A good quote does three jobs at once: it wins the work, protects your margin, and sets expectations you can actually keep. The process below takes a quote from enquiry to sent in under 30 minutes, and it's built for UK rules — 20% VAT, clear payment terms, and a professional PDF the customer can accept without coming back with questions.
Whether you quote from a spreadsheet or a system, the steps are the same. The difference is how long they take and how often mistakes happen.
Step 1: Qualify Before You Quote
Not every enquiry deserves a quote. Before you price anything, confirm three things:
- Scope — what exactly do they want done? If it's vague, a site visit or a call beats guessing.
- Budget signal — you don't need their budget, but you need to know it's not a "just curious" enquiry. One direct question saves hours: "Are you looking to have this done in the next month or two?"
- Decision maker — are you quoting the person who says yes, or someone who'll "run it past" three others?
A quote sent to an unqualified enquiry isn't free — it costs 30 minutes and trains you to work for nothing.
Step 2: Build the Line Items (Materials First)
List the work as line items rather than one lump sum. Line items do two things: they make the quote look professional and itemised, and — more importantly for you — they force you to cost the job properly.
For each line, capture three numbers:
| Line | Your cost | Your price | VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supply + fit worktop | £680 | £1,150 | 20% |
| Plumbing alterations (6 hrs) | £210 | £420 | 20% |
| Waste removal | £45 | £95 | 20% |
The number most quotes forget is your cost. Price without cost is a hope, not a quote. If you track the estimated cost against each line, you can see your projected profit before the customer ever sees the price — and fix a bad quote before it's a bad job. This is the foundation of quoted vs actual job costing.
Step 3: Price Labour Honestly (Not Optimistically)
Labour is where quotes go wrong most often. Two rules:
- Use your actuals, not your hopes. If the last three similar jobs took 9, 11 and 14 hours, quote 12–14 — not the 8 hours it "should" take. Your logged hours from past jobs are the only honest source.
- Include the invisible hours. Van time, merchant runs, setup and cleanup. If they're not in the labour line, they're coming out of your margin. (If you don't log them today, start — even roughly. The job costing template has a category for exactly this.)
Step 4: Get the VAT Right
For most UK trades and services, the standard rate is 20%. The rules that catch people:
- VAT applies to the total, per line. Each line's VAT is calculated on that line, then everything sums. Don't round as you go.
- Some work is reduced-rate or zero-rated (certain renovations, mobility work, new builds). If you're unsure for a specific job, check GOV.UK or your accountant — don't guess on the customer's driveway.
- Show VAT separately on the quote. Customers who are VAT-registered want to see it clearly; customers who aren't need to see the inc-VAT total prominently so there are no surprises.
If your quoting method involves multiplying by 1.2 by hand, this is the step most likely to embarrass you. It's also the step a system does automatically — SME System defaults every line to 20% VAT, with per-line override where you genuinely need it.
Step 5: Add the Terms That Protect You
A quote without terms is a negotiation waiting to happen. The essentials:
- Validity — "Quote valid for 30 days" (protects you when material prices move)
- Payment terms — e.g. 50% deposit on acceptance, balance on completion, 14 days
- What's not included — skip hire? parking? making good beyond the work area? Say so now, not in a dispute later.
- Variations — "Additional work requested after acceptance will be quoted separately"
Step 6: Send It Fast, Professionally, and Track It
Two timing facts that hold across almost every trade:
- Speed wins jobs. The first professional quote usually gets the work. A quote sent the same day beats a better quote sent next week.
- Unchased quotes die quietly. Most "no" answers are actually "no one followed up". Whatever system you use, a quote in "Sent" needs a follow-up plan — we've written a whole guide on how to chase quotes without losing the job.
And make it a PDF with your branding, address and the itemised lines. A screenshot of a spreadsheet doesn't say "this firm has its act together".
The 30-Minute Quoting Checklist
- [ ] Qualified: scope, timing, decision maker confirmed
- [ ] Line items with your cost against each line
- [ ] Labour priced from actual hours, invisible hours included
- [ ] VAT per line at the right rate, shown separately
- [ ] Terms: validity, deposit, exclusions, variations
- [ ] Sent same day as PDF, follow-up scheduled
Do that consistently and quoting stops being admin and starts being a sales weapon. If you'd rather the maths, numbering (QUO-2026-0001), PDF and job conversion happened automatically, that's literally the product SME System is — see the pricing and start a free trial.