quoting mistakes
Common Quoting Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Losing jobs or money and not sure why? Nine times out of ten it is the quote, not the work. The same handful of quoting mistakes catch nearly every new tradesman. Quoting too slow, leaving lines off, and forgetting the terms are the big three.
The good news is every one of them is easy to fix once you know what to look for. Tighten these up and your quotes start winning more and costing you less.
The mistakes that cost you most
These are not rare slip-ups. They are the everyday habits that quietly bleed money out of good tradesmen. Fix them and the difference shows up fast.
The big three
- Too slow: a quote that lands a week late has already lost. Speed wins more jobs than price.
- Missing line items: forget the waste removal or the make-good and you either eat the cost or look like you are adding extras.
- No terms or expiry: without payment terms and a valid-for date you have no protection when things drag on.
There is a quieter one too: underpricing out of fear. Quoting low to win the job feels safe, but you end up resentful, rushing, and skint. Price it properly and walk away from the ones who only want cheap.
And do not quote off memory. The job you priced last month had different materials and a different access. Treat each one fresh or you will carry last job’s mistakes into this one.
The quote MOT
Before any quote leaves your phone, give it a quick MOT against this list. Two minutes here saves hours of grief later.
- ✓ Sent within 24-48 hours of the customer asking
- ✓ Every line item listed, including waste, access and make-good
- ✓ Materials priced fresh, not from memory
- ✓ Markup and margin applied, not just cost covered
- ✓ Payment terms and deposit stated
- ✓ Quote valid-for date included
- ✓ Exclusions written down clearly
- ✓ Easy way for the customer to accept
Where new tradies get this wrong
- Treating the quote as paperwork to rush through, when it is actually the job interview.
- Believing the cheapest quote wins. It does not. The clearest, fastest, most complete one usually does.
- Quoting the same line items off the top of their head and forgetting one on the jobs that matter most.
The pattern is the same every time: a small gap in the quote turns into a big problem on site. Close the gaps before you send.
Stop forgetting line items
The mistake that costs the most is the simplest: leaving a line off. Quotato fixes that with reusable templates. Build your standard line items once and they appear on every relevant quote automatically.
No more sending the quote then remembering the skip hire on the drive home. Your full list of lines is there every time, so the waste, the access and the make-good are priced in from the start. The job costs what it should, and you stop giving work away for free.
Most quoting mistakes are habits, not bad luck. Run the MOT, lean on your templates, and the jobs you should be winning stop slipping through.
Quote with nothing left off.
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