What a quote must include to be safe in the UK
Last reviewed 12 September 2026
A quote is a contract document. These are the parts of it that decide what happens when something goes wrong, and most quotes are missing at least four of them.
Nothing in UK law prescribes a single format for a builder's quotation. What the law does is decide what happens in the gaps, and the gaps almost never fall in your favour. Filling them takes one page.
1. Who you are, in full
Your trading name, your legal identity, and an address that reaches you. If you trade through a limited company, the company name, its registered number and its registered office belong on the document. A customer who cannot identify who they contracted with is a customer whose complaint escalates fast, and for a consumer contract you are required to give this information before they commit.
2. What the price covers, in plain sentences
Scope is the whole game. Write it as the tasks you will carry out, in the order you will carry them out, with quantities where quantities matter: the number of sockets, the square metres of tiling, the number of coats, the specific rooms. "Refurbish bathroom" is not a scope. It is an invitation to a disagreement.
3. What the price does not cover
An exclusions list is not defensive paperwork, it is the other half of the scope. Anything a reasonable customer might assume is included, and is not, belongs on it: making good decorations, removing and disposing of waste, scaffolding, temporary works, builder's work in connection with other trades, asbestos, structural repairs found once you open up, and any parking or permit charges.
4. Assumptions you have priced on
State the conditions your price depends on. Clear and empty working areas, water and power available on site, safe access to the roof or loft, existing services in serviceable condition, work in continuous consecutive days rather than in visits spread over weeks. If an assumption turns out to be wrong, you have a written basis for a variation rather than an argument about whether you should have known.
5. The price, and the VAT position
Give the figure, and say plainly whether it includes VAT. If you are not VAT registered, say so, because a customer who assumes there is VAT to reclaim and then finds there is not will feel misled. If a reduced rate applies (certain conversions and long-term empty properties can qualify at 5 per cent, and some new build work is zero rated) then say which rate you have applied and on what basis.
6. Payment terms
When payment is due, in what stages, and what happens if it is late. For a job of any size, staged payments tied to milestones keep your cash ahead of your costs. Say what a deposit is for (usually materials) and whether it is refundable. State your payment period, and for business customers state that statutory interest and compensation will be charged on late payment.
7. Timescale
Give a duration and, if you can, a start window. Be careful with fixed completion dates on domestic work: a date given as a firm promise can become a contractual obligation you are liable for missing. "Approximately three weeks on site, subject to a start date agreed in writing" is honest and safe.
8. Cancellation rights, for consumer work
This is the clause most often missing, and the omission is expensive. Where you agree a contract with a consumer away from your own business premises, which for most trades means in the customer's home, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give them 14 days to cancel. You must tell them about that right and provide a cancellation form. If you do not, the cancellation period can extend by up to twelve months, and a customer can walk away from a completed job.
If the customer wants you to start inside the 14 days, they have to ask for that expressly and in a durable form such as an email or a signed note. With that request in hand you can charge for the work done up to the point of any cancellation. Without it, you may not be able to charge at all.
9. Guarantee and workmanship
Say what you stand behind and for how long, and separate your workmanship guarantee from any manufacturer warranty on the products. Note that a guarantee sits on top of the customer's statutory rights and cannot replace them: under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the work must be carried out with reasonable care and skill regardless of what your paperwork says.
10. Validity
A date, and a period the price holds good for. Thirty days is standard.
The quick audit
Take the last quote you sent and check it against those ten. If it carries a price, a rough description and nothing else, it is not protecting you, and the cost of that shows up on exactly the job you least want it to.
More guides
- How to price a building job so it still makes money
- Quote or estimate: the difference that decides who pays for the overrun
- How to work out your true hourly rate
- Exclusions and assumptions: the two lists that protect your price
- VAT for UK trades, and the domestic reverse charge
- CIS deductions explained, for subcontractors and contractors
- Payment terms, deposits and staged payments
- Variations and extras: how to get paid for work outside the quote
- Why quotes get rejected, and eight fixes that win more of them
- Domestic versus commercial: what changes in the way you quote
- Chasing late payment without losing the customer
Write the quote itself in a couple of minutes
BidReady turns the answers to a short set of questions into a professional quotation with the scope, the exclusions and the terms already in it. Write your first quote free, or see how it works.
This guide is general information for UK trades, written by the BidReady team. It is not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change and individual circumstances differ, so take professional advice before acting on anything that matters.