how long is a quote valid uk
How Long Should a Trade Quote Be Valid For?
Make your quotes valid for 30 days as standard, and drop to 14 days when material prices are moving. Without a validity line, a customer can dig out a nine-month-old quote after prices have spiked and try to accept it - leaving you to choose between a loss-making job and an awkward row you'll have with one hand tied.
The fix costs you two sentences at the bottom of every quote. Here's why it matters and the exact wording to use.
Why an open-ended quote is a liability
A quote is a fixed-price offer, and an accepted quote becomes a binding contract at that price. If yours carries no expiry, the offer just sits there - and the customer decides when to accept it. Materials up 15% since you priced it? Your problem. Your day rate gone up in the new year? Tough. Every quote you've ever sent without a validity line is still out there, technically open for business at old prices.
14 days or 30?
30 days is the standard, comfortable default - long enough for a homeowner to think it over, short enough that prices can't drift far. Drop to 14 days when the job is heavy on volatile materials - cable, timber, board - or when your suppliers will only hold prices briefly. Some trades run 14 days on the materials element and 30 on the whole quote, which is exactly what the two-line wording below does.
There's a soft benefit too: a dated expiry creates a gentle deadline. 'Valid until the 24th' nudges the customer to decide, where an open-ended quote invites them to sit on it while they collect three more. You're not pressuring anyone - you're just being honest that prices have a shelf life.
The exact wording to add
Put this at the foot of every quote, above your name:
This quote is valid for 30 days from the date above. After that we may need to re-quote to reflect current material prices. Material prices are held for 14 days; beyond that, materials are charged at supplier invoice cost.
When a customer accepts an expired quote
It happens constantly: months of silence, then 'we'd like to go ahead'. Because your validity line lapsed the offer, you're free to re-price - no contract formed. Keep the reply warm; they're still a customer who wants to buy:
Thanks for coming back to me - glad you want to go ahead. That quote expired on [date] and material prices have moved since, so I'll need to update the numbers before we book you in. The scope hasn't changed, so it's a quick job - I'll have a fresh quote over to you by [day].
Nine times out of ten they accept the new figure without fuss - the validity line did the arguing for you, months ago. And because the scope is already agreed, re-quoting is a ten-minute job rather than a fresh site visit, so there's no reason to be tempted into honouring a stale price just to save the admin.
From the tools: My brother quoted a landlord £4,600 to rewire a two-bed terrace in Leeds, heard nothing, and moved on. Seven months later the landlord emailed 'happy to proceed' - after cable prices had climbed enough to take a few hundred pounds out of the job. There was no validity line, so my brother faced a straight choice: honour a stale price or start the relationship with a squabble. He honoured it, winced, and reckons it cost him around £350. Every quote since carries the 30-day line with a hard expiry date, and he's re-quoted expired jobs three or four times now without losing one - customers accept a dated expiry the way they accept a sell-by date. It's just how prices work.
Every Quotato quote goes out with your validity line on it - drafted, branded and accepted online in one tap.
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