How clients accept and e-sign

When your client opens a proposal link, they're looking at the same document you built, with one difference: they can toggle optional add-ons on or off and watch the total update live. Accepting walks them through a short signing modal, and the moment they finish, FirstSlate freezes the document as the legal record.

What your client sees

The public proposal page shows your scope, pricing, schedule, and any other sections you added. If you marked any line items as optional add-ons, your client can select or clear them, and the price at the bottom updates as they do. If you set contract terms, those appear too, along with a checkbox confirming they've read and agree to them.

Accepting and signing

Clicking Accept Proposal opens a modal that confirms the price, shows your contract terms if you added any, and asks your client to sign:

1. Signature: type a full name. Below that, an optional "adopt your signature" control lets them pick a script style (Elegant, Classic, or Casual) rendered from their typed name, or draw a signature by hand. Neither is required, the typed name alone is a valid signature.
2. Initials: if you marked specific sections as requiring initials, your client must initial each one before the Accept button unlocks.
3. Email verification: if you turned on "require email verification before signing" for this proposal, your client requests a one-time code by email and enters it before they can sign.

Clicking Sign & Accept finalizes it.

What happens after

The moment your client signs:

• You get an in-app notification and an email letting you know who accepted and what they selected.
• A draft invoice is prepared automatically from the accepted proposal (if one didn't already exist), and you get a nudge to review and send it.
• Your client receives a "signed agreement" email with the executed PDF attached, including an Electronic Signature Record and a Certificate of Completion covering the signer's name, IP address, timestamp, and a content hash of exactly what was signed.

Countersigning

Once a proposal is accepted, you can click Countersign on the proposal page to add your own signature to the record. This isn't required to make the agreement binding, but it produces a fully executed copy with both signatures for jobs where you want that on file.

Why the accepted document freezes

An accepted proposal becomes read-only. This is deliberate: it's the legal record of exactly what your client agreed to, and editing it after the fact would undermine the signature. If the scope changes after acceptance, use change orders instead, which keep the original signed agreement intact and add the new scope as its own approval.

Plan availability

E-signature works on every plan, including Free. There's no separate paid tier for accepting and signing proposals. See plans and limits.

Common questions

Can my client decline instead of accepting?

Yes, the public page also offers a decline option, which records their name and an optional reason and notifies you.

Is the drawn or script signature required?

No. It's an optional visual style layered on top of the typed name. If a client skips it, the typed name alone still constitutes their signature.

What if my client's estimate doesn't need a signature?

Estimates use a lighter approval flow with no signature. See estimates vs proposals for how the two differ.