Last updated 21 October 2026
How to write a quote.
Short version: give one fixed total including VAT, break it down into labour and materials, write down what is not included and who pays for the skip, put a start date and an expiry date on it, and say exactly how and when they pay. Then let the customer say yes after you have left, not on the doorstep, because where they say yes decides whether they get 14 days to cancel.
The layout is the easy part. The part that costs trades money is the law behind it: a quote is binding the moment they accept, what you said on the visit can become part of the job, and on a job agreed in their home, an extra you left off can be one the customer never has to pay. The checklist, the wording and a template you can copy are all below.
The checklist
What goes on the quote.
Citizens Advice gives homeowners a list of what a quote should include, and tells them to be wary of any trader who will not put a price in writing. That list is the one your quote gets checked against, so build from it. The rest comes from the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which set what a homeowner must be told before they are bound.
| Put this on it | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Your name, full address and phone number | The regulations require your identity, a geographical address and a phone number. Customers who say yes in their home or at a distance must also get your email, where you have one. |
| The job, in plain words | Citizens Advice tells customers to expect a breakdown of all the work and the materials needed. |
| Separate costs for materials and each part of the work | Also on the Citizens Advice list. It lets the customer compare you line by line with the other quotes. |
| One fixed total, including VAT | The law asks for the total price inclusive of taxes. Citizens Advice says a fixed total, not a daily rate. |
| What is not included | Anything you said on the visit can become part of the contract unless the quote says otherwise. |
| Skip, waste removal and delivery | On a job agreed in their home, extra costs you did not tell them about are ones they do not have to pay. |
| A start date and a finish date | Without one, the law only asks for a reasonable time, and what is reasonable becomes an argument. |
| How and when they pay | The regulations require the payment arrangements. Citizens Advice tells customers to agree stage payments. |
| The deposit, and when it stops being refundable | Off-premises and distance customers must be told the conditions of any deposit before they are bound. |
| How long the price stands | Citizens Advice lists it, and says you cannot charge more because your costs rose after you quoted. |
| When the price can go up | Citizens Advice tells customers it should only rise if they agree to extra work. |
| How to complain, and any guarantee | Required where you have a complaints process or offer a guarantee. |
Pricing by the day instead? Citizens Advice tells customers to get in writing how many days the work will take, how many hours count as a day, and when you need their go-ahead to work more days. Put all three on it.
Quote or estimate
A quote is a fixed price.
Citizens Advice puts it plainly: a quote is a promise to do the work at an agreed price, and an estimate is a rough guess. Calling it a "fixed estimate" does not help you, because Citizens Advice treats that as another name for a quote.
| Quote | Estimate | |
|---|---|---|
| The price | Fixed. Once they say yes it binds you both, written down or not. | A guide. The final bill has to be reasonable. |
| Your costs go up | Your problem. You cannot charge more because materials rose after you quoted. | Rising material costs are one of the things that can justify a higher bill. |
| Extra work | Only if they ask for it, or you tell them first and they agree to pay. | Explain the change and why before you do it. |
| Use it when | You can see the whole job. | You cannot see what is behind the wall yet. |
"A quote is a quote," as one trade put it on Screwfix Community. Another, in the same thread: "If you have given a price and nothing unexpected turned up - then you have to absorb it yourself." If no price is agreed at all, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says the customer pays a reasonable price and no more, and what is reasonable becomes a matter of fact to be argued over. That is worse for you than either.
The same Act makes anything you say or write about the job part of the contract if the customer relies on it. "Skip's included" or "done in a week" on the visit counts, unless the quote says otherwise. So write the exclusions down. And check every figure before it goes out: Citizens Advice's own pages disagree on whether a trader can correct a genuine pricing mistake after the customer accepts, so do not count on it.
The cooling-off trap
Where they say yes decides the 14 days.
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, a homeowner who agrees a job with you in their own home, or entirely by phone or online, can usually cancel within 14 days without giving a reason. One who agrees later, after you have left the quote with them, usually cannot. Same job, same price, different rules:
| Where they say yes | Cooling-off | What you must give them |
|---|---|---|
| In their home, during your visit | 14 days to cancel, no reason needed | The cancellation information and a cancellation form, on paper or by email if they agree, then a copy or confirmation before work starts |
| Later, after you left or sent the quote | None: Trading Standards NI treats it as on-premises | The basic information: who you are, the total price, payment and timing |
| By phone or online, with no visit | 14 days, says Citizens Advice | The fuller information list, then confirmation of the contract |
Trading Standards Service Northern Ireland says that if you visit, then leave a quotation or send one later, giving the customer time to decide, the contract is treated as on-premises. If they decide during or immediately after your visit, it is off-premises. Edinburgh Trading Standards gives the same advice: "You can easily avoid having to give cancellation rights by always providing a quote after you have visited the customer." One trade on Screwfix Community reached the same place from the pricing side: "Never quote customer face on, or give ball park figure, 'cause there ball park is much smaller than yours."
Get it wrong and it is expensive. Failing to give the cancellation information on an off-premises job is a criminal offence, with no upper limit on the fine in England and Wales. The customer's 14 days can stretch by up to 12 months. You must not start inside the 14 days unless they ask you to, and on an off-premises job that request has to be on paper or by email. If you skipped the cancellation information, a customer who cancels pays nothing for the work done inside the cancellation period. What that means for getting paid is in what to do if a customer won't pay.
One more cost of saying yes on the doorstep. On an off-premises job, if your quote did not mention skip hire, waste removal, delivery or any other extra cost, the customer does not have to pay it. Put them on the quote or absorb them.
Urgent repairs
A customer who called you out for an urgent repair has no cooling-off for that repair. Anything extra you sell on the visit is a different matter.
Made to measure
Goods made to their specification, such as made-to-measure windows, are excluded from the right to cancel.
Small jobs and new builds
Off-premises jobs where the customer pays £42 or less are outside the rules, and so is a new build.
The same Edinburgh Trading Standards officer adds: "I think it is better to always give cancellation rights than to get it wrong even once." If you cannot be sure where the yes will happen, include the cancellation form anyway. Treat this as the rules in outline rather than legal advice.
VAT
Quote the figure they pay.
A homeowner on Screwfix Community was quoted "Price £2150+vat" by a plumber. "Having never owned a property before i thought that was the price." The real figure was £2,580. That gap is the conversation you do not want to have after they have said yes.
For a homeowner, the Consumer Contracts Regulations ask for the total price inclusive of taxes. So if you are VAT registered, lead with the total including VAT and show the VAT inside it, not on top. As one trade in the same thread put it: "Just quote the total price the customer has to pay on successful completion. Single figure no confusion."
| The worry | The answer |
|---|---|
| "+ VAT protects me if the rate changes" | It is not needed for that. The VAT Act 1994 adds or takes off the change automatically unless the contract says otherwise. |
| "They paid the figure without VAT" | HMRC treats the amount paid as including the tax, so the VAT comes out of what you received. |
| "I am not VAT registered" | Then there is no VAT to add. You must register once taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000. |
| "I take a deposit" | For VAT-registered trades, most deposits create a tax point when you receive them, so VAT is due then. |
How long it stands
Put a date on it.
No law says how long a quote must stay valid. What binds you is what you write. That matters because Citizens Advice tells customers a trader cannot charge more just because their own costs went up since the quote. If your quote has no end date and the customer comes back four months later when timber has gone up, you are arguing about a price you never limited.
Quoting guides commonly suggest 14 to 30 days, shorter where material prices move week to week, and longer on big jobs with a long lead time. That is common practice, not a rule, so pick what suits your materials and write "This price stands until [date]" as an actual date rather than "30 days", which leaves both of you counting. A date also gives you a natural reason to get back in touch before it runs out.
Deposits and stage payments
What you ask for, and what you can keep.
Your customer may well have read Citizens Advice before they ring you. It tells homeowners to avoid deposits or upfront payments where they can, to pay in stages, to pay by card rather than cash, and, when a deposit cannot be avoided, not to agree to more than 25%. That is advice to customers, not a legal cap. But a quote asking for far more than that will read as a warning sign to anyone who has.
What you can ask for and what you can keep if they cancel are two different questions:
| What it is | What the rules say | |
|---|---|---|
| What you ask for | A prepayment towards the job | No law sets a percentage. Off-premises and distance customers must be told the conditions of any deposit before they are bound. |
| What you can keep if they cancel | A genuine deposit or your actual loss | The CMA says a deposit kept in full should not normally be more than a small percentage of the price. Anything larger you keep must reflect what you actually lose. |
| Inside a 14-day cooling-off | A refund | If they cancel inside the cooling-off, the deposit goes back within 14 days, with no fee taken off. |
| Stage payments | Money as the work is done | Citizens Advice tells customers stages are a good idea. Name the exact point in the job each one is due. |
So ask for a deposit sized to what you actually commit when they say yes: materials you order and the start date you hold. Say when it becomes non-refundable. Then tie the rest to stages a homeowner can see, such as first fix done or units fitted, with the balance on completion. The CMA treats the timing and method of payment as small print it can judge for fairness, even though the headline price is not. Taking the deposit by card helps too: Citizens Advice tells customers a deposit paid by credit card can be claimed back under section 75. The same small-percentage rule applies to bookings, which how to reduce no-shows covers in more detail.
Outside a cooling-off, a customer who pulls out after accepting can be asked to cover your loss, including work you turned down to keep their dates free. Citizens Advice's own kitchen example includes a cancellation fee of 5% of the quote. The CMA's example of a fee that is unlikely to be fair is a minimum of 30 per cent of the order value.
The small print
Terms that will not hold, and what to write instead.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term does not bind a consumer. The CMA's guidance for businesses gives an example that turns up on a lot of quotes, word for word. Unlikely to be fair:
"Dates specified for the commencement and completion of the work are estimates only and time shall not be of the essence of the contract."
More likely to be fair, in the CMA's own words:
"If we do not start or complete the work within 5 days of any date included in our estimate or quote you may nominate a date on which you want us to start the work or by which you want us to complete the work. If we have not started or completed the work by the date you have nominated, you may cancel the agreement and receive a full refund."
| Common small print | Why it is a problem | Write this instead |
|---|---|---|
| "Prices may change at our discretion" | The CMA calls a blank cheque to force higher costs unlikely to be fair, especially in a fixed-price job | Name what can change, when and how, with warning and a right to walk away without penalty |
| "By accepting you agree to the terms on our website" | The CMA calls this unlikely to be fair | Attach the terms to the quote and ask them to read them before signing |
| "Payment must not be withheld for any reason" | The CMA says not to stop customers withholding payment when they have an arguable claim | Leave it out, and use stage payments to stay ahead instead |
| "Deposits are non-refundable in all circumstances" | A large prepayment kept whatever happens is more likely to be unfair | A small deposit, a stated cut-off, and only your real loss kept after it |
Fair terms are not a favour to the customer. They are the ones you can actually rely on if a job goes wrong. That is what the rules say in general; it is not legal advice on your own contract.
Copy this
A quote template for trades.
Everything above, in order. Swap the square brackets for your own details, cut what does not apply, and send it after the visit so the customer decides in their own time.
Quote [number], [date]
[Business name], [full trading address], [phone], [email]
For: [customer name], [job address]
The job
[What we will do, in plain words, room by room or stage by stage]
Price
[Labour: stage or task] £[x]
[Materials: item and quantity] £[x]
[Skip hire and waste removal] £[x]
Total: £[total] including VAT of £[VAT]
[Or, if not registered: We are not VAT registered, so there is no VAT to add.]
Not included
[Anything you talked about on the visit that is not in this price]
If the price changes
We will only charge more if you ask for extra work, or if we find work we could not see when we quoted, tell you before we do it, and you agree the extra cost in writing.
Dates
We can start on [date] and expect to finish by [date].
If we do not start or complete the work within 5 days of any date included in this quote, you may nominate a date on which you want us to start the work or by which you want us to complete the work. If we have not started or completed the work by the date you have nominated, you may cancel the agreement and receive a full refund.
Payment
Deposit: £[x] when you accept, to [book your start date / order your materials]. It is refundable until [cut-off]. After that, if you cancel, we keep only what we have already spent or cannot recover.
Then: £[x] when [stage is finished], and the balance of £[x] on completion.
We take [card / bank transfer].
This price stands until [date]
To accept, reply to this [email / message] or sign below.
Complaints and guarantee
[How to raise a problem with us, and any guarantee on the work]
Terms
Our terms are attached to this quote. It is important that you read and understand the terms and conditions that will apply to this contract before signing.
[Only if they say yes on the visit, at their home: your right to cancel within 14 days, with the cancellation form attached on paper.]
The dates wording is adapted from the CMA's own example of a term more likely to be fair. Send the quote by email or as a PDF so you both have the same copy, and keep the reply that accepts it.
After you send it
A quote is only half the job.
Citizens Advice tells homeowners to get written quotes from at least three traders, so yours lands next to two others. The clearest one, with a total they can read in a second and nothing to guess at, has the edge before price even comes into it. Then it needs a nudge: the expiry date gives you a reason to call, and how to follow up a quote covers what to say and when.
If you are writing quotes for people who were never going to buy, look at the front end: should you charge for quotes and how fast to reply to a lead both deal with that. And a quote only gets written when the lead arrives in the first place, which is what a good tradesman website is for.
Straight answers
Questions owners actually ask.
- What should a quote include?
- Citizens Advice tells homeowners to check a quote for a fixed total price rather than a daily rate, a breakdown of the work and materials with separate costs for each, how long the price is valid for, whether it includes VAT, and when the price can go up. For a homeowner the law also asks for your name, geographical address and phone number, the total price including taxes, and how and when they pay and you do the work. Add what is not included, and who pays for skips and waste.
- Is a quote legally binding in the UK?
- Yes, once the customer says yes. Citizens Advice describes a quote as a promise to do the work at an agreed price, and a binding agreement once accepted, written down or not. A verbal go-ahead, a start date or a deposit can all be enough. An estimate is a rough guess, and the final bill only has to be reasonable. A quote labelled a 'fixed estimate' is still a quote. That is what the rules say in general; it is not legal advice on your own contract.
- How long is a quote valid for?
- As long as you say. No law sets a period, so the date you write on the quote is the one that counts. It matters because Citizens Advice tells customers a trader cannot charge more just because their own costs went up since the quote. Quoting guides commonly suggest 14 to 30 days, and shorter where material prices move, but that is common practice, not a rule.
- Should a quote include VAT?
- If you are VAT registered and quoting a homeowner, show the total including VAT. The Consumer Contracts Regulations ask for the total price inclusive of taxes, and a homeowner who reads '£2150 + VAT' may well think £2150 is the price. Adding '+ VAT' to protect yourself from a rate change is not needed: the VAT Act 1994 adjusts the price for a rate change unless the contract says otherwise. If you are not registered, there is no VAT to add.
- How much deposit should a builder ask for?
- No law sets a figure. Citizens Advice tells homeowners to avoid deposits where they can and not to agree to more than 25%, so many customers arrive expecting that. Separately, the CMA says a deposit you can keep if they cancel should not normally be more than a small percentage of the price, and anything larger you keep must reflect what you actually lose. Staged payments tied to points in the job suit both sides.
- Does a customer have 14 days to cancel building work?
- It depends where they said yes. If they agreed in their home while you were there, or entirely by phone or online, they usually get 14 days to cancel without a reason, and an off-premises job needs a cancellation form on paper. If you left or sent the quote and they accepted later, Trading Standards says it is treated as on-premises, with no cooling-off. Urgent repairs they called you for, and made-to-measure goods, are excluded. That is what the rules say in general; it is not legal advice on your own contract.
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