Nobody reads a quote carefully until there is a problem. Then both sides read it very carefully indeed. A quote that was written for that second reading is the one that settles the argument in your favour, or at least settles it. This is what goes in.
Who, for what, where
The customer's name as they gave it. The address of the job if it is not where they live. A one-line description of what the job is: replace hot water unit, repaint interior walls and ceilings, new deck to rear of house. This sounds obvious, and it is the line most often left off a text-message quote. Without it, a dispute starts with an argument about which job you are even talking about.
Every line, with a quantity and a price
A quote that is a single total is an opinion. A quote that lists eleven tiles at $18 each, twelve metres of ridge capping at $65 a metre and a day of edge protection at $380 is a record. If the customer later says they expected the whole roof to be checked, the quote shows what was quoted and what was not.
Quantities matter as much as prices. Twelve downlights at $95 each is a count the customer can check against the ceiling. Downlights, $1,140 is not.
What is included
Say what the price covers in plain words. Supply and fit, or fit only. Removal of the old unit, or not. Rubbish taken away, or left in the skip the customer is hiring. Paint supplied, or customer supplies. These are the things the customer assumes and you assume differently.
What is not included
This is the sentence that saves you. Anything found behind the wall is a separate quote. Council approvals are the owner's. Painting is not included. Plants are not included. Tiles are supplied by the builder. Write it as a list if there is more than one thing. A customer who read that a rotten batten is extra cannot argue it should have been free.
When, and for how long
When you can start, or a window. How long the job takes. How long the price stands. Timber, copper and fuel move; a price that holds for 14 or 30 days is a price you can keep. A price with no date on it is a price the customer can hold you to in six months.
Money terms
Deposit if there is one, and when it is due. Progress payments if the job is long. Final payment on completion and how it is paid. If you charge for late payment, say so here. Quote Desk does not take the money, so the quote is where the terms live.
GST
Say whether the prices include GST. If you are registered, your quote should say so and your prices should include it, because that is what the customer will pay. If you are not registered, say that. A quote that is silent on GST is a quote with a ten per cent argument built in.
Variations
One sentence: changes to the scope will be quoted separately before the work is done, and the quote will be sent for acceptance the same way. This turns every mid-job addition into a new small quote the customer accepts, which is a record, rather than a conversation, which is not.
A way to accept
A quote the customer says yes to by phone is a quote with no record of the yes. A quote they reply to by email is better. A quote they accept by pressing a button on a page that records the time is better again. Whatever you use, make the yes something that leaves a mark. In Quote Desk the accept page records the date and the quote as sent, and a decline keeps the reason the customer typed.
Keep the version you sent
A quote you change after the customer has seen it is two quotes, and the customer will remember the one that suited them. Keep the quote you sent as it was. If something needs to change, send a new one and say which one is withdrawn. Quote Desk makes this easy because a saved quote cannot be edited: a change is always a fresh quote with its own date.
Keep it short
None of this needs a four-page document. Lines, a note of eight or ten sentences, a date. A customer who has to scroll past a page of conditions does not read any of them and the ones that matter get missed. The note under a Quote Desk quote is one text box for a reason: it fits the things that matter and not much else.
When the dispute comes anyway
Some will. When one does, the first thing anyone asks for is the quote. If it has the lines, the exclusions, the dates and the accepted stamp, most disputes end there. If it is a number in a text message, you are relying on memory against memory, and the customer's memory is as good as yours.
Write the quote for the day it goes wrong. On the days it does not, nobody minds.