a total no longer counts them ("$3,100 if you replace"). When the contractor's quote on the card came from an earlier reply, Replace is offered first, as a revised price usually replaces the old one. Either way, the change is in the card's Logs under your name, and a contractor marked Requested moves to Quoted; one already Selected or Declined stays as it is.
• Delete undoes it, in the card's Vendor quotes, as for any quote (above). The quote comes off the card, the quotes it replaced count again (only those: a quote replaced before them stays replaced), and the price can be added again from the reply. The confirmation says what comes back, for example "The quote it replaced ($2,850 from Harbour Plumbing) will count again.", or "You can add it again from their reply.", and the card's Logs say who deleted it. A quote added from a reply keeps its amount, its tax and its contractor: it has no Edit.
• While council votes: no price is added while a council vote on the card is open: the reply says "Council is voting on this card. Add the quote after the vote." Nor is any quote deleted then: a vote may have chosen it, and deleting it would change what the vote is deciding. A vote that already passed keeps what it approved: replacing or deleting the quote it chose doesn't change it (the reply says so before you replace it).
• Where it shows: under the reply in the Conversation tab, with See the card's quotes once one is added; in the card's Vendor quotes, with From their reply and the date, which opens the reply, and Delete; and beside the contractor in Contractors, their latest quote on the card.
• The notification: when the prices are read before the reply goes out to council (usually within seconds), the email council members get lists them, for example "Quote: $2,850 + GST (Quote-1234.pdf)" or "Quote: $3,000 — also in your quote request", and says they aren't on the card's quotes until someone adds them in Pleno. Nothing is added from the email. Contractors never see it.
• The card's Quoted cost isn't changed: several contractors may quote, and it's locked while a council vote on the card is open. Votes stay in Pleno: a reply is never read as a vote.

If Pleno couldn't read a reply, or couldn't read one of its files that time, the reply says Couldn't read a quote in this reply with Try again. When a reading found only files Pleno can't read (a scan, a photo, or a file too large to read), the reply says so: add the price to the card's quotes by hand. If Read the quote would read other files, Read the other files reads them. A reply that wasn't read on its own shows Read the quote when it has a file Pleno can read or a new price in its text: for example, Pleno saw no new price in it, it had reached its limits for that contractor, the files were already on the card, or the reply came while your strata was on Free. Read the quote reads the same files Pleno would, and files with no price in them when those are all there is.

A quote sent only as a scan or a photo can't be read. When the reply looks like a quote (you're still waiting for that contractor's quote, it talks about a quote, or the file is named as one), it says: "This quote looks like a scan or a photo. Pleno can't read prices from those, so add it to the card's quotes by hand." This shows on Free too.

On Free, the reply and its files are filed on the card as always. Pleno still looks at a contractor's files for a price line, without AI, only so that Read the quote with Pro shows on the replies Pro would read on its own. Nothing is read, and nothing counts against an allowance.

Reading replies has its own monthly allowance on Pro, apart from forwarded email's: one never uses the other (see Usage and limits). Pleno stops reading replies on its own once the month's allowance is used; Read the quote and Try again still read until a little past it, then they wait: the reply says the month's allowance is used up, and Try again reads it once the count resets. Filing and passing on the reply never wait for any of it.

Messages waiting for approval

Pleno holds a reply instead of passing it on when it isn't sure who sent it: someone who isn't in the conversation (often a contractor's colleague), an address Pleno couldn't verify, someone no longer in the conversation, a council member writing from an address that isn't their Pleno login, or more replies than usual in a short time. A held message is marked Waiting for approval, with the reason, and goes to no one until it's decided.

• Approve passes it on and lets its sender reply from then on. In a private conversation, a second outside party needs a choice: Approve as a colleague of the contractor (offered when they wrote through the contractor's reply address or from the same company email domain), or Approve as a group conversation, after which everyone outside the council in it sees each other's addresses and replies. That can't be undone.
• Reject passes nothing on, and the message is never sent to anyone. It stays on the card under Rejected messages, with who sent it, why it was held, who rejected it and when, its text and Show full email, and is kept for two years like any correspondence. Files that came with it aren't filed on the card. A rejection can't be undone.

When a reply to a council member's reply address comes from another address, the council member is told at the email they use for Pleno (once a day at most for each conversation): "A reply to MNT-042 came from another address and was held. Reply from the email you use for Pleno." Pleno never writes to the other address. Pleno recognises a council member's mail only from the email they sign in with, shown in Settings → Profile & sign-in.

Who can do it

• The property manager (with or without delegated admin), the president and the vice-president request quotes, add contractors from the request, change a request's status, fix a bounced address and send the request again, approve or reject held messages, and write in any conversation on the strata's cards (not during the 90-day read-only overlap after a term ends).
• Every council member reads every conversation and the Contractors list. A council member copied on a conversation can reply in it, from Pleno or by email.
• On Pro, the property manager, president and vice-president choose Read the quote, Try again, Add as quote and Replace on a contractor's reply (not during the read-only overlap). Other council members see the prices read from a reply, without these choices.
• On every plan, the property manager, president and vice-president add a quote by hand, edit one added by hand, and delete any quote (not during the read-only overlap, nor while billing makes the account read-only: Pleno says why). Every council member sees the card's quotes.
• Residents never see contractors, requests or conversations.
• During a support session, Pleno staff see who wrote and when, and what happened to each email, never the messages (rejected ones included), their files, or the prices read from them. A price someone added to the card's quotes is one of the card's quotes, which staff see in a support session like any other. A support session can't ask Pleno to read a reply, or add, edit or delete a quote.

See Permissions by role.

Limits and things to know

• Requests go out on open cards only (Planning, In progress, On hold), never on a draft. A conversation already under way carries on after its card is done or archived: you can still reply in it.
• One request reaches up to 10 contractors, and a conversation has up to 10 people outside the council.
• Writing to people outside the council is part of the Free plan, within fair-use limits: a monthly limit on new conversations, at most 20 new outside addresses a day, and a daily safety limit on all email outside the council. Pleno says so before sending when one stops a request. Past the monthly limit, replies in conversations already under way still go out. Past the daily safety limit they wait too: a reply you write is refused until later, and a contractor's reply is kept and waits for approval.
• Email to people outside the council works once your strata plan's lot count is confirmed from the BC land registry (ParcelMap BC). Until then, Request quote says why it can't send.
• If part of a request can't go out (one contractor's address reaches a limit), the others still do, and the request lists who it didn't reach. Send request again finishes it; nothing is sent twice.
• If someone else asks the same contractor on the same card at the same moment, only one request goes out; the other says the contractor is already on the card.
• Sending a request again to a corrected address counts like any request: the new address is one of the day's new outside addresses, and the daily safety limit applies. If the answer is lost, Send again with the same address finishes it without sending twice, and two people sending the same address at once send it once.
• Correspondence is kept for at least two years.
• The installed mobile app doesn't show contractors or conversations yet; open the card in a browser to add a price from a reply, or to add, edit or delete a quote. A quote added either way is one of the card's quotes there too, so a council vote on the mobile app offers it.

Related

• Sharing files with a contractor
• Contractor directory
• Permissions by role