Every estimate in QuickEstimate has an owner—the team member responsible for building, maintaining, and sending it. Assigning estimates clearly means nothing falls through the cracks, your team always knows who's on point, and managers can track workload at a glance.

What estimate ownership means

When a team member is assigned as the owner of an estimate, they:

💡
One owner per estimate. Each estimate has a single owner at any one time. If you need multiple people working on the same estimate, use Sharing Estimates to give collaborators edit access alongside the owner.

Who can assign estimates

Assignment permissions depend on the team member's role:

Role Assign to themselves Assign to others Reassign any estimate
Owner ✔ ✔ ✔
Admin ✔ ✔ ✔
Estimator ✔ ✗ ✗
Viewer ✗ ✗ ✗

If you need to change a team member's role, see Understanding Team Roles and Permissions.

How to assign an estimate

You can assign ownership from two places: the Projects dashboard or from inside the estimate itself.

From the Projects dashboard

  1. 1
    Go to your Projects dashboard from the main navigation.
  2. 2
    Find the estimate you want to assign. Hover over the estimate card to reveal action icons.
  3. 3
    Click the 👤 Assignee icon (or the existing owner's avatar if one is already set).
  4. 4
    A dropdown will appear showing all active team members. Select the person you want to assign.
  5. 5
    The assignee is saved instantly. Their avatar will appear on the estimate card and they'll receive a notification.

From inside an estimate

  1. 1
    Open the estimate you want to assign.
  2. 2
    In the right-hand Details panel, locate the Assigned To field.
  3. 3
    Click the field and start typing a team member's name, or scroll the dropdown to find them.
  4. 4
    Select their name. The assignment is saved automatically and logged in the Activity Log.
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Bulk assigning: Need to assign several estimates at once? From the Projects dashboard, tick the checkboxes on multiple estimate cards, then choose Bulk Actions → Assign To to set the same owner across all selected estimates in one go.

Reassigning an estimate

Reassigning works exactly the same way as the initial assignment—just select a new team member from the Assignee dropdown. A few things to know when you reassign:

⚠️
Deactivated team members: If a team member leaves your organisation and their account is deactivated, QuickEstimate will flag any estimates they owned as Unassigned. You'll see a prompt in your dashboard to reassign these estimates to an active team member.

Tracking ownership across your team

Once estimates are assigned, QuickEstimate gives you several ways to see who owns what:

Projects dashboard view

Each estimate card in the dashboard shows the assignee's avatar. You can filter by team member using the Assigned To filter at the top of the dashboard to see only that person's estimates.

Workload report

Go to Reports → Workload to see a breakdown of how many estimates each team member currently owns, along with their total value and status distribution. This helps managers spot if one person is overloaded and redistribute work accordingly.

Activity log

Every assignment and reassignment is captured in the Team Activity Log (Settings → Activity Log) with a full timestamp. See Viewing the Team Activity Log for more detail.

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Sort by assignee: In list view on the Projects dashboard, click the Assigned To column header to sort all estimates alphabetically by owner—handy for a quick end-of-week review.

Frequently asked questions

Can I assign an estimate to someone who hasn't accepted their invitation yet?

No. You can only assign estimates to team members whose invitations have been accepted and whose accounts are active. Pending invites won't appear in the assignee dropdown. Once the person accepts and logs in, they'll become available to assign.

Will the assigned team member be listed as the sender when the estimate goes to the client?

By default, yes—the assignee's name and contact details are used as the sender. If you'd like to override this (for example, to always send from a company-wide address), go to Settings → Sending Preferences and choose a different sender name and email.

Can I assign estimates to myself?

Yes—any team member with at least an Estimator role can assign an estimate to themselves, whether they created it or not (as long as they have edit access to that estimate).

What happens to an assigned estimate if I downgrade a team member to Viewer?

The estimate will remain assigned to them and they'll still appear as the owner in the dashboard. However, they'll no longer be able to edit the estimate. We recommend reassigning the estimate to an active Estimator, Admin, or Owner before downgrading the role.

Is there a way to get notified when an estimate is assigned to me?

Yes. QuickEstimate sends an in-app and email notification whenever an estimate is assigned to you. You can manage the frequency and channels for these alerts in Managing Team Notification Settings.