HOW TO WRITE A QUOTE
How to write a quote that wins the job
What goes on a quote, in what order, with a worked example for a painting job — plus how to price it, what to leave out, and how to get a yes without dropping your price.
Worked example · Line by line · Quote → invoice → receipt
The short answer
A quote is a written offer to do a specific job for a specific price, valid for a set time. It needs your business details, the customer's, a quote number and a valid-until date, a one-line description of the job, every piece of the work on its own line with its price, the materials, tax where it applies, the total, what's not included, any deposit, and how to accept.
The lines that win jobs are the ones most quotes skip: what's included, what's not, and a clear way to say yes. A customer comparing three painters picks the one whose quote answers their questions before they have to ask.
Quote the job, not the hours. “Two coats on walls and trim, four rooms — $1,650” is a price a customer can accept. “Painting, 22 hours” is a conversation.
WORKED EXAMPLE
A quote for a painting job, filled in
Harbor Coat Painting, a fictional business, quoting an interior repaint. Every line on it is explained below, and the same job turns into the invoice and the receipt on the next two pages.
Example · fictional business
Harbor Coat Painting Portland, ME (207) 555-0164 · hello@harborcoat.example | QUOTE |
Prepared for Elena Marsh 42 Ocean Ave Portland, ME | Job Interior repaint: living room, hallway, two bedrooms 42 Ocean Ave · walls, trim and the living-room ceiling |
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prep Patch and sand, caulk, mask floors and fixtures | 1 | $380.00 | $380.00 |
| Painting — labor Two coats on walls and trim, four rooms | 1 | $1,650.00 | $1,650.00 |
| Living-room ceiling One coat, flat white | 1 | $240.00 | $240.00 |
| Paint and materials 6 gal premium interior eggshell, primer, caulk, tape | 1 | $412.50 | $412.50 |
| Subtotal | $2,682.50 | ||
| Sales tax, 7% on materials (example) | $28.88 | ||
| Total | $2,711.38 | ||
What's included
Two coats of premium eggshell on walls, semi-gloss on trim, one coat on the living-room ceiling. We move light furniture and put it back; floors and fixtures are masked.
What's not included
Moving large furniture or pianos, drywall repair bigger than a fist, and wallpaper removal — quoted separately if we find them.
Deposit and timing
$800.00 to book the start date; the balance is due when the job is done. Three working days, starting the week of Oct 12.
To accept
Reply to this email or sign below. The price holds until Oct 31, 2026.
Every figure on the example is an example, not a price guide — use your own rates. The amounts are worked out from the lines (quantity × rate, tax on the materials), the way yours should be.
Quotes and a website, one place
Start your website — quoting is built in
Add what you do, your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line. The same dashboard sends quotes your customers accept online, and drafts the invoice when they do.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
LINE BY LINE
What goes on a quote
Every line on the example, in order, and what to write on it.
| The line | What to put there |
|---|---|
| Your business details | Business name, phone, email, address — and your license number if your trade is licensed where you work. Customers check it, and it belongs on a quote before it belongs on an invoice. |
| Quote number, date and valid-until date | A number that never repeats (Q-0117, Q-0118…), the date you sent it, and the date the price stops holding. Two to four weeks is normal; material prices move, and so does your calendar. |
| Prepared for, and the job address | Who's buying and where the work is. For a landlord or a property manager, list both the payer and the property. |
| The job in one line | “Interior repaint: living room, hallway, two bedrooms.” The customer should know what they're buying from the first line, before any numbers. |
| One line per piece of work | Prep, labor, the extras — each with a price. Flat prices where you can; hours × rate only for work you can't size in advance, and say so on the line. |
| Materials | What you'll supply, as one line or itemized. Itemize the big-ticket items (a water heater, a panel, the paint brand) so the customer sees what they're paying for and can't be undercut on a cheaper spec. |
| Tax and the total | Subtotal, tax where it applies, and the total in bold. In the US, whether sales tax applies to your work — and whether it falls on the materials, the labor, both or neither — depends on your state, so keep materials and labor on separate lines and check your state's revenue department or your accountant. Outside the US: a GST-registered business in Australia or New Zealand and a VAT-registered business in the UK or EU quote consumers a total that includes the GST or VAT, and show the tax charged on the receipt the same way it appears on the invoice. Confirm the details with your accountant. |
| What's included — and what's not | The two paragraphs that prevent arguments: exactly what the price covers, and the things you'll quote separately if you find them (rot behind the siding, a second coat the walls turn out to need). |
| Deposit and timing | Whether you take a deposit to book the date, when the balance is due, and when you can start. A quote with a start date gets accepted faster than one without. |
| How to accept | Reply, sign, or accept online. Make the yes a one-step action, and say the price holds until the valid-until date. |
STEP BY STEP
How to write a quote
Twenty minutes the evening after the site visit, while you remember what you saw.
Confirm what the job is
Write the job in one line the customer would recognize, with the address and anything they told you matters (the start date, the color, the dog).
Break the work into lines
Prep, each room or stage, the extras. One line per thing you'd charge for separately if the customer dropped it from the job.
Price each line
Flat prices from your price list where you can. Materials at what they cost you plus your markup, on their own line. Add tax where your state charges it.
Write what's in and what's out
Two short paragraphs. The second one — what's not included — is the one that saves you money later.
Set the deposit, the timing and the expiry
The deposit to book, when the balance is due, when you can start, and how long the price holds.
Send it the same day, then follow up
Email it as a link or a PDF with a one-line note. If you haven't heard back in three days, one call or message — most jobs are won on the follow-up.
How to price a quote — and what to do when they say it's too much
Start from your rates, not from the customer's budget. Price each line from your own list: your hourly rate × the hours it takes, or a flat price you've learned from the last ten jobs like it, plus materials at cost and your markup. If you're still working out your rates, our trade pricing guides have the 2026 US ranges: how much a plumber should charge, handyman rates, how much to charge for house cleaning, how much to charge for pressure washing, junk removal pricing, car detailing pricing.
Give them a choice, not a discount. When a customer says the quote is too high, don't cut the price — cut the scope. Offer a smaller version of the job (two rooms instead of four, one coat on the ceiling instead of two) at a smaller price. Quotes with a good-better-best set of options get accepted more often than one take-it-or-leave-it number, because the customer compares your options with each other instead of comparing you with the next contractor.
Never quote hours without a price. A customer can't accept “about two days” — they can accept $1,650. If a job genuinely can't be sized until you open the wall, quote the part you can see as a flat price and the unknown part as a range with an hourly rate, and say which is which.
Put the valid-until date on it. It protects you when materials go up, and it gives the customer a reason to decide this month instead of next spring.
Quote, estimate, bid or proposal? Most trades use quote and estimate for the same document. Strictly, a quote is a fixed price for a defined job and an estimate is your best guess that the final bill can move from; a bid is a quote in a competitive process, and a proposal is a quote with a pitch attached. Pick one word and put it at the top of the page. If it says Estimate, say on the page whether the final price can move and by how much.
Send the quote from Zarla
A quote in a Word file or an email works. The slow part is everything after: waiting for the reply, finding out they never opened it, and retyping the whole thing into the invoice when they say yes.
If your website is on Zarla, quotes are in the same dashboard. Build the quote from your own price book — one price, or up to three options side by side with the one you'd pick marked Recommended, and any line as a checkbox extra. Send it as one link, by email. Your customer picks an option, ticks any extras, types their name to accept, and gets a copy; Zarla drafts the invoice for exactly what they chose, with any deposit you asked for, and the job moves to Won. The quote template is already in your brand: your website's logo, colors and fonts, set once for every quote and invoice.
Next step: the job's done and it's time to bill — how to write an invoice turns this quote into the invoice, line for line. Then how to write a receipt closes it out.
Writing a quote: common questions
Your business details and license number if you have one; the customer and the job address; a quote number, the date and a valid-until date; the job in one line; every piece of work on its own line with its price; materials; tax where it applies; the total; what's included and what's not; any deposit, when the balance is due and when you can start; and how to accept.
A quote is a fixed price for a defined job, good until its valid-until date. An estimate is your best guess, and the final bill can move from it. Most customers use the words interchangeably, so say on the page which one it is — and if it's an estimate, say how far the final price could move.
Two to four weeks is normal for small jobs. Materials prices change and your calendar fills up, so the date protects you — and it gives the customer a reason to decide. Put the date on the quote and in the note you send it with.
Most trades quote small jobs free and charge a fee for a detailed quote on big ones (a full remodel, a roof), often credited back if the customer goes ahead. Whatever you do, say it on your website before the customer books the visit.
For jobs where you buy materials up front or block out days, yes — a deposit to book the date is normal, and it's the line that separates a serious customer from a tire-kicker. Put the amount and what it secures on the quote, and show it as “Deposit received” on the invoice.
Quote the part you can see as a flat price, and the unknown part as a range with your hourly rate — “drywall repair behind the shower, if needed: $75 an hour, typically 2–4 hours” — and say you'll confirm before you do it. A customer accepts a range they understand; they dispute a surprise.
Offer a smaller job at a smaller price, not the same job at a smaller price. Take a room off, drop an extra, or offer a standard spec instead of a premium one. Your price per line stays the same, the total comes down, and the customer makes the choice.
Yes — the customer is comparing totals, so quote the total they'll pay. In the US, whether sales tax applies to your work — and whether it falls on the materials, the labor, both or neither — depends on your state, so keep materials and labor on separate lines and check your state's revenue department or your accountant. Outside the US: a GST-registered business in Australia or New Zealand and a VAT-registered business in the UK or EU quote consumers a total that includes the GST or VAT, and show the tax charged on the receipt the same way it appears on the invoice. Confirm the details with your accountant.
Yes, if you send it from quoting software instead of as a file. If your website is on Zarla, you send the quote as a link: your customer picks an option, ticks any extras and accepts it online by typing their name, and Zarla drafts the invoice for exactly what they chose, with any deposit you asked for.
Send quotes from your own website
Add what you do, your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line — with quotes, invoices and receipts in the same dashboard.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.