A quotation is where a job is won or lost, and where most disputes are quietly created. It does two things at once: it gives the customer a price they can compare, and it sets the boundary of what that price covers. Quotes that do the first without the second are the reason small businesses end up doing unpaid work.
This guide covers scope, validity, assumptions, exclusions and acceptance — the parts that decide whether the job is still profitable after it has been agreed.
What a quotation is for
A quotation is an offer to supply defined work at a stated price, on stated terms. It is not a brochure, and it is not a rough guess to get the conversation started.
That definition does work for you. Because the price attaches to a defined scope, anything outside that scope is a change — and a change can be priced.
Describing the scope
Scope is the part customers read least carefully and later remember best. Write it in the customer's language, and be specific enough that two people would agree on what is included.
Instead of "kitchen refurbishment", write the rooms, the units, the work, the disposal, the making good, and the dates. Instead of "brand design", list the deliverables: a logo in three formats, a colour palette, typography, two rounds of revisions, and final files.
Include quantities. "Six pages of copy" is a scope; "website copy" is an invitation to argue. If the work is a retainer, state the hours or the outputs included in each period, and say what happens to unused time.
Validity, assumptions and exclusions
Three clauses do most of the work of protecting a price.
Setting a validity period
Prices are built on costs that move. A quotation with no expiry date is a price the customer can accept in eight months, when your material costs have risen and your supplier has changed terms.
State a validity period — 14 days, 30 days, or a specific date — and honour it. For work involving imported materials, currency exposure or subcontractor rates, a shorter period is honest rather than awkward.
Assumptions and exclusions
This is the section that protects the price. Assumptions describe what you have taken as given; exclusions describe what is definitely not included.
Assumptions might include access to the site during working hours, a single point of contact for approvals, content supplied by the customer in an agreed format, and existing infrastructure being in working order.
Exclusions might include structural work, electrical certification, removal of hazardous material, third-party licence fees, out-of-hours working, and travel beyond a stated radius.
Both lists should be short enough to be read and specific enough to be useful. A quote that excludes "anything not listed" is technically complete and practically useless in a disagreement.
Presenting the price and agreeing acceptance
How the number is shown decides whether it is compared fairly. How it is accepted decides whether it is agreed at all.
Presenting the price
Show the total clearly, then show how it is built. Customers comparing three quotes will look for the total first, and a price presented in a way that hides it reads as evasive.
If you offer options, keep them genuinely comparable: a good, better and best structure works when each tier lists what changes. Show tax separately so a business customer can see the net figure and a consumer can see what they will actually pay. Rules on displaying prices to consumers, and on what a quote must contain, vary by country — check locally.
State the payment schedule: deposit, stage payments, balance on completion. Deposits are normal for work that requires materials, and asking for one is not a sign of distrust.
Acceptance
Give the customer a clear way to accept, and make acceptance mean something. A signature, a dated email confirming the scope and price, or a returned copy of the quote all work.
Say what happens next: when work starts, what you need from them first, and how long the quoted dates hold once they accept. If a deposit is required before booking, say so at the point of acceptance rather than a week later.
A quote accepted by a two-word email, against a scope nobody read, is the start of the most expensive kind of job.
Common mistakes
- No expiry date. You have quoted a price for an unspecified future.
- Scope written as a category rather than a list. "Marketing support" cannot be delivered or disputed.
- No exclusions. Everything not mentioned becomes something the customer expects.
- Vague revision limits. "Reasonable revisions" is not a limit; "two rounds" is.
- Price split across pages. Customers compare totals, so make the total findable.
- No payment terms. The invoice then introduces terms the customer never agreed.
- Acceptance by silence. If the customer does nothing, nothing has been agreed — say so.
Putting it together
Build the quote from the quotation generator, which lays out scope, validity, assumptions, exclusions and acceptance in a structure the customer can follow. If the price needs checking first, run the figures through the markup calculator so the margin survives the negotiation. Once the quote is accepted, the invoice generator produces the matching invoice with the agreed terms already in place.
General information: this guide explains common business calculations. It is not accounting, tax or legal advice, and rules vary by country. Confirm decisions with a qualified professional.