The 12 quoting mistakes that cost UK tradespeople money, and how to fix each one
Most trade businesses do not lose money on site. They lose it at the kitchen table, at ten o'clock at night, writing the quote. The job then runs exactly as planned and still makes nothing, because the number was wrong before the first van arrived. Here are the twelve mistakes we see most, and the fix for each.
1. Pricing from the client's description
"It's just a straight swap" is the most expensive sentence in construction. Visit, measure, photograph, and look in the loft, under the floor and behind the boiler. If you cannot visit, say the price is subject to survey.
2. Not measuring
A square-metre guess on a plastering job can be 30% out. Take the quantities off properly: areas, lengths, counts. On drawn work, let AI take-off do it in minutes and check the marked-up plans.
3. Forgetting the prelims
Skips, scaffold, welfare, protection, the hire, the supervision, the cleaning. On a domestic job they are 8% to 15% of the works. List them; do not guess a percentage. Our guide to preliminaries has the full checklist.
4. Pricing labour at the wage, not the cost
A tradesperson on £180 a day costs you £240 to £260 once you add employer's NI, pension, holiday, sick days, the van, fuel, tools, insurance and the unproductive time. Price the loaded rate.
5. No margin, or margin that is really overhead
Overheads (office, accountant, insurance, software, your own non-productive time) need recovering before there is any profit. Most small trade firms need 20% to 30% on top of direct cost to survive. The ones who add 10% are busy and broke.
6. Vague scope
If the quote does not say what is included, the client assumes everything is. State the inclusions, the exclusions, the client-supplied items, the provisional sums and the assumptions, in plain English.
7. No provisional sums for the unknowns
Foundations, services, asbestos, rot: price what you can see and put a stated allowance against what you cannot, with the rate for extras. Then when the digger finds the well, it is a measured extra, not a loss.
8. Ignoring the programme
Time is money on every job because the prelims are time-related. A four-week overrun with £800 a week of hire and supervision costs £3,200. Put a programme on the quote and make the client's decisions part of it.
9. No payment schedule
Waiting until the end is financing the client's project. A deposit and stage payments tied to milestones keep you never more than one stage exposed. The stage payments guide has a schedule you can copy.
10. Quoting without a variation procedure
Changes will happen. If the quote and the contract do not say how extras are priced and approved, they will be argued about at the end. Priced, approved in writing, invoiced at the next stage. Variations in EstiMate make that a tap.
11. Sending a number instead of a document
A text with a figure loses to a branded PDF with an itemised breakdown, a programme, a payment schedule and optional extras, even when the figure is higher. Professional presentation is worth real money and costs nothing once the software does it.
12. Not following up
Half of all quotes are never chased. A polite follow-up three days after sending and again a week later wins jobs the client simply forgot to answer. Automate it so it happens.
Fix all twelve in one go
EstiMate was built by a builder to stop making these mistakes: the walk-round on the phone, the AI-drafted scope, the itemised build-up with your own rates and prelims, the branded PDF with optional extras, the contract, the stage invoices and the automatic chasing. Start free and quote the next job properly.
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- Planning applications: the lead source most builders ignore
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The Construction Industry Scheme in plain English: who it applies to, the 20%, 30% and gross rates, verification, monthly returns, deduction statements, and how to reclaim what you are owed.
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