Plumbing quotes: how to write one that wins jobs

Most quotes aren’t lost on price. They’re lost on delay and vagueness: the customer asked for three quotes, yours arrived on day four as a message with a bare figure, and the one next door arrived within the hour with a breakdown. The second one wins even when it’s more expensive.

Below is the structure of a plumbing quote that the customer understands and you can stand behind — without turning it into a dissertation.

Scope first, price second

The most expensive mistake in a quote is a vague scope. “Bathroom refit — €2,400” is an invitation to a dispute: the customer thinks the sanitaryware is included, you don’t. Write down first what’s included and, just as explicitly, what isn’t.

• Included: removal of old fittings, new supply and waste pipework, fitting of sanitaryware, pressure test, removal of rubble.
• Not included: tiles and tiling, sanitaryware (unless chosen by us), building making-good, any defects in existing pipework uncovered during strip-out.

That last line is the most important. In older properties something almost always turns up; if you’ve allowed for it in writing, the extra charge is expected rather than unpleasant.

The structure that works

1. Your details and the customer’s — together with the job address, which often differs from the billing address.
2. Description in two lines: what was asked for and what you propose.
3. Breakdown of work with a price per task, not one lump sum.
4. Materials with quantities. If material prices are moving, state that they apply as at the date of the quote.
5. Labour in hours or crew days.
6. Timeline: when it starts, how long it takes, what holds things up (e.g. waiting for the tiler).
7. Payment terms: deposit, interim payment, balance on completion.
8. Validity: 15 or 30 days. Without it, a quote from March will be held up to you in October.
9. Guarantee on workmanship and materials, with a clear duration.

How much detail? The three-level rule

Too much detail is tiring and invites haggling line by line; too little breeds suspicion. The balance that works is three levels: group of works → individual task → total. The customer sees that “bathroom plumbing” costs €1,200, can see what it’s made up of, but isn’t asked to judge the price of every fitting.

Speed: the real competitive advantage

For emergency call-outs, the quote that arrives first wins most of the time. On planned jobs there’s more leeway, but even there, after 48 hours the odds drop noticeably.

The only way to be fast without being sloppy is ready-made templates: the ten standard jobs you do all the time, with prices you update once a month. The quote is then put together in the van, in five minutes, by picking from a list instead of typing.

Follow-up: the quote you never heard about again

Half of all lost jobs weren’t turned down — they were forgotten. A quote with no status (“pending”, “accepted”, “declined”) and no follow-up reminder disappears along with the message it was sent in.

Keep outstanding quotes on a list you look at every Monday and phone about any older than five days. In PlumbPro each quote has a status and an expiry date, and once it’s accepted it turns into a job sheet without retyping the materials.

Five costly mistakes

• A verbal quote. If it wasn’t written down, it wasn’t agreed.
• No expiry date — material prices change, your quote doesn’t.
• No mention of the surprises that come with older installations.
• Round figures with no breakdown: they look arbitrary even when they’re right.
• No follow-up after sending.

Conclusion

A good quote is a small contract: it says what will be done, what won’t, how much it costs, when, and how long the offer stands. If it goes out the same day with three levels of breakdown, you’ll win jobs that today simply go to whoever replied fastest.