Quotes for painters and decorators, dictated on site
Speak to Quote works for painters and decorators. Walk the rooms and say what you see — the prep, the surfaces, the coats, what the customer is supplying — and get back an editable, priced quote with each of them as its own line, ready to send before the walk-round is cold.
What a decorating quote has to carry
Two decorating quotes for the same house can be hundreds of pounds apart, and the difference is almost always the preparation. The quote that says what the prep is — line by line — is the one the customer can trust, and the one you can hold to when the job grows.
- The prep, spelled out
Filling, sanding, caulking, stain-blocking, washing down — whatever the job needs, name it. "Prepare and paint" hides the half of the work that justifies your figure; a prep line of its own shows the customer what the cheaper quote is leaving out.
- The spec: coats and product, named
"Two coats of durable matt emulsion" is a spec; "paint the walls" is not. Naming the number of coats and the kind of product fixes the scope, and turns "it needs another coat" from an argument into a priced extra.
- Who supplies what
Your paint or theirs, their wallpaper hung at your rate — say so on the line. Materials supplied by the customer are the commonest source of a decorating dispute, and one description line settles it in advance.
- What is excluded
Moving furniture, taking down curtains and blinds, making good failed plaster — if it is not your work, the quote should say so before the customer assumes it is.
- Whether VAT is in the figure — or that there is none
Many decorating firms are under the registration threshold. If that is you, a line saying no VAT is charged reads as clarity, not smallness — and it stops the customer holding 20% back "in case".
- Validity and the deposit
Date the offer, and if you buy the materials before you start, say what share is due up front and when the balance is payable.
A worked example
A hall, stairs and landing, said once, into a phone — from a decorator who is not VAT-registered, which the document simply states. The prices are illustrative — yours come from your own price book, or from what you say.
What you said
Hall, stairs and landing. Fill and sand throughout, caulk the gaps. Two coats of durable matt on the walls, ceilings in white. Gloss the woodwork — banister, skirting and six door frames. And hang the customer's own paper on the feature wall in the hall.
Quote · K. J. Decorating · PDA member
| Description | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Preparation, hall stairs and landing Fill and sand throughout, caulk gaps to woodwork and ceilings | 1 | £220.00 | £220.00 |
Walls, two coats durable matt emulsion Hall, stairs and landing | 1 | £480.00 | £480.00 |
Ceilings, two coats matt white Hall, stairs and landing | 1 | £190.00 | £190.00 |
Woodwork, gloss finish Banister, skirting and six door frames; undercoat where bare | 1 | £360.00 | £360.00 |
Feature wall, hang wallpaper Hall; customer's own paper, condition checked before hanging | 1 | £150.00 | £150.00 |
This quotation is valid until 19 October 2026. Not VAT registered — no VAT charged. Paint supplied by us; wallpaper supplied by the customer. Moving furniture and making good failed plaster are excluded. Materials deposit on acceptance, balance on completion.
Prices shown are illustrative, not a price list.
Every line is what you said, in the order you said it. Nothing on it was invented: a line whose price is not in your price book comes back at £0 for you to fill in, never with a made-up figure. Edit any line, take one off, add one, then send.
How Speak to Quote handles it
Set your trade to decorator in Business details and the extraction is worded for it — the prep is its own line, "two coats" lands in the description where it fixes the spec, and "customer's own paper" stays on the wallpaper line instead of vanishing.
Not VAT-registered? Say so once. Set it in Business details and every quote totals without VAT and prints "Not VAT registered — no VAT charged" in its footer — clarity instead of a held-back 20%. If you register later, it is one switch.
Your prices are yours. Put "Hall, stairs and landing — walls, two coats" in the price book once and every dictated HSL comes back priced. Save the whole package as a job template and a standard job is one tap.
The document looks like your firm, not ours. Your logo, your colours on paper, your branding on every quote — with PDA or any other membership in the header, and the badges along the bottom if you upload them.
Redecoration crept? Build it as an estimate first. It is labelled as one, the footer says the final price may vary, and it turns into a firm quote in one tap once the customer settles what is actually being done.