How to read a quote

A quote is only useful if you understand it. Most people read the number at the bottom and stop. Here’s how to read the rest, so you know what you’re actually paying for and what could change.

Starting price and final price

On Hard Hat Way, a trade quotes from your job post: your photos, your description, your measurements. That’s a starting price. It’s their honest figure for the job as described.

Once you choose them, they come out for a site visit and give you a final price. That’s the number you agree to, and it’s the one that goes on the paperwork.

Why two numbers? Because a photo can’t show what’s under the ground, behind the plaster or how far the van has to park from the door. A good starting price and a good final price should be close. If they’re not, the trade should be able to tell you exactly what they found and why it changed things.

What a site visit is for

It isn’t a sales call. The trade is there to measure properly, check access, look at the existing structure, spot the things photos hide and ask you what “done” looks like. Take it seriously, be there, and answer their questions honestly. The better the site visit, the more accurate the final price and the fewer surprises later.

If a trade prices a big job without ever seeing it, that’s a sign they’re guessing.

The lines that matter

A good written quote breaks the job down. Look for:

• Labour. How many people, for how long. On bigger jobs this is the biggest number.
• Materials. What’s included, and whether it’s a named product or an allowance. “Facing bricks to match” is different from “facing bricks, allowance £X per thousand”.
• Plant and extras. Skips, scaffolding, digger hire, a mixer. These are real costs and should be listed, not hidden in labour.
• Waste removal. Who takes the rubbish away and whether that’s in the price.
• Provisional sums. An amount set aside for something that can’t be priced yet. Fine on a big job, as long as you know it’s there.
• Exclusions. What the quote doesn’t cover. Decorating afterwards, electrics, plumbing, planning fees. If it’s not listed as included, assume it isn’t.

VAT

If the trade is VAT registered, VAT is added on top unless the quote says it’s included. Sole traders below the registration threshold don’t charge it, and don’t have to. Either is fine. What matters is that you know which it is before you agree. Ask one question: “Is that including VAT?” and get the answer in writing.

If a quote says “plus VAT” in small print, add it on before you compare it with anyone else’s.

Deposits

A deposit is normal on jobs where materials have to be bought before work starts. What’s reasonable:

• Paying for materials when they’re delivered, or a deposit that roughly covers them
• Stage payments on longer jobs, tied to work done, not to dates
• The balance when the job is finished and you’ve looked at it

What isn’t reasonable: most of the money before anything has happened, cash only with no receipt, or pressure to pay to “hold the date”. Always get a receipt for any deposit, and make sure the quote says what it’s for.

How long is the price good for?

Material prices move. Most quotes are valid for a set period, often 30 days. If yours doesn’t say, ask. And don’t sit on a quote for three months then expect the same number.

Comparing quotes

Never compare the bottom line on its own. Put the quotes side by side and check they’re for the same job: same materials, same thickness, same finish, waste removal in both, VAT treated the same. A quote that’s a third cheaper usually has a third less in it.

What should never change

Once the final price is agreed and written down, it’s the price. The only thing that should move it is something genuinely unforeseeable, and even then the trade should stop, show you, and agree the extra before carrying on. If the price keeps creeping with no explanation, that’s not a quote, that’s a running tab.

When you post a job, you get starting prices from local trades, choose one, and agree the final price after the site visit. All in writing, all in one place.