Quotes guides

A quote wins work or loses it. The good ones name a clear price, say what is in and out, and make it easy for the customer to reply. The notes below are the three things to hold in your head before you send one. They were read on gov.uk on 24 October 2026 where a rate is named, and the links are at the foot.

Three things to know before you send one

First, your price must hold every cost. Labour at the day rate you need, materials at what the merchant charged you, paperwork and travel for the time around the job, and a contingency for what you cannot price to the pound. Leave one out and you fund it yourself. The day rate you use should already hold pay, tax, insurance and profit for that year.

Second, the paper matters as much as the number. A quote needs the customer name and address and site, a quote number, the date, the lines with quantity and price, subtotal, VAT where you charge it, total, how long the price holds, what is included and what is not, the payment note, and a way for the customer to accept. Keep the contingency inside the figure, not as a line.

Third, a quote becomes a job becomes an invoice. When the customer accepts, the job keeps those lines, costs, photos and notes in one place. When you bill, the invoice is built from that job so the same details are not typed twice. The payment reference on the invoice is the invoice number itself so the bank transfer can be matched.

How to build the price

Start with days on site. Multiply your day rate by days. Use the day rate calculator to find the rate your year needs from target income and costs together with billable days.

Add materials at cost. If you add a markup for sourcing and warranting them, apply it before you total. Say the figure on the quote so it can be checked. Take customer supplied goods out or set markup to nil and note they are outside your supply warranty.

Add paperwork and travel as a flat sum, not a percent. Survey, drawings, ordering, calls and driving to site. If the job is far away add more. If it is next door add less. Writing it down stops you doing those hours for free.

Add a contingency on the subtotal. Three to five percent is common on domestic work, more on old buildings and roofs, or where ground conditions are unknown. It is the price of reality. Keep it inside the total. Do not list it.

In symbols, price equals days times rate, plus materials times one plus markup, plus paperwork, then times one plus contingency. VAT sits outside this sum. Apply it on the invoice where you charge it. CIS is an advance on tax, not a cost, so it does not change the price to quote.

What to put on the quote

Write for the customer, not for your files. Name the lines so the customer can picture the work: first fix, second fix, supply of consumer unit, disposal, testing. Put a short sentence under any line that carries an assumption. For example note access or making good. Say the validity, for example 30 days. Say the deposit if you take one, and that the reference on the payment is the invoice that follows, not this quote.

Include the payment note you set in Settings if it is switched on. It sits under the total on both the quote and the bill. It is the same line the app puts on the customer’s page under the amount so the customer sees when and how to pay before they accept.

Voice to quote in the app

Speak the job and the app writes the lines with the prices you say, for you to check. The page that covers this is quote by talking. It takes your own rates and your own words, so the quote uses the way you already price. The quote it builds carries the same fields as the template on this site. When you are happy, you send it by text, WhatsApp or email and the customer gets a link to accept.

If you price with a tape and a notepad, the quote template shows the finished paper and you can copy the layout.

Calculators for quotes

• What to charge: build the price from days, materials, paperwork and contingency, shown with the sum in words and a worked example.
• Day rate calculator: turn target income, costs and billable days into the day rate your year needs.
• Markup calculator: markup and margin, which are not the same figure, with the two sums side by side.
• Job profit calculator: check what a job really made after the job, from income less labour, materials and other costs.
• Missed call cost calculator: what missed calls cost in a year, from two figures you set.

Templates for quotes

• Quote template: a full worked quote with customer and lines and VAT and terms and acceptance.
• Job sheet template: what was done, what was found, what was used, what was photographed, and what the customer signed. It records the visit the quote priced.

Posts on quotes

Each post carries a key facts box at the top and sources at the foot.

• Professional quotes win work: what makes a quote get accepted and what loses it.
• What to charge for a job: the price net of VAT and how to present it.
• How to work out job profit: income less costs on one job, with CIS where it applies.
• The cost of a missed call: missed work cost, measured from enquiries you did get.

Related pages in the app

• Quote by talking: speak the job and the quote is written line by line for you to check.
• Quotes: a priced quote you send, and the customer’s answer written down.
• Jobs: the job, its photos, notes and costs in one place.
• The customer’s page: the link where the customer approves a quote or signs off a bill.

Sources

General rates and rules read on gov.uk on 24 October 2026.

Latest from the blog

The newest posts on quotes sit here with the newest first. Until they are live the list below is planned and will appear as each post is published.

• Professional quotes win work: what makes a quote get accepted and what loses it.
• What to charge for a job: building the price net of VAT before you apply the rate.
• How to work out job profit: income less costs on one job, with CIS where it applies.

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