What goes on an independent contractor quote
A fixed price moves the risk from the client to you, which is exactly why they want one and exactly why it has to be tight. On contract work the risk is almost never the work — it is how many people get to have an opinion about it. A quote that does not cap revisions has no ceiling at all.
- The fixed fee, and what triggers each payment of it
- The deliverable list, in enough detail to be signed off against
- Revision rounds included, and the rate for the ones after that
- Who the approver is, by name, because “the team” is not a person
- What you need from them and when, and what a delay does to the date
- Intellectual property, and when it transfers — usually on final payment
- How long the quote stands
The sample line items and example prices this sheet opens with are on the independent contractor 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.
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
Fixed price or day rate?
Fixed price where you can define the work, day rate where you cannot. The mistake is fixed-pricing something open-ended because the client asked: you have then agreed to absorb every unknown for their convenience, and you will not get that back.
What do I do about approvals dragging?
Put a date on them. A quote saying the price assumes feedback inside five working days, and that longer delays are rescheduled rather than absorbed, is not aggressive. It is the only thing that stops a six-week project running six months at the same price.