Agree the payment plan

The payment plan says how the buyer pays the estimate's amount: all at once, in installments on a regular cadence or on dates you agree, or as construction stages are achieved. It is drafted on the estimate as a versioned plan; finalizing it later, together with the locked price, is what requests approval. Charge groups that the unit pricing plan collects at possession stay outside the plan and are shown apart.

Before you start

• The estimate exists with its pricing saved: Price a unit for a buyer. The plan can be drafted while the estimate is still Draft and versioned after the price is locked; a Superseded or Cancelled version, or a Booked or Lost opportunity, can't take a plan.
• One Draft plan at a time per estimate. A Draft is edited in place; a Finalized plan is changed by a new version, which supersedes it as soon as it is saved.
• For a construction-linked plan, or custom rows due at a milestone, the project needs construction stages (Plan the construction stages) and you need the View permission on Construction Stages. Without it the Construction-linked type isn't offered and the step shows "Milestone-linked rows need the Milestones permission to list the project's milestones."
• If some charge groups are to be collected on specific stages or at possession, that is set on the unit pricing plan, not here: Decide how each charge group is collected. Possession rows are dated on the project's Expected possession date.
• You need the Edit permission on Estimates (and the View permission on Opportunities): in the default roles the Administrator, the Sales Manager and the Sales Executive.

Steps

1. Get to the Payment plan step of the estimate wizard. It opens by itself after Save & continue to payment plan on the pricing step. Later, open it from the Estimate page's Payment plan card: Draft payment plan when there is none yet, Edit draft on a Draft plan, or New version on a Finalized one (not after booking). The card "Payment plan" reads "How ₹<amount> for unit <unit> is collected", adding "; ₹<amount> more is due at the time of possession, outside the plan" when the pricing plan sends charge groups to possession, then "You are editing draft v<n>." or "v<n> is finalized; saving creates v<n+1> and supersedes it."
2. Choose the Plan type ("How the agreed amount is collected."): Lumpsum ("All of it on the booking date"), Installments ("Spread over time") or Construction-linked ("As milestones are achieved"). Lumpsum needs nothing else: "Every charge falls due in full on the booking date. Nothing else to set."
3. For Installments, pick how under Installment schedule:
   • On a schedule ("Same amount every week, month, quarter…"): under Schedule details fill Cadence (the organization's payment frequencies, for example Monthly or Quarterly), Number of installments (1 to 600; a one-time cadence has exactly 1), First installment on, and Day of month ("1–31, or -1 for the last day of the month; blank keeps the day of the first installment.") or Weekday for a weekly cadence. Installments are equal; the last one absorbs any rounding.
   • Custom (date-linked) ("Each row on an agreed date, days after booking, or at a milestone"): under Payment rows click Add row for each payment (new rows go on top, up to 200). Give it a Share (%) or type the Amount in ₹ and the share follows, choose the Due anchor (On a date with the date, Days after booking with the number of days, or At a milestone with the stage), and a Label (for example "On agreement"). The Balance after column shows what is left after each row, and the "Rows total" badge must reach 100%.
4. For Construction-linked, under Milestone allocation ("A share on booking, the rest as each construction stage is achieved.") set On booking (%, "0 for nothing on the booking date.") and click Add milestone for each stage (new rows go on top), choosing the stage and its Share; or, when the project's stages carry default shares, click Fill from milestone defaults to take them. Each row shows the ₹ amount that lands on that stage. The badge "On booking + milestones =" must read 100%; a stage can be listed once.
5. If the pricing plan sends charge groups to possession, the At the time of possession section lists them ("Owed from booking, collected in one go when the project hands over possession. Not part of the plan above and never split by it.") with "Total at possession (<charges> + GST <gst>)". Leave Show this section on the buyer's payment plan on to show it on previews, the termsheet and documents; off hides it while the charges stay owed.
6. Check the Schedule preview on the right. It is computed by the server from the estimate's own charges and shows every installment with its date and amount. Change the Assumed booking date if the booking will happen later; a lumpsum row, a down payment and "days after booking" rows move with it. Add Notes ("Optional; e.g. what was agreed with the buyer.").
7. Click Save & review, or Save & close to stop here. You see "Payment plan v<n> saved." when you edited a draft, or "Payment plan v<n> drafted." when you created a new version. Save & review opens the Review & finalize step; Save & close returns to the estimate page, where the Payment plan card shows the plan as Draft.

What happens next

• The plan is a Draft version on the estimate. Nothing is locked yet and no approval is requested; the buyer's unit is not held by the plan. Drafting a new version on a Finalized plan supersedes that version at once.
• Continue with Finalize an estimate and request approval: finalizing the plan on a price-locked estimate requests approval of price and schedule together. The Finalize plan button on the estimate page stays greyed out with "Finalize the pricing first." until the price is locked.
• The Payment plan card on the estimate page summarises the plan (for example "Construction-linked · 18 stages", "12 monthly installments from 2026-10-05", "3 custom rows (1 on milestones)" or "Lumpsum on the booking date"), keeps every version under Versions (N) and shows a Schedule preview (assuming a booking today).
• A charge group linked to stages on the pricing plan is collected only on those stages, with its shares rescaled; a group set "at possession" is one row per charge on the project's Expected possession date, outside the plan.
• Once booked, the plan can't be versioned from the estimate any more; the booking's schedule is changed with Regenerate schedule on its termsheet (Re-date an installment or regenerate the schedule).
• A draft plan can be removed with Delete draft on the card ("Draft v<n> is removed; the previously finalized version, if any, stands again."); this needs the Delete permission on Estimates.

If something goes wrong

• "The rows add up to <n>%, not 100%" or "Down payment plus milestone percents add up to <n>%, not 100%": the shares of a custom or construction-linked plan don't total 100%. Adjust a share until the badge reads 100%. See Finalize in order: pricing, plan, approval, booking (trouble.sales.cannot-finalize-plan-pricing-first).
• "Add at least one row", "Must be above 0", "Enter the due date", "Enter the days after booking", "Choose a milestone", "Choose a calendar cadence", "At least 1 installment", "A one-time cadence allows exactly 1 installment", "Enter the first installment date", "For a weekly cadence use 0 (Monday) to 6 (Sunday)", "Use 1–31, or -1 for the last day of the month", "Add at least one milestone" or "This milestone is listed twice": the plan is incomplete; fix the field the message sits under. "Complete the plan to see the schedule." under the preview clears once it is valid.
• "A Draft estimate already exists for this opportunity. Edit that draft instead of creating another." when saving a new plan version: a Draft plan already exists on this estimate (the message names the wrong record). Open the estimate page and click Edit draft on the Payment plan card. See A draft already exists (trouble.sales.draft-already-exists).
• "This version is <status> and the opportunity is <stage>; nothing on it can change. Open it to see the record." when opening the wizard: the version is Superseded or Cancelled, or the opportunity is Booked or Lost. Open the current version, or reopen the opportunity. See Estimate not current or in the wrong status (trouble.sales.estimate-not-current).
• Construction-linked isn't offered, or "Milestone-linked rows need the Milestones permission to list the project's milestones.": the project has no construction stages yet, or your role lacks the View permission on Construction Stages. See No permission (trouble.common.no-permission).
• "You do not have permission to view estimate editing. Ask your administrator.": your role lacks the Edit permission on Estimates. Same article.

Related

• Edit estimate (estimate wizard)
• Estimate
• Unit pricing
• Construction stages
• Price a unit for a buyer
• Finalize an estimate and request approval
• Decide how each charge group is collected
• Re-date an installment or regenerate the schedule