Construction quote template: the scope, the exclusions, the allowances and the date it expires
- Work order total
- $863.16
- Labour
- $510
- Parts, marked up
- $288
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Jobcardo publishes no tax rate, no wage figure and no trade standard: the rate, the markup and the tax on the parts line are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
A construction quote template exists to stop you forgetting the four things that decide whether a quoted price survives contact with the job: the scope written tightly enough to be checked, the exclusions named rather than assumed, the allowances stated with a rate beyond them, and a validity period. The prices are the easy part. Every argument a small builder has about money six weeks later is about one of those four being absent from the document.
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Write the scope so somebody else could check it
Element by element or room by room, with quantities where they are knowable. A scope that reads as a paragraph of intent is a scope that means different things to the two people who signed it, and the difference is discovered when the work is half done.
Name the exclusions and price the allowances
Making good decoration, moving services, surveys, scaffolding beyond a stated height, work to a neighbour's side. Then, where the quantity cannot be known, an allowance with a price per unit beyond it. An allowance with no rate is a promise to do unknown work for nothing.
Give it an expiry and a route into the job
Material prices move, so the quote is valid for a stated number of days. When it is accepted, the accepted version becomes the job record rather than a new document typed again, every later change is signed against it, and the final invoice is the original plus those changes.
Construction quote template: common questions
What is the difference between a quote and an estimate? A quote is a fixed offer for a defined scope and binds you if accepted; an estimate is a considered guess and does not. Label the document accurately, and do not behave as though an estimate were a quote.
How long should a construction quote be valid? Long enough for the customer to decide and short enough to protect you from a price you cannot hold. Two to four weeks is common. Say it on the document; an offer with no expiry can be accepted much later at your cost.
Should the quote include a programme? A stage outline helps, with the assumptions named: access, decisions needed by dates, lead times. Without the assumptions a programme reads as a promise, and the customer's late decision becomes your delay.
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