A quote is a promise. You've seen the job, the scope is settled, and this is the price you'll do it for until the date on the page. When the customer accepts it, you both have a contract. That's what makes a quote different from an estimate, and it's why a quote template needs things an estimate doesn't: a defined scope, a validity date, terms, and a signature.
This one is built for the way the trades sell a project: a new system, a panel upgrade, a repipe, an exterior repaint. Fill it in below, go through it with the customer, and either print it or send the live version from the bottom of the page.
What a quote has to say
- The scope, by area. What you're doing and where: "Replace the 3-ton condenser and air handler, new pad, new line set, reconnect to the existing ductwork." One line per thing, grouped by room or system when the job is big enough to need it.
- Options, if you offer them. Good, better, best, each a complete job at its own price, with the one you recommend marked. Three choices sell better than one because the customer is choosing between your options instead of between you and the next shop.
- What's included in every option. Permits, haul-away, the startup and test, the warranty. The things a customer would assume and might not get elsewhere.
- What's not. Electrical by another trade, drywall repair, anything found once the work is open.
- The price, the deposit, and when the rest is due. Fixed, with tax, with the deposit that gets it on the calendar and the balance on completion or by milestone for longer jobs.
- Valid until, the terms, and the acceptance. The date the price holds, how changes are handled, your state's notices, and where the customer signs.
Options sell the job
A single price invites a single question: can you do it cheaper? Three options change the question to which one. The good option is the minimum that fixes the problem and meets code. The better one adds the things you'd want in your own house: the higher-efficiency unit, the better thermostat, the longer warranty. The best is the full version. Mark the one you'd pick and say why in one sentence.
Price the options honestly, with real gaps between them. If the better option is $400 more for a thermostat the customer could buy for $200, they'll notice. If it's the difference between a 14 and a 17 SEER system with the rebate math on the page, they'll pick it more often than you'd expect. And keep the good option a job you'd be glad to do, not a decoy; some customers will choose it, and they're still your customers.
Valid until, and why it matters
Equipment prices change, and a quote with no end date is a quote you can be held to in a year. Thirty days is the usual term for a project quote; shorter if you're quoting during a price run. Write the actual date. The date also sets the follow-up: a text a week before it expires asking whether they'd like to hold a start date is the most natural follow-up there is, and it works.
Once accepted, the price is fixed for the scope on the page. Anything outside the scope is a change order: written, priced, approved before the work. Say that in the terms so the conversation on the day is "here's the change order," not an argument about what was included.
The terms a quote needs
Keep them short and in plain words. The ones that matter for a service business:
- Payment. The deposit on acceptance, the balance on completion, or a schedule by milestone for jobs that run more than a few days. Card, check, or a link.
- Changes. Any change to the scope is priced and approved in writing before the work.
- Schedule. A start window, not a date, and what happens if the customer isn't ready.
- Warranty. What you warrant on labor and for how long; parts per the manufacturer.
- Cancellation. Your state's notice. The FTC's cooling-off rule (16 CFR part 429) gives a customer three business days to cancel most sales made at their home over $25, and you have to tell them in writing. California requires a written home-improvement contract above $500 with specific contents; New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and others have acts of their own. Put the required language in the notices block and your license number in the header.
Signing it on the kitchen table
The quote that closes is the one the customer accepts while the reasons are fresh. Go through the options on the tablet, mark the one you recommend, and ask for the signature and the deposit before you leave. A signed quote with a deposit is a scheduled job. An emailed PDF is a conversation that may or may not continue.
If they want to think about it, send it by text with a link so it's in their hand, and let the follow-ups run on the valid-until date. Print it from this page, save a PDF from the print dialog, or download the file for Word or Pages and keep a master with your business details filled in.
When the template stops being enough
The live version in General Dispatch is this document, created from the job in your brand, with the options laid out and the one you recommend marked. The customer opens it from a text, picks an option, signs with a typed or drawn signature, and pays the deposit by card on the page into your own Stripe account. The signature is recorded with the name, time, device and the exact version signed, the state notices shown are kept with it, and the job moves to scheduled. Quotes that go quiet get a polite follow-up until the valid-until date. It's part of the $97 a month business plan, and it reads exactly like the sheet below.