Sometimes the price isn’t just hours times rate. Maybe you’re cutting a longtime client a friends-rate discount, or charging a little extra for a weekend rush. Fee-Lion lets you drop a discount or surcharge right into your estimate as its own line, so the math stays clean and the client sees exactly what changed and why.
Add a discount or surcharge line
Discounts and surcharges live alongside your tasks and fees as line items, so you build them in the same place. Head to Estimates in the left sidebar and open the estimate you’re working on (or start a new one).
- In the line-items section, click Add line and choose Discount or Surcharge as the type.
- Give it a clear label your client will understand, like “Loyalty discount” or “Rush surcharge (weekend turnaround).”
- Enter the amount. Use a percentage when you want it to scale with the work, or a flat figure when it’s a fixed adjustment.
- Watch the running total update instantly at the bottom of the estimate. Discounts pull the total down; surcharges push it up.
- Click Save when the numbers look right.
Tip: Reach for a percentage when you want the adjustment to track the scope. A 10% discount automatically shrinks if you trim a task later, so you’ll never have to re-do the math after an edit. Use a flat amount for one-off gestures like “$50 off, just because.”
How it plays with tax and deposit
Order of operations matters, and Fee-Lion handles it the way you’d expect:
- Discounts and surcharges adjust the subtotal first. Tax is then calculated on the adjusted figure, so a discount lowers the tax too, which is exactly what your client wants to see.
- Your deposit percentage applies to the new total. If you collect a 30% deposit and you’ve knocked off a discount, the deposit follows the smaller number automatically.
- Stack as many as you need. You can add a discount and a surcharge on the same estimate. Each one is its own transparent line, never a mystery adjustment buried in the total.
If you find yourself applying the same tax or deposit rules on every estimate, set them once under Settings → Preferences in the Estimates and deposit defaults sections so every new estimate starts pre-filled.
What your client sees
When you send the estimate, the client opens it in their portal with no login required. Your discount or surcharge appears as a named line right in the breakdown, so there’s no awkward “wait, why is this more?” moment. They see the original work, the adjustment, the tax, and the final total, all spelled out. When they hit Approve, that adjusted total is what carries straight through to the invoice you convert it into.
Tip: Name your surcharge for the value, not the cost. “Rush surcharge (delivered in 48 hours)” lands far better than a bare “Surcharge,” because it reminds the client what they’re getting for the extra spend.
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