How to Quote a Job as a Tradie: A Step-by-Step Guide

Quoting is where jobs are won or lost. Price too high and the customer goes elsewhere; too low and you erode your own margin. A clear, consistent quoting process fixes both — and makes you look far more professional than the tradie who scribbles a number on the back of a business card.

Here's a step-by-step process you can use on every job.

1. Understand the job before you price it

The best quotes start with good information. Before you put a number together, confirm:

• Scope — exactly what the customer wants done (and what they don't).
• Site conditions — access, existing work, anything that could slow you down.
• Materials — the specific fittings, fixtures and quantities required.
• Timing — when they want it done, and whether that affects your schedule.

If you can't get to site, ask the customer to send photos and details. A short "tell us about your job" form saves you a wasted trip and lets you quote the same day.

2. Build your price from a price book

Guessing prices from memory is slow and inconsistent. Instead, keep a price book of your common items — call-out fees, hourly rates, and the materials you use most — with your costs and sell prices saved. Then a quote becomes a matter of picking line items rather than recalculating from scratch.

Break every quote into three buckets so you can see your margin clearly:

• Materials — what the job consumes.
• Labour — your time (and your team's), at your hourly rate.
• Other — subcontractors, equipment hire, disposal, permits.

3. Add a fair margin

Your quote needs to cover materials, labour and a profit margin — the money that keeps your business running and growing. Decide on a target margin and apply it consistently. Don't discount to win a job you'll resent doing.

4. Make the quote easy to say yes to

A professional-looking quote wins more work than a plain text message. Include:

• Your logo and business details.
• A clear itemised breakdown (or a clean total, depending on the job).
• The total including GST.
• What's included and excluded.
• How long the quote is valid.
• A simple way to accept — ideally a link the customer can review and approve from their phone.

5. Send it fast — then follow up

Speed wins jobs. The tradie who quotes within a day almost always beats the one who takes a week. And if you don't hear back, a friendly follow-up a couple of days later recovers a surprising number of jobs — most people just get busy and forget.

Let the software do the heavy lifting

TradieJet turns this whole process into a few taps: build quotes from your saved price book, send them for the customer to approve and e-sign online, and let automatic follow-ups chase the ones that go quiet. When a quote is approved, it rolls straight into a scheduled job.

See how quoting works in TradieJet or start a free trial and quote your next job in minutes.