What goes on a construction quote
A quote on a build is a price you cannot walk back, so everything it does not say becomes yours to absorb. That makes a quote a document about boundaries rather than about work: what is in, what is out, and what the rate is for anything that turns out to be neither.
- The fixed total, and whether tax sits on top of it or inside it
- Exactly what the price includes, written tightly enough to hold when read back
- Exclusions as a list, not as an absence — anything unnamed is read as included
- The variation mechanism: a day rate, a percentage on materials, or a rate per unit
- Specified allowances, with what happens if the chosen item costs more
- The program — a start date, a duration, and what a delay does to the price
- Both signatures, because a quote is accepted rather than noted
The sample line items and example prices this sheet opens with are on the construction invoice template — the same table, which is about the trade rather than about this paper, so it lives in one place rather than on all six. Working out the price itself? The markup calculator turns your cost and markup into the figure to put on the quote, and shows the margin it leaves.
A quote is a fixed price — what it has to pin down
A construction quote is a number you are committing to, so the risk is everything it does not say. Spell out the scope tightly, name the exclusions — groundworks, making good, disposal, a materials price rise — and say how a variation gets priced before one happens. On a build, the gap between “I assumed that was included” and “I assumed it was extra” is exactly where the money is lost.
Stages, deposit and how long the price holds
Set out the payment stages against the work, the deposit due before anything starts, and a date the price is good until — material costs move, and a quote with no expiry is one you are honoring in six months at last season’s prices. A quote accepted in writing is then the document the whole job is measured against.
What you get
A PDF, and a link your customer can open in any browser. Word and Excel versions are not available yet — if a spreadsheet is what you need, this is not yet the tool for it, and saying so is cheaper for both of us than you finding out after typing everything in.
Pick how it looks
Six looks, from a plain classic sheet through a bold top band to a shop ticket, and your initials go on automatically until you upload a logo. See all six.
How to send it
Most customers want the paper on their phone, so the quote goes out by WhatsApp, text or email, or as a link that needs no app and no account on their side. Or download the PDF to print it or keep it for your own records.
Questions
What is the difference between a construction quote and an estimate?
A quote is a price you are bound to; an estimate is your best guess. On construction work that difference is money, because the things that move a build — ground, weather, an inspector — are the things a fixed price makes your problem. Quote what you can define and estimate what you cannot, and never let one document do both without saying which is which.
How do I protect a fixed price against variations?
Name the variation mechanism on the quote itself: a day rate, a percentage on materials, or a stated rate per unit for the things most likely to change. A quote that is silent on variations is read as covering them, and that reading is the one that will be put to you.
How long should a construction quote stay open?
Thirty days, and say it on the quote. Lumber and steel are the reason — a quote left open for a season is a bet on material prices that you take alone. If the customer needs longer, requote rather than extend.