# Triage an inbound client request

> Inbound requests appear on the client's page and on your dashboard. Open one, check where the work is, then choose: Review to say you've got it, Decline with a reason the client will read, or Create Proposal to turn it into a draft quote carrying the location, description and PO. Price it, send it through the staged send, and the client signs in their portal.

URL: https://biloh.com.au/docs/how-to/triage-an-inbound-client-request
Category: How-to guides | Audience: operator | Updated: 2026-08-16

## Where do requests show up?

Two places:

- **The client's page** — a **Service Requests** panel listing their requests
  with status, urgency and location.
- **Your dashboard** — a **Pending Service Requests** panel showing the oldest
  untriaged requests across all clients, each linking through to its client.

An assistant connected over MCP can also list the queue directly. See
[the tool reference](/docs/reference/service-request-mcp-tools).

## What should I check before deciding?

Read the location line first, above the description.

It shows either the name of one of the client's existing sites, or the address
they typed. If it shows an address with a **not a site yet** flag, the client
has asked for work somewhere you have no premises record for.

That is not a problem with the request — it is the most common shape of new
work — but it changes your order of operations. **Create the site before you
quote**, so the resulting proposal, job, work order and invoice all have a real
premises to hang off. If you quote first, the proposal is created without a
site and you have to attach one afterwards.

Then read their description. It is in the client's own words and usually
contains the scope detail the catalogue service can't express.

## How do I say "I've got this"?

Click **Review**.

The request moves to *under review*, and the client sees that status change in
their portal. It stamps you as the reviewer with a timestamp, so the record
shows who picked it up.

Use it when you can't quote immediately but don't want the client wondering
whether the request arrived. It costs one click and removes the most common
reason a client chases you.

## How do I decline?

Click **Decline**, type a reason, confirm.

The reason is **required** — the confirm won't proceed without it — because the
client reads it in their portal. Write it as you'd say it to them:

> We don't currently service that area for residential glass.

is a reason. `n/a` is not. A declined request with a real reason often produces
the next request, correctly scoped; a silent decline produces silence.

## How do I turn it into a quote?

Click **Create Proposal**.

That creates a **draft** proposal and links it to the request, which moves to
*quoted*. The proposal already carries:

- the client
- the site, when the request named one
- the client's description, as the proposal notes
- the requested address, written into the notes when there is no site yet
- their **purchase-order reference**, if they supplied one
- a proposal number

You land on the proposal, ready to price.

**It does not price anything.** If the client picked a service from your
catalogue you get one line at zero; if they described something you don't list,
you get a proposal with **no lines at all**. Either way, the next step is
yours: set the real amount, or add the lines the job actually needs.

> **Check the lines before you send.** A proposal with no lines will go out as
> an empty quote, and a proposal left at zero will go out priced at nothing.

## How do I get it back to the client?

Through the standard staged send — the same three steps every outbound document
uses:

1. **Propose the send.** You get a preview: the rendered PDF, the exact email
   body, and the resolved recipient list with where each address came from.
2. **Confirm.** This mints the signing link and stages the document.
3. **Approve.** The email goes.

The client receives a link, opens the agreement in their portal, and accepts it
there. Their request then shows *Proposal Sent* with a **View Proposal** link.

Nothing sends without a human approving it at step three, so a mispriced quote
is always recoverable before it reaches anyone.

## What if the work is at a new address?

The honest sequence:

1. **Create the site** on that client, using the address from the request.
2. **Create the proposal** from the request.
3. **Attach the line to that site** as you price it.

Doing it in that order means the eventual job, work order and invoice all point
at a real premises, and the site is there next time the client asks for
something at the same place — which, for a property they've just taken on, they
usually will.

## Related

- [How client requests close the loop](/docs/concepts/client-requests-close-the-loop) — why the channel exists
- [Service request MCP tools](/docs/reference/service-request-mcp-tools) — driving the same queue from an assistant