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What should a builder's quote include?

A builder's quote should let the customer see exactly what they are buying, what it costs in total and when it will be done. It should also still stand up when the job changes. For a homeowner, much of that is not a matter of style: the law lists information they must have before they are bound.

Quote or estimate?

In everyday use, a quote is a price for defined work and an estimate is a guide. The heading matters less than the content. Under section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, anything you say or write to a homeowner about yourself or the work becomes a term of the contract if they take it into account when deciding. That is subject to anything you said at the same time that qualified it. A figure presented as the price will be read as the price. If part of the cost genuinely cannot be fixed yet, say so, and say how that part will be worked out.

What to put in it

  1. Your business identity — see "Who you are" below.
  2. The customer and the site.
  3. The scope — the work in words the customer can check, and the drawings or specification it relies on.
  4. Inclusions and exclusions — skip hire, making good, decoration, building control fees, anything the customer supplies.
  5. The price — the total, how VAT is treated, and the priced lines behind it.
  6. Provisional sums — what each covers and how it will be adjusted.
  7. The programme — start date, duration and what they depend on.
  8. Payment stages, including any deposit.
  9. Validity — how long the price holds.
  10. Cancellation information — where the contract is off-premises: agreed or offered while you are with the customer away from your business premises, or straight after meeting them there.
  11. Acceptance — signature and date.

The total price, for a homeowner

For a contract agreed off-premises or at a distance, Schedule 2 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 requires the total price inclusive of taxes. Where the price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, you must give the way it will be calculated instead.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices. Section 230, in force since 6 April 2025, says an "invitation to purchase" omits material information if it leaves out any of the listed items, including:

  • the main characteristics of the product
  • the total price, including any fees, taxes or charges the consumer will necessarily incur
  • where the price cannot be worked out in advance, how it will be calculated, set out as prominently as the price
  • the trader's identity and business address
  • where there is a right to cancel, the fact that the right exists

The Act defines an invitation to purchase as information that indicates a product's characteristics and price and lets the consumer decide whether to buy. A written quote to a homeowner does both. In practice, give one total with VAT included, not a figure plus VAT for them to add up.

Schedule 20 to the Act lists practices that are always unfair. One is presenting rights consumers have by law as a distinctive feature of your offer. Do not sell the cancellation right or the Consumer Rights Act terms as extras you provide.

For a business client the consumer rules do not apply, and prices are usually shown before VAT. Say which basis you have used.

Provisional sums and the programme

A provisional sum is the honest answer where work really cannot be priced yet: an unknown drainage route, fittings the customer has not chosen. Say what it covers and how the actual cost will replace it. A quote that is half provisional sums is an estimate with a different heading.

Schedule 2 also requires the arrangements for performance and the time by which you will do the work. Where no time is agreed, section 52 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says the work must be done within a reasonable time. A start date and duration settle that.

Payment stages and deposits

Schedule 2 requires the arrangements for payment. Where you ask for a deposit, it also requires its existence and conditions. Tie each stage to something both sides can see, such as materials delivered, first fix complete or roof on, rather than a calendar date the programme may miss. For a business client, the stages must work with the Construction Act payment rules. What a pay less notice is.

Who you are

  • A limited company. The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 require the registered name on business correspondence and documentation (regulation 24). Regulation 25 requires business letters, order forms and websites to show where in the UK the company is registered, its registered number and its registered office address.
  • A sole trader or partnership trading under a business name. Under section 1200 of the Companies Act 2006, your surname alone, or with a forename or initial, is not a business name; a name such as "Smith Building Services" is.

Where you use one, section 1202 requires your name, or each partner's name, plus an address for serving documents. It applies to business letters, written orders, invoices and receipts, and written demands for payment.

For a homeowner, Schedule 2 also asks for your trading name, geographical address, and telephone number and email where available.

Cancellation information for off-premises contracts

When a contract is off-premises (regulation 5). It is off-premises if either of these happens while you are with the customer away from your business premises:

  • the contract is agreed, or
  • the customer makes you an offer.

It is also off-premises if it is agreed at your office, or by phone or email, immediately after meeting the customer there.

What you must give. Regulation 10 requires the information and the model cancellation form on paper, or another durable medium if the customer agrees.

How long the customer has to cancel. The customer can cancel within 14 days (regulation 30). For work only, that runs from the day the contract is made. Where you also supply goods it may run from delivery, which is not settled for building work, so do not treat the period as over early. Leave the information out and the period can run up to 12 months longer (regulation 31).

Starting early. To start sooner, regulation 36 requires the customer's express request, on a durable medium. If they then cancel, they pay for work done only if all three of these apply (regulation 36(6)):

  • you gave them the cancellation information;
  • you told them in advance that they would pay for work done;
  • you had their request in the right form.

New buildings. The Regulations do not apply to a contract to the extent that it is for building a new building, or a substantially new building by converting an existing one (regulation 6(1)(e)). On its wording, that does not cover extensions, alterations or repairs.

Common questions

Does a business client need the cancellation information? No. The cancellation rules in Part 3 of the 2013 Regulations apply to contracts between a trader and a consumer.

The customer wants a change after accepting. Price the change on its own, get it agreed before the work is done, and keep it with the original quote.

How long should the price be valid for? The law sets no period. Choose one that reflects how fast your material prices move, and date the quote.

What a template does not do

The quotation gives you the headings, the price table, the model cancellation instructions and the model cancellation form, with a choice for work only or work with goods supplied. The quotation does not know your costs, your programme or whether the contract will be off-premises. Those are yours to fill in. What our documents can and cannot promise.

Documents for this work