Construction Quotation: Format, Sample and Free Generator
A building quotation that prices the work element by element, states its preliminaries, and names the things that will otherwise be argued about on site.
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Construction quotes lose money in two places: the things nobody priced because they were invisible until the wall came down, and the things everybody assumed were included.
A schedule of works with honest preliminaries and a blunt exclusions list deals with both. It also survives comparison against a competitor, because a client holding two quotations can only compare them if yours is broken into elements — and an unbroken lump sum usually loses that comparison regardless of the number.
Line items
What goes on a construction quotation
Each of these belongs on its own line, with a quantity and a rate wherever the work can be measured.
Preliminaries
Site set-up, welfare, temporary works, scaffold, skips, supervision, cleaning on completion. Priced as a block. Clients query prelims most often, which is an argument for itemising rather than hiding them.
Schedule of works
Each element measured: m² of blockwork, linear metres of trench, number of openings formed. Quantity × rate, so a scope change becomes an arithmetic adjustment rather than a renegotiation.
Materials and specification
Named, not generic. “Plasterboard” and “moisture-resistant board to wet areas” are different prices and the client will assume the second while paying for the first.
Labour and plant
Trades and durations, plant hire with its period. Where a programme depends on another contractor finishing, say so — it is the basis of your price.
Provisional sums
For work that cannot be measured until opening up: drainage condition, structural timber, unknown services. Named as provisional so nobody mistakes it for a fixed price.
Payment schedule
Deposit, stage payments tied to milestones, retention percentage and release date. On anything over a few weeks this is as important as the total.
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Construction Quotation Format
Fill in the quotation below and download the PDF. Totals, tax and the deposit calculate as you type, and nothing you enter is sent to us.
Online Quotation Generator
Fill in the quotation below — your details, the customer, the items and the price — then download the PDF or print it. This online quote maker calculates the totals, tax and any deposit for you, and nothing you type is sent to us.
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Quotation settings
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Quotations, invoices, receipts and waybills on your phone, with your details saved.
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Avoid these
Where construction quotes go wrong
- Prelims folded into the rates. The client compares your m² rate against a competitor who listed prelims separately and concludes you are expensive. Price them openly.
- No exclusion for ground conditions. Anything below ground is a lottery until it is opened. Exclude it explicitly or carry a provisional sum for it.
- Asbestos not mentioned. On any pre-2000 building, state that the price excludes asbestos survey and removal. Discovering it mid-job without that line is your cost.
- Making good taken for granted. Decorating, floor finishes and reinstatement after first fix are routinely assumed by the client and routinely not priced. Say which you are doing.
- Programme stated without conditions. “Six weeks” becomes a promise. “Six working weeks from acceptance, subject to the electrical first fix completing by week two” is a programme you can defend.
- Validity too long. A quotation left open for three months is a bet against material prices that you will lose sooner or later. Fourteen to thirty days.
Quote from the site, before you lose the detail
Invoice & Quotation Generator lets you build the schedule of works on your phone while you are still walking the job, then invoice against the same lines when the valuation is due.
- Schedule of works built on site
- Provisional sums and retention lines
- Quotations saved and reopenable
- The quote becomes the application or invoice
- Free, works with no signal
Questions
Questions
How do you write a construction quotation?
Build it as a schedule of works: each element of the job as its own line with a quantity, a unit and a rate, then preliminaries, then the sums for anything provisional. Price the elements before you price the job — a single lump sum gives the client nothing to negotiate except the total, which means the conversation is only ever about reducing it.
What should a building quotation include?
The schedule of works, preliminaries (site set-up, welfare, scaffold, skips, supervision), a provisional sum for anything that cannot be measured yet, the basis of the programme, exclusions, the payment schedule, and whether retention applies. Exclusions carry the most weight: asbestos, ground conditions, structural work revealed on opening up, and making good decorations.
Should a construction quote include a contingency?
Show it as a provisional sum rather than burying it in the rates. A named provisional sum is a figure the client can see is not yours to keep, which makes it easier to defend than a quietly inflated rate they will find when they compare your quote against another.
How long should a construction quotation be valid?
Shorter than most trades — 14 to 30 days is common where material prices are volatile. Say explicitly that rates are subject to requote after expiry rather than allowing an old quotation to be accepted months later at your cost.
What is the difference between a construction quote and an estimate?
A quotation binds you to the price for the defined scope. An estimate is a likely figure given that the scope will change once work starts — which on refurbishment is usually honest. Title it accurately and state what would move the number.