From Cost List to Client-Ready Quote — Without the Guesswork
Getting your costs into an estimate is only half the job. The other half is reviewing those figures critically, applying the right margin, and making sure what goes to the client is accurate, complete, and professionally presented. Rush this stage and even a well-built cost list can produce a quote you'll regret.
This guide walks you through QuickEstimate's review and generation tools — so every estimate you finalise is one you can send with confidence and win work at the right price.
Five Steps to a Finalised, Accurate Estimate
These steps take you from a completed cost list to a polished, ready-to-send estimate. Work through them in order and you'll catch errors before they reach the client — and price jobs correctly every time.
Review Your Totals by Category
Before applying any markup, review what you've built. Looking at subtotals by category — materials, labour, equipment — is the fastest way to spot a figure that's out of place before it affects your final price.
- Open the Cost Summary panel to see a breakdown of totals by category
- Check the materials subtotal against your mental expectation for the job — does it feel right?
- Review the labour subtotal: does it reflect the number of people and days you've planned?
- Confirm equipment costs are present for every piece of plant or access equipment the job requires
- Look for any single line item that seems unusually high or low — these are often data-entry errors
- Cross-check quantities on high-value materials against your site measurements or take-off notes
The cost summary view is designed for exactly this review. It gives you a clean, category-level picture of the estimate without the distraction of individual line items — making it much easier to sense-check the overall shape of the numbers.
Apply Your Markup or Margin
Once your costs are confirmed, apply your profit margin. QuickEstimate supports both markup and margin calculations — use whichever method matches how you think about your pricing.
- Open the Pricing panel and choose between Markup (percentage added on top of costs) or Margin (percentage of the final price that is profit)
- Enter your target percentage — QuickEstimate recalculates the total instantly
- Apply markup globally across the whole estimate, or set different rates per category if your margin varies by cost type
- Use the What-If slider to see how changing your margin affects the final price before committing
- Check that the resulting total is competitive for the market and job type — if it looks high, review costs before reducing margin
- Add any discount as a separate line with a clear label — never silently reduce the total without a record of why
If you find yourself regularly reducing margin to win work, the issue is usually not your pricing — it's your proposal presentation or how you're positioning the value of the job. A lower price rarely wins a client who doesn't yet trust you.
Confirm Tax and Payment Terms
Tax and payment terms need to be set correctly before the estimate is finalised. Errors here create problems at the invoice stage — and with clients who notice discrepancies between the quote and the bill.
- Confirm the tax rate applied to the estimate is correct for the job type and jurisdiction
- Check whether any line items should be zero-rated or exempt and adjust them individually if needed
- Set your payment terms: net payment period (e.g. 14 days, 30 days) and any late payment policy
- Add a deposit requirement if applicable — state the amount or percentage and when it's due
- Include any milestone payment structure for longer or higher-value jobs
- Set the estimate validity period — the date after which the price is no longer guaranteed
Payment terms set at the estimate stage carry through automatically to your invoice when the job is complete. Getting them right here saves you from having to correct them later — or chasing a client who claims they weren't aware of your terms.
Run the Pre-Send Checklist
QuickEstimate's built-in pre-send checklist flags common errors and missing information before you generate the final document. Run it every time — it takes under a minute and catches the issues that are easy to miss when you're moving quickly.
- Click "Check Estimate" to run the automated pre-send review
- Resolve any flagged warnings — these include missing client details, zero-value line items, and unchecked tax settings
- Confirm the client name, address, and contact details are correct and complete
- Verify the project name and reference number are accurate — these appear on all generated documents
- Check that all section headings and line item descriptions make sense to someone who wasn't in the original conversation
- Remove any internal notes or placeholder text that shouldn't be visible in the client-facing document
The pre-send checklist has prevented thousands of estimates going out with missing client details, incorrect totals, or unpopulated fields. It's one of those features that feels minor until the day it saves you from a genuinely embarrassing send.
Generate and Preview the Final Document
With costs confirmed, markup applied, and the checklist clear, you're ready to generate the final estimate document. Preview it before sending — what looks right in the editor doesn't always look right on the page.
- Click "Generate Estimate" to produce the formatted PDF or shareable document
- Use "Preview" to see exactly what the client will receive — including layout, fonts, and page breaks
- Check the preview on both desktop and mobile views — many clients open documents on their phones
- Confirm your logo, brand colours, and contact details are displaying correctly
- Review page breaks to ensure no section heading is stranded at the bottom of a page away from its content
- Click "Approve and Lock" to finalise the estimate — it's now ready to convert to a proposal and send
Once approved and locked, the estimate creates an immutable record of what was quoted and when. If the client requests changes later, you'll issue a revised version — keeping a clear audit trail of every version of the quote.
Markup vs Margin — Which Should You Use?
Both are valid ways to price a job, but they produce different results from the same cost base. Understanding the difference means you always charge what you intend to charge:
- Markup adds a percentage on top of your costs. A 20% markup on £1,000 of costs gives a quoted price of £1,200 — profit of £200.
- Margin sets profit as a percentage of the final price. A 20% margin on £1,000 of costs gives a quoted price of £1,250 — profit of £250.
- At lower percentages the difference is small, but at 30%, 40%, or higher it becomes significant — always double-check which method you're using.
- Most tradespeople and contractors think in markup terms. Most accountants and financial reports use margin. QuickEstimate supports both — choose the one your business runs on and apply it consistently.
You can set a default method in Settings → Pricing Defaults so the right option is always pre-selected when you open a new estimate.
Getting Your Estimates Right Every Time
These practices separate tradespeople who consistently price jobs accurately from those who win work they later wish they hadn't taken on.
Always Review at Category Level First
Before drilling into individual lines, look at the category subtotals. A materials figure that's twice what you'd expect tells you where to look — without having to check every single line item manually.
Check Your Take-Off Before You Price
If your quantities are wrong, your estimate will be wrong regardless of how carefully you price it. Double-check key measurements — especially for materials priced by area or linear metre — before generating the final document.
Don't Reduce Margin to Win — Reduce Scope
If your total comes in higher than you think the client will accept, look at what you can remove from the scope rather than cutting your margin. A smaller job at the right price is better than a full job at the wrong one.
Always Set a Validity Period
Material and labour costs change. An estimate with no expiry date is an open-ended commitment. Set 30 days as your default — it's long enough to be reasonable and short enough to protect you from price movements.
Save Strong Estimates as Templates
When an estimate comes together cleanly and wins the job at a good margin, save it as a template. The next similar job will start from a much stronger base — with the right structure, rates, and scope already in place.
Review Estimate vs Final Cost After Every Job
When the job closes, compare what you quoted to what you actually spent. The gaps — consistently over or under in the same category — tell you exactly where to improve your estimating process next time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. QuickEstimate lets you apply a global markup across all costs, or set individual rates per category. This is useful if your margin on materials differs from your margin on labour — for example, if you apply a lower margin on materials you're passing through at cost and a higher margin on your own labour.
Approved estimates are locked to protect the integrity of the record. To make changes, use the "Create Revision" option — this duplicates the estimate into an editable version while preserving the original. The revised version is clearly labelled with a revision number, and both versions are stored in your estimate history.
Yes. The Profit Summary panel displays your projected gross profit in both pounds and percentage terms based on your current costs and markup. You can adjust the markup in real time and watch the profit figure update instantly — useful for finding the right price point without committing to a number until you're ready.
An estimate is your internal working document — the detailed cost build with all your rates and margins visible. A proposal is the client-facing version generated from the estimate — branded, formatted, and showing only the information you choose to share. The estimate is your workings; the proposal is what the client sees. You control exactly how much detail crosses from one to the other.
Yes. You can duplicate an estimate and adjust the scope or markup to create alternative pricing options — for example, a full specification and a value specification at a lower price. Both can be sent to the client as options within the same proposal, giving them a clear choice without requiring you to build two separate estimates from scratch.
Estimate Finalised — Ready to Send?
Turn your completed estimate into a branded, client-ready proposal in one click.