How to quote a job properly

Start from your real day rate

Work out what a chargeable day actually has to earn. Take your target annual income, add van, tools, insurance, fuel, phone, accountant and pension, then divide by the number of days you genuinely bill — not 365, and rarely more than 200 once you allow for quoting, paperwork, illness and quiet weeks.

That figure is your floor. Anything you quote below it is subsidised by you personally.

Build the price in four parts

• Labour: realistic days on site, including setup, clearing and snagging.
• Materials: supplier prices plus a markup for sourcing, collection, waste and price movement.
• Access and disposal: scaffold, hire, skips, parking and permits.
• Contingency: 5–10% on refurbishment work where you cannot see behind the plaster.

Write exclusions, not just inclusions

Most disputes come from what the customer assumed was included. State plainly what is not: making good decoration, unforeseen structural work, removing asbestos, upgrading a consumer unit, replacing rotten timber discovered on opening up.

Add a short variation clause: additional work is priced and agreed in writing before it starts. That one sentence protects the margin on every job you ever do.

Set the terms in the quote

• How long the price holds — 14 or 30 days is normal with volatile material prices.
• Deposit required to book the work, and when the balance falls due.
• Stage payments on anything longer than a fortnight.
• Expected start window, not a promise you cannot keep.

Speed wins jobs

Homeowners routinely take the first decent quote that arrives. The tradesperson who sends a tidy, branded document the same day beats the one who sends a text price three days later, even at a higher number. Quote on site while the detail is fresh.

Follow up once

A single polite nudge after three or four days converts a surprising share of silent quotes. Ask if they need anything clarified rather than asking for a decision — it is easier to answer.