Construction quotes: the scope, the price and the boundary around them
- 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 is an offer: this scope, this price, open for this long. An estimate is an opinion about what the work will probably cost. The difference matters on a construction job more than almost anywhere else, because the scope is discovered as the work proceeds and the customer remembers whichever number was said first. What a quote has to carry is therefore not just a price but the boundary around it: the scope included, the exclusions named, the allowances stated with rates beyond them, the validity period and what happens when something behind the wall is not what anybody expected.
Try the free worksheet Free to use. No account, no card, no sign-up.
Write the scope tight and the exclusions tighter
List what is included room by room or element by element, and then list what is not: making good decoration, moving the meter, asbestos survey, scaffolding beyond a stated height, work to the neighbor's side. Exclusions are not defensive, they are the only way the price you quoted means anything a month later.
State every allowance with a rate beyond it
Where the quantity cannot be known, quote an allowance and the price per unit past it. Deck sheets, rot repair, ground conditions and existing wiring are the usual four. An allowance with no rate is a promise to do unknown work for nothing.
Give the quote a life and a route into the job
Prices for materials move, so a quote is valid for a stated number of days. When it is accepted, the accepted version becomes the job record, not a new document typed again. Every later variation is a change against that record, dated and signed, and the final invoice is the original plus the signed changes.
Construction quotes: 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 it is accepted. An estimate is a considered guess and does not. Quote vs estimate is a legal difference as much as a commercial one, so label the document correctly and do not call something an estimate while behaving as though it were a quote.
How long should a construction quote stay open? Long enough for the customer to decide and short enough to protect you from a material price you cannot hold. Thirty days is a common figure and fourteen is reasonable in a volatile period. Say it on the document; a quote with no expiry is an offer you can be held to indefinitely.
Should the quote show a breakdown? Show enough breakdown for the customer to see what they are buying and compare like with like, typically by element or stage. A line-by-line labor and material dump invites negotiation on your rates rather than on the scope, and rarely wins the job.
Jobcardo Pro
Keeping what you raise
The worksheets are free forever. Pro turns them into the record: every order you raise kept against the customer with its status from raised to done to invoiced, every change dated, your company name and logo on the sheet, no watermark, and an export when the bookkeeper asks.
- Download as PDF
- No Jobcardo watermark
- Save every work order and sales order and reopen it later
- Your business name and logo on the sheet
- Export every order and worksheet in one go
- Job-done and balance-due reminders emailed to your customers
- Connect your own Stripe account and get paid online
- Connect your QuickBooks Online or Xero
$25per month, whole team
Start Jobcardo Pro Free for 14 days. No card needed. PricingThe first 14 days are free and no card is asked for. Add a card during the trial and the first charge is on the day it ends; do not, and your workspace becomes read-only with nothing deleted. Renews monthly at the price above until you cancel. We email you before any price change.
Will it do what you need for Construction quotes?
Tell us what your orders need and we will tell you straight whether Jobcardo Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you need a different product instead. A person reads these and replies.