How to quote a trade job without underpricing yourself

A good quote does two jobs at once: it wins the work, and it protects your margin. Quote too high and the customer walks; quote too low and you are effectively paying to do the job. Here is a simple, repeatable way to price a trade job so neither happens.

Start with the four numbers

Every quote, however big, comes down to four things: labour, materials, overheads and margin. Get them out of your head and onto paper, or into software, and the rest is arithmetic.

1. Labour

Estimate the hours honestly, then add a buffer for the parts that always run long: access, set-up, clean-up and the inevitable surprise behind the wall. Multiply by a charge-out rate that already covers wages, leave, tools and insurance, not just the hourly wage you pay.

2. Materials

Price materials from a current supplier list, not memory. Prices move, and last year's figure can quietly erase your margin. Keep a reusable price list so you are not re-pricing the same fittings on every job.

3. Travel and overheads

Travel time, vehicle running costs, software, the phone plan and the hours spent quoting all cost money. Spread them across your jobs as an overhead loading rather than absorbing them invisibly. If the site is an hour each way, that is two hours a day someone has to pay for.

4. Margin

Margin is not greed; it is the buffer that keeps you trading when a job goes sideways. Decide your target margin up front and apply it consistently rather than discounting on the spot to close a deal.

Build a price list you reuse

The fastest way to quote accurately is to stop starting from scratch. Save your common tasks, assemblies and materials as line items you can drop into a quote in seconds. Over time your quotes get faster and more consistent, and your pricing stops depending on what mood you were in that afternoon.

Present it clearly

Customers say yes faster when they understand what they are paying for. Break the quote into clear sections, spell out what is included and excluded, and put your payment terms in writing. A tidy, itemised quote also makes you look like the professional you are.

Turn the quote into a job, not a retype

When the customer accepts, the quote should become the job: the same line items, the same materials, the same price, without anyone retyping it. That single step removes a whole category of errors and means the invoice at the end matches what was agreed at the start. It is exactly the loop SKEDS is built around: quote on site, convert to a job, then invoice the moment it is done.