Quote vs estimate: what’s the difference for UK trades?
A quote is a fixed price for a defined piece of work: once the customer accepts it, that is what they pay unless the job itself changes. An estimate is your best guess at the cost, and the final bill can come in above or below it. The word at the top of the document decides which one you have sent, and what the customer can hold you to.
What a quote is
A quote (or quotation — the same thing) is an offer to do the work described, at the price stated, for as long as the quote is valid. When the customer says yes, you have agreed a price for that scope. If it takes you longer than you thought, or a material costs more than you allowed for, that is your problem, not theirs. That is the deal a quote makes, and it is why customers prefer them: they know what they are going to pay.
It only works if the scope is written down. “Rewire the kitchen” is not a scope; “replace the ring main, six double sockets, cooker circuit and the lighting circuit, make good but no decorating” is. Anything the customer asks for afterwards is a separate agreement — a variation — with its own price, agreed before you do it, not on the invoice.
What an estimate is
An estimate is a considered guess at what the job will cost, given what you can see and what you have been told. It is not a fixed price, and the customer should not expect it to be, but it is not a licence to charge whatever you like either. An estimate that turns into a bill twice the size, with no warning, is how disputes start and reviews get written. If you can see it is going to run over, say so before you do the extra work, and put the new figure in writing.
Estimates fit the jobs where you genuinely cannot commit to a number yet:
- You cannot see the whole job — what is behind the plaster, under the floorboards or inside the boiler casing.
- The customer has not settled the specification: which tiles, which radiators, whether the wall comes down.
- The price of the main materials moves week to week and you would rather not build a margin for that into a quote.
- It is a day-rate job (“strip out and make good, see what we find”) where the honest answer is a range.
Quote or estimate: which should you send?
| Quote | Estimate | |
|---|---|---|
| The price | Fixed, for the work described, for as long as the quote is valid. | A best guess. The final figure can be higher or lower. |
| What the customer can expect | To pay that price for that work. | A bill in that region, and a heads-up before it moves. |
| Best for | Work you have seen and can specify: a consumer unit change, a boiler swap, a bathroom you have measured. | Work you cannot fully see or the customer has not fully decided: renovations, fault-finding, anything under a floor. |
| If the job changes | A variation, priced and agreed before you do it. | Tell the customer as soon as you know, and put the revised figure in writing. |
| The word on the document | “Quote” or “Quotation”, and a valid-until date. | “Estimate”, and a line saying the final price may vary. |
A rule of thumb that serves most trades: estimate from the first conversation, quote from the site visit. The estimate gets you the visit and tells the customer roughly what they are in for; the quote, once you have seen the job, is what they accept.
What both documents need to say
Whichever one you send, the customer is going to read it against the finished job and the final bill, so the same five things need to be on it:
- The word itself. “Quote” or “Estimate” at the top, not “Invoice” (that is the bill, afterwards) and not nothing. A priced document with no label tends to get read as a quote.
- The scope, line by line, with what is not included where a customer might reasonably assume it is (decorating, skip hire, making good, disposal).
- VAT, shown separately if you are registered, so the customer is not surprised by the total on the invoice. If you are not registered, say the price is not subject to VAT.
- How long it stands. A quote needs a valid-until date; materials and your diary both move. Thirty days is the common default.
- Payment terms: any deposit, when the balance is due, and how to pay.
Your registrations belong on there too — NICEIC or NAPIT, Gas Safe, FMB — because they are what a customer checks before they say yes. The electrician, plumber and builder pages each show a worked example for the trade.
Turning an estimate into a quote
The natural order is estimate first, quote second: you estimate from the phone call, visit the site, then quote the job you have now seen. The quote should be a new, separately numbered document rather than the estimate with a word changed, so that the two are never confused later — the customer accepted the quote, not the estimate, and it is the quote you will be held to.
Speak to Quote treats them as two document types for exactly that reason. You dictate the job once, build it as an estimate (numbered E2026-001 and so on, with the may-vary line printed in the footer) or as a quote (Q2026-001), and an estimate converts to a fresh quote in one tap once you are sure of the price. Both can be sent as a link the customer accepts online, and both carry your VAT, validity date, payment terms and registrations without you retyping them. How it works walks through the whole thing.
Is any of this legally binding?
In general, a quote the customer has accepted is treated as an agreed price for the work described, and an estimate is not — but “in general” is doing some work in that sentence. What the document says, what was agreed in messages afterwards, and whether the scope actually changed all matter, and this page is general guidance rather than legal advice. For a dispute that is heading somewhere formal, Citizens Advice and a solicitor are the right next steps. The practical advice stands regardless: label the document, write the scope down, and agree changes before you do the work.