Builder quote template

What should a builder's quote include?

Enough that the customer knows exactly what they are buying and you can hold them to it: who you are, what you will do and not do, the price and how VAT applies, when they pay, when you start, how long the price stands, and what happens if anything changes.

• Your business name, address, contact details, VAT number if registered, and registrations.
• A quote number and date, and the date the quote is valid until.
• The customer and the site address.
• The scope in plain words, with what is included and what is not.
• An itemised price, or section totals with a breakdown on request.
• Provisional sums and prime cost sums, clearly marked.
• VAT, shown the right way for a homeowner or a business.
• A payment schedule: deposit, stage payments, balance.
• Start date and how long the work will take.
• Your terms, and a place to accept.

How to write a quote for a job

1. Visit, measure and photograph. 2. Write the scope: what is included and what is not. 3. Price it in sections, labour and materials separately, with the markup calculator for your margin and the day rate calculator for your labour. 4. Mark anything unknown as a provisional sum. 5. Work out VAT for the customer type. 6. Set the payment stages. 7. Add your terms and how long the price stands. 8. Send it quickly. The Federation of Master Builders' advice is "Don't keep the client waiting: Quote quickly"; within 24 hours of the visit is a good habit.

Quote or estimate?

The Federation of Master Builders puts it simply: an estimate is "an approximation of the project cost based on preliminary information. It's subject to change as the project progresses", and a quote is "a fixed price for the agreed-upon scope of work". Once the customer accepts a quote there is a contract, and the price holds unless the work changes.

Send an estimate when you cannot see enough to fix a price, and follow it with a quote before work starts. Calling a document an estimate when you mean to hold the customer to the figure is a mistake: the word tells them the price can change, and that is not what you meant. The switch at the top of the builder changes the title, the wording and the acceptance block.

Construction quote template

Construction quotes run longer than a repair quote. Break the price into sections that follow the job (groundworks, walls and structure, roof, first fix, second fix, finishes), with provisional sums for what you cannot see yet. Say who applies for Building Regulations approval and whether the fees are included, and deal with party wall matters in writing.

Quoting a contractor under the Construction Industry Scheme? Split labour and materials into separate lines: the contractor deducts CIS from the labour only (the CIS tax calculator shows what you will be paid). If you are both VAT registered and the work is reported under CIS, the domestic reverse charge applies: the quote says "Reverse charge: customer to account for VAT to HMRC" instead of adding VAT. The builder does this when you tick CIS and the customer's VAT registration.

Quoting homeowners: the 14-day cancellation rule

If your customer is a homeowner and they agree the contract at their home, on site, or straight after you have been round, it is an "off-premises contract" under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. So is a contract agreed by email or phone without meeting ("distance"). Above £42, the customer can cancel within 14 days without giving a reason, starting the day after the contract is made. Agreed on 1 October, the period ends on 15 October.

You must give them the cancellation information and a cancellation form before they are bound, on paper or another durable medium they agree to. The Regulations give model wording and a model form in Schedule 3. The builder adds both, filled in with your details, whenever the customer is a homeowner accepting away from your premises, and they cannot be switched off.

Leave them out and the cancellation period does not start until you give the information, up to 12 months after the normal period would have ended. Start work inside the 14 days without the customer's express request, and if they cancel they do not have to pay for what you did.

If the customer wants you to start sooner, they must ask you to in writing (a durable medium such as email or the signed quote). If they then cancel, they pay for the work done up to that point, in proportion to the whole job. The builder puts that request on the acceptance block as a tick box.

Contracts agreed at your own business premises have no cancellation right, and neither do contracts of £42 or less. Business customers are not covered. Business Companion's guide↗ (opens in a new tab) explains the rules for traders.

VAT on quotes

Homeowners: show the price including VAT first. The CMA's price transparency guidance says the price should normally include any unavoidable charges, and names VAT as one. A homeowner quote reading "£5,590 plus VAT" leads with a figure they cannot pay. The builder shows every line and the total including VAT, with "prices include VAT" once.

Business customers: lines excluding VAT, then a VAT summary by rate and the total. Most building work is standard rated at 20%. Some conversions and the renovation of homes empty for two years are 5%; building new homes is 0%; and energy-saving materials installed in homes are zero rated until 31 March 2027, then 5% (VAT Notices 708 and 708/6). Each line in the builder has its own rate. Check anything unusual with your accountant.

Not VAT registered? No VAT is added, and the quote says so. Never show a VAT line you will not pay to HMRC.

On the VAT flat rate scheme, the quote still charges VAT at the normal rate. The flat rate only changes what you pay HMRC, and the VAT flat rate calculator shows whether it pays for you.

Deposits, stage payments and retentions

No law caps a deposit. What protects both sides is a deposit that covers materials ordered, payments tied to finished stages on anything longer than a week, and the balance on completion once snagging is done. The worked example uses 20%, 50% and 30% of £6,708.00: £1,341.60, £3,354.00, £2,012.40. The builder checks the stages add up to the total and adds any shortfall as the balance on completion. If a stage payment is not made, the guide to a customer refusing to pay sets out the steps.

Retentions (2.5% or 5% held back until after completion) are common on commercial work. The Commercial Payments Bill, introduced on 19 May 2026, would ban them under construction contracts; it is not law yet. The late payment interest calculator covers what you can charge when a business pays late.

Provisional sums and PC sums explained

A provisional sum is an allowance for work you cannot price yet: removing asbestos if it is found, or timber repairs once the roof is stripped. A prime cost (PC) sum is an allowance for items the customer will choose, such as tiles or a bathroom suite, with the labour to fit them priced separately.

Both are in the total, and the final bill uses the actual cost. Homeowners often read them as fixed, so the builder marks each one on its line and lists them under the price with a sentence saying what they are.

Job quote template for any trade

Pick your trade and the builder loads its sections, exclusions and clauses. Roofers get access and scaffold, strip, felt and batten, covering and a provisional sum for rotten timbers (websites for roofers). Electricians get the certificate clause and "making good decorations after chasing" as an exclusion (websites for electricians). Plumbers and heating engineers get the Gas Safe and commissioning clause (websites for plumbers).

Builders and extension quotes get Building Regulations, scaffold and skip permits and the party wall clause (construction websites). Landscapers get a clause for buried obstructions (websites for landscapers), and carpenters and decorators get their own sections (websites for carpenters). Every clause is editable.

Estimate template

The estimate template is the same document with estimate wording and no acceptance signature: it says "Ask us for a fixed quote before work starts". In the builder, switch the type to Estimate.

Common quotation mistakes

• A vague scope, so the customer expects more than you priced.
• No date the quote is valid until, so you are held to last year's material prices.
• No exclusions, so the skip, the building control fee or the making good becomes yours.
• "Plus VAT" to a homeowner.
• No cancellation notice for a homeowner quoted at home.
• Starting work on a nod, without the written request to start inside the 14 days.
• No clause saying changes are agreed in writing first.
• A deposit so large it frightens the customer off.
• Sending it three days late.

Quote template UK: what has to be on it

A UK quote deals with UK rules: VAT at UK rates and the reverse charge, CIS for contractors, the Consumer Contracts Regulations for homeowners, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which says a service must be done with reasonable care and skill, and at a reasonable price and in a reasonable time where none was agreed. A quote with a price, a start date and a duration settles the last two before anyone argues.