Trades Guide · Quoting

The 12-second quote. Voice note in, branded PDF out.

The Back Office  ·  6 min read  ·  Last updated 14 August 2026

The short answer: Homeowners are advised to line up at least three written quotes, and trade guidance says to get yours over within 24 hours of seeing the job. So you’re on a short clock against two other people. A quote sent from the van beats a tidier one sent on Sunday night.

You’re stood in someone’s kitchen. You’ve had a look under the sink, you know what the job is, you know roughly what you’d charge. The customer says the thing they always say:

“Great — can you send me a quote?”

And you say yes. And you mean it. And then there’s another job, and the school run, and a boiler that won’t reset in Denton, and by the time you’re sat down with the laptop it’s Thursday and they’ve had two other quotes in and one of them’s already started.

The job wasn’t lost on price. It was lost on Tuesday.

Why the first quote usually wins

Here’s the bit that should change how you work. The HomeOwners Alliance — the consumer body that tells homeowners how to hire trades — advises people to shortlist at least five tradespeople and get at least three written quotes before deciding.

Think about what that means from your side of the kitchen. You’re not being compared against the whole market. You’re being compared against two other people. And the customer isn’t running a sealed-bid tender — they’re a normal person who wants their bathroom done and who stops looking the moment they’ve got a number that feels fair from someone who seemed on the ball.

Being first does three things at once. You anchor the price before anyone else does. You look like the organised one, which is the single thing homeowners are most anxious about with trades. And you’re in the conversation while they’re still excited about the job, rather than three days later when the enthusiasm’s worn off and it’s become a chore.

Checkatrade’s own guidance to trades on writing a winning quote puts a number on it: get it over within 24 hours of seeing the job.

Twenty-four hours. Be honest — do all of yours go out in twenty-four hours?

What a quote has to have on it

Speed only counts if the thing that lands is a proper quote and not a text saying “about 600 mate”. A quote that wins work — and that protects you if it goes sideways — carries:

  • Your business details and logo — name, contact, and your registration numbers if you hold them. This is the “are you a real business” test, and you pass or fail it in the first two seconds.
  • A quote reference and a date — so when they ring you in five weeks you know which job they mean.
  • A clear description of the work — what you’re doing, and just as importantly what you aren’t.
  • Materials and labour, itemised — with quantities. Customers don’t dispute a number they can see the workings of.
  • VAT, shown properly — if you’re registered. Nothing sours a job faster than 20% appearing at the end.
  • A validity date — see below, this one matters more than it used to.
  • Your terms, and a line for them to accept — payment terms, deposit, what happens if the job grows.

Quote or estimate? Get this one right

These two words are not interchangeable, and the difference can cost you.

A quote is a fixed price. Send one, they accept it, and you’re committed to that number. Find another two days’ work behind the plasterboard and that’s your problem unless your terms say otherwise.

An estimate is your best guess and is expected to move. It gives you room, but it also gives the customer less certainty — and some will go with the person who gave them a firm number instead.

The practical answer for most jobs: quote firmly on the work you can see, and say plainly in writing what would change the price. “Price assumes existing pipework is sound. If it needs replacing, that’s £X extra, agreed with you before we do it.” You keep the certainty that wins the job and you keep your margin when the floor comes up.

Why your quote needs an expiry date in 2026

This used to be a formality. It isn’t now.

Building materials prices rose 6.0% in the twelve months to June 2026 across all work, and 5.7% on repair and maintenance, according to the Department for Business and Trade’s official building materials statistics. Some lines moved far harder than the average — fabricated structural steel was up 17.7% over the year, rigid pipes and fittings up 12.0%, aggregates up 11.4%. Cement actually fell 4.5%, so it’s not uniform, which is exactly the problem: you can’t apply a mental fudge factor when different materials are moving in different directions.

Now hold that next to what you’re able to charge. Construction output prices rose just 1.9% in the twelve months to June 2026, per the ONS. Materials up 6.0%, prices up 1.9%. That gap — a little over four percentage points — is coming out of somebody’s margin, and unless you’re careful it’s yours.

Rated People’s guidance to trades suggests keeping quotes valid for around 14 days for exactly this reason, and building in a contingency of about 10% for the things you can’t see yet — especially in older properties.

So: put a date on it. “This quote is valid for 14 days.” One line. It costs you nothing and it stops you honouring January’s steel price in April.

The real reason quotes don’t go out

It isn’t laziness, and it isn’t that you don’t know what to charge. You knew what to charge while you were still stood in the kitchen.

It’s that a proper quote means going home, opening a laptop, finding the software, remembering the password, retyping everything you already know, wrestling the template, exporting a PDF, and emailing it. Twenty minutes of work you have to do after your actual work, for a job you might not even get.

So it waits.

We made it twelve seconds

The Back Office isn’t another app to download. It’s WhatsApp — the one already open in your hand, or Telegram if that’s your one — with Jan running the back office behind it.

You’re still stood in the kitchen. You press and hold, and you say:

“Quote for Mrs Patel, 14 Elm Road. Replace bathroom basin and taps, supply and fit, half a day. Six hundred and eighty quid.”

Twelve seconds. Thumb off the button. Back to the van.

What comes back is a proper branded PDF quote with your name and logo on it, the work itemised, VAT handled if you’re registered, a reference number, a date, and your terms. You read it, tell Jan it’s good to go, and it goes to Mrs Patel.

She’s got a quote before you’ve reached the end of her road. Just like that.

And when she says yes, you don’t rebuild any of it — say the word and the same job becomes an invoice, with the same details, without you typing them a second time. If she goes quiet after that, Jan does the chasing. Polite first, firmer later, so you never have to be the awkward one.

Straight with you: Jan drafts, you approve. Nothing goes to a customer until you’ve said so — because it’s your name on it, not ours. And the quotes and invoices that pass through get kept as tidy digital records all year, so your books are ready for MTD when your accountant needs them. We don’t file your return and we’re not HMRC-approved software. £29 a month inc. VAT, flat. In pounds.

Quoting for tradespeople: quick FAQ

How fast should I send a quote?

Within 24 hours of seeing the job, on Checkatrade’s guidance to trades. Sooner is better: homeowners are advised to gather at least three quotes, so being first makes you the number the other two get judged against.

What’s the difference between a quote and an estimate?

A quote is a fixed price you can be held to once accepted. An estimate is a best guess that’s expected to change. Quote firmly for work you can see, and state in writing what would alter the price.

How long should a quote stay valid?

Around 14 days is the common guidance, and it matters more than it used to — building materials rose 6.0% in the year to June 2026, so an open-ended quote can outlive its own costings.

Should I add a contingency?

Rated People suggests roughly 10% for unexpected issues, particularly on older properties. Better to build it in than to have the awkward conversation halfway through. The Back Office has a built-in Extras Approval feature you can use.

Do I have to itemise materials and labour?

You don’t have to, but it wins more work. Customers query a single lump sum far more often than a breakdown they can follow.

Do I need to show VAT on a quote?

If you’re VAT-registered, yes — show it clearly rather than letting it appear as a surprise at invoice stage. If you’re not registered, don’t mention VAT at all; you can’t charge it.

Can I send a quote from my phone?

Yes. With The Back Office you send a voice note and get a branded PDF back to approve — no laptop, no template, no evening.

The quote that wins isn’t usually the cheapest or the prettiest. It’s the one that turned up while they were still thinking about the job. Everything else is detail.

Where these figures come from

Every number in this guide is linked to its source below, with the date we checked it. Rules and prices change — if you are reading this a long way from the date at the top, check the originals.

All sources checked 14 August 2026.

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