Short answer
A quote template needs your business details, the client, a quote number and date, the scope of work, one fixed total price, tax, payment terms, a valid-until date and what is excluded. The price is full cost divided by one minus your margin. Example: $603.20 of cost at a 30% margin is a $861.71 quote.
- A quote is a fixed price for a defined scope. An estimate is an approximation that can change.
- Price = full cost / (1 - margin). Example: $603.20 / 0.70 = $861.71.
- One extra hour for a two-person crew cuts the example margin from 30% to 21.04%.
- Word or Google Docs handles the document. A spreadsheet handles the arithmetic.
- Every figure is an example assumption. Replace each one with your own.
On this page
- What is the correct format for a quote?
- Is a quote the same as an estimate?
- Try the arithmetic: free quote price calculator
- Worked example: the number behind a service quote
- What happens to a fixed quote when the job runs over?
- How do I create a quote template in Excel or Google Sheets?
- Is there a quote template in Word? Word vs Excel vs an app
- Common quoting mistakes
- Which tool do you need, and when do you need none?
- Step-by-step
- FAQ
What is the correct format for a quote?
A quote is a one-page document with nine parts: who you are, who the client is, a quote number and date, the scope of work, one fixed total price, tax, payment terms, a valid-until date, and exclusions with the rule for extra work. The layout matters less than having all nine.
| Field | What goes in it | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Your business | Trading name, address, phone, email, licence or registration number if your trade needs one | The client knows who is making the offer |
| Client and site | Name, contact, address where the work happens | Ties the price to one job |
| Quote number and date | A running number and the day you issued it | You can find it again and refer to it on the invoice |
| Scope of work | What you will do, in plain words, with quantities | The price only means something against a defined scope |
| Price | One fixed total, with a breakdown if you choose to show one | This is what makes it a quote and not an estimate |
| Tax | Sales tax or VAT shown separately, or a line saying none applies | The client sees the amount they will pay |
| Payment terms | Deposit, when the balance is due, how to pay | Prevents the argument after the job |
| Valid until | The date the price expires | Your costs change; an open-ended price does not |
| Exclusions and changes | What is not included, and that extra work is priced and agreed in writing first | Protects a fixed price from a growing scope |
That list is close to what consumer bodies tell clients to look for. Citizens Advice, a UK consumer charity, says a quote should include a fixed total price, a breakdown of the work and materials, how long the price is valid for, whether it includes VAT, and when the price can go up.
Most results for this search are design galleries and invoicing apps that offer a page to fill in. This guide adds the part they leave to you: how the number on the page is worked out. I build pricing maths; I am not a tradesperson or a lawyer.
Is a quote the same as an estimate?
No. A quote is a fixed price for a stated scope. An estimate is your best approximation, and the final bill can differ. Use the word that matches what you are promising, and put it at the top of the page.
Citizens Advice puts it this way for UK consumers: a quote is "a fixed price" and an estimate is "just a rough guess". It adds that once the client says yes to a quote it is a binding agreement, and that the trader cannot charge more unless the client asks for extra work, agrees to pay for extra work the trader flags, or the trader made a genuine mistake in the price.
That is guidance for one country. How binding a quote is where you work depends on local contract and consumer law, and I am not giving legal advice. The practical rule holds anywhere: if you write "quote", expect to be held to the number.
| Document | Price | When you send it |
|---|---|---|
| Estimate | Approximate; may change as the job becomes clear | Early, before you have seen everything |
| Quote | Fixed for the scope and until the expiry date | When the scope is known |
| Proposal | A quote plus the case for choosing you: approach, schedule, options | Larger or competitive jobs |
| Invoice | The amount now owed | After the work, or for the deposit |
If the scope is still unclear, send an estimate and say so. The contractor estimate template guide covers the columns an estimate needs. This guide stays on the fixed-price quote.
Try the arithmetic: free quote price calculator
Type the hours on site, the crew, the wage, materials and your yearly overhead. The calculator returns the break-even cost and the price to put on the quote at your margin. It starts on the example job below.
"Price to quote" is the fixed total for the quote. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Worked example: the number behind a service quote
The quote price is full cost divided by one minus the margin you want. For a two-person, six-hour job with $140.00 of materials, the full cost is $603.20 and the quote at a 30% margin is $861.71. Every input is an assumption for illustration.
Worked example: A two-person, six-hour service job quoted at a 30% margin (assumed inputs - use your own)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 2 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $22.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 30% |
| Materials (input) | $140.00 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $36,800.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 2 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 230 |
| Target margin % (input) | 30% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 4 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 6 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $28.60 |
| Crew-hours | 12 |
| Labour cost | $343.20 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $10.00 |
| Overhead share | $120.00 |
| Break-even cost | $603.20 |
| Price to quote | $861.71 |
| Profit on the job | $258.51 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $784.16 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 23.08% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $77.55 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $16,131.29 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
The chain, step by step:
- Loaded labour rate. A $22.00 wage with an assumed 30% burden (payroll tax, insurance, paid time off) costs $28.60 an hour.
- Labour. 2 workers x 6 hours = 12 crew-hours. 12 x $28.60 = $343.20.
- Materials. $140.00 at what you pay.
- Overhead share. $36,800.00 of yearly overhead / (2 people x 230 billed days x 8 hours) = $10.00 per crew-hour. 12 crew-hours carry $120.00.
- Break-even. $343.20 + $140.00 + $120.00 = $603.20.
- Quote. $603.20 / (1 - 0.30) = $861.71, which leaves $258.51 of profit.
Here is how that lands on the page the client reads. Your wage, burden, overhead and margin stay on your own sheet.
| Line | Entry |
|---|---|
| Quote number and date | Q-0147, issued 5 October 2026 |
| Scope | The work in words and quantities, with the site address |
| Fixed price | $861.71, labour and materials included |
| Tax | Added at your local rate, on its own line |
| Deposit to book (50%) | $430.86 |
| Balance on completion | $430.85 |
| Valid until | 4 November 2026 (30 days) |
| Not included | Anything outside the scope above; extra work is quoted and agreed in writing first |
The 50% deposit and the 30-day validity are placeholders. Set your own, and check whether your state or country limits deposits for your trade.
What happens to a fixed quote when the job runs over?
The price stays where you wrote it and the extra cost comes out of your profit. On the example quote, one extra hour on site for the two-person crew takes the margin from 30% to 21.04%. Two extra hours take it to 12.08%.
Worked example: The same job if it takes seven hours on site instead of six (cost side only matters here)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Workers (input) | 2 |
| Hourly wage paid (input) | $22.00 |
| Labour burden % (input) | 30% |
| Materials (input) | $140.00 |
| Overhead for the year (input) | $36,800.00 |
| People in the field (input) | 2 |
| Billable days a year (input) | 230 |
| Target margin % (input) | 30% |
| Jobs a week (input) | 4 |
| Hours on the job (input) | 7 |
| Loaded labour rate (per hour) | $28.60 |
| Crew-hours | 14 |
| Labour cost | $400.40 |
| Overhead per sellable hour | $10.00 |
| Overhead share | $140.00 |
| Break-even cost | $680.40 |
| Price to quote | $972.00 |
| Profit on the job | $291.60 |
| Price if you MARK UP instead | $884.52 |
| Margin you actually keep with markup | 23.08% |
| Lost per job by marking up | $87.48 |
| Lost per year by marking up | $18,195.84 |
Computed with the same formulas as the free calculators on this site. Change any input in the calculator above to see your own numbers.
Read only the cost rows in that table. At seven hours the break-even is $680.40. The quote is still $861.71, so profit is $861.71 - $680.40 = $181.31.
| Hours on site | Full cost | Profit at the quoted price | Margin kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 (as quoted) | $603.20 | $258.51 | 30.00% |
| 7 | $680.40 | $181.31 | 21.04% |
| 8 | $757.60 | $104.11 | 12.08% |
| 9.35 | $861.71 | $0.00 | 0.00% |
Each crew-hour costs $38.60 here ($28.60 of loaded labour plus $10.00 of overhead). The profit of $258.51 buys 6.70 crew-hours of overrun, which is 3.35 hours on site for two people. After that you are paying to finish the job.
This is the real difference between a quote and an estimate. An estimate lets the bill follow the hours. A quote does not, so the hours you type into it need to be hours you would bet on. If you would rather quote seven hours to be safe, the same sum gives $972.00.
How do I create a quote template in Excel or Google Sheets?
Use two tabs. A cost tab holds your inputs and works out the price. A quote tab holds the nine fields and pulls the price across with one cell reference. The client only ever sees the quote tab.
Enter hours on site, workers, loaded hourly rate, materials, overhead per crew-hour and target margin in B2 to B7 of the cost tab. Lay out the nine fields on the quote tab. These formulas connect the two.
Break-even cost
=B2*B3*(B4+B6)+B5Cost tab. B2 = hours on site, B3 = workers, B4 = loaded hourly rate, B5 = materials, B6 = overhead per crew-hour. Returns 603.20 for the example.
Quote price at your margin
=ROUND(B8/(1-B7),2)B8 = break-even, B7 = target margin (30%). Returns 861.71.
Price on the quote tab
=Cost!B9Pulls the price from the cost tab so the page can never disagree with the sum. Name the cost tab Cost.
Deposit and balance
=ROUND(C12*C13,2)Quote tab. C12 = fixed price, C13 = deposit % (50% in the example). Balance is =C12-C14 where C14 holds the deposit. Returns 430.86 and 430.85.
Valid until
=C5+30C5 = quote date. Format as a date. Change 30 to your own validity period.
Margin kept if the job runs over
=(B9-((B2+1)*B3*(B4+B6)+B5))/B9Cost tab. Margin at one extra hour on site at the same price. Returns 21.04% for the example.
Sending a PDF, not the spreadsheet, keeps your cost tab private and stops the figures being edited.
Is there a quote template in Word? Word vs Excel vs an app
Any word processor can hold a quote, because a quote is a one-page document. What Word and Google Docs do not do is the arithmetic. Pick the tool by which half of the job you need help with.
| Format | Good for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Word or Google Docs | A clean page with your logo and terms | You type the price; nothing checks it |
| Design gallery template | Presentation | Layout only; no cost or margin logic |
| Excel or Google Sheets | Working out the price and filling the page from it | You build and check the formulas |
| Quoting or invoicing app | Sending, e-signature, turning a quote into an invoice | Usually an account and a subscription; check how it applies margin |
A free template is enough for the document. Check it has the nine fields, and that a "markup" box is not being used where you meant margin.
Common quoting mistakes
The costly ones are arithmetic, not layout. The most common is adding the margin percentage on top of cost. On the example job, $603.20 plus 30% is $784.16, which keeps 23.08%, not 30%. That is $77.55 less on one quote.
- Markup typed as margin. Divide by one minus the margin. The markup vs margin calculator guide has the conversion chart.
- Wage used as the labour cost. The example uses $28.60 an hour, not the $22.00 wage.
- No overhead line. Leaving out the $120.00 share makes the job look cheaper than it is. The how to price a service guide builds the cost floor first.
- No expiry date. A price with no end date can be accepted months later at old costs.
- A day rate called a quote. A day rate leaves the total open. If you bill by time, call it an estimate. Freelancers who price by hours and rate have their own freelance quote template guide.
Which tool do you need, and when do you need none?
If you send a few quotes a month, a word-processor page plus the free calculator covers it and you do not need to buy anything. A paid tool only makes sense when re-typing the same rates into every quote is costing you time or errors.
Try it with your numbers — free
The free calculator does this whole method in about a minute: loaded labour, overhead share, break-even and the price to quote at your margin. No signup, nothing to download, and your numbers stay in your browser.
Open the free job pricing calculator →Get the free spreadsheetWant it built around your own rates, services and branding? Done-for-you custom calculator ($497).
| Option | Cost | What it does | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free job pricing calculator | Free | Break-even and the price to quote, in the browser | No document; one job at a time |
| Free Job Pricing Starter | Free | The same maths as a sheet for Excel and Google Sheets | No client-facing quote page |
| Trade pricing sheets (painting, landscaping, cleaning, pressure washing, junk removal) | $14.99 or $39 | Trade-specific costs, break-even, price and margin | They are internal pricing sheets, not printable customer forms |
| Custom-built quoting workbook | $497 one-time | Your line items and rates, plus a branded client quote page that fills itself in | Not instant; built after you send your details |
The done-for-you custom calculator is the only one of these that produces the client document: a branded proposal page with your business name, scope, total and deposit, filled from the pricing tab, plus a job log. It is delivered for Excel and Google Sheets with one round of revisions included. At $497 it suits a business that quotes every week, not one that quotes twice a month.
What to put in your own quote template: the nine fields; a price cell linked to a cost tab; deposit and balance formulas; a valid-until date; an exclusions block you reuse; and an overrun check that shows the margin at one extra hour.
Step-by-step: Quote Template for a Service Business: What a Quote Must Contain and the Maths Behind the Price
- Define the scope. Write what you will do in plain words with quantities, and list what is not included.
- Cost the labour. Multiply hours on site by workers by the loaded hourly rate. Example: 6 x 2 x $28.60 = $343.20.
- Add materials and overhead. Add materials at cost and the overhead share for the crew-hours. Example: $140.00 + $120.00, for a $603.20 break-even.
- Divide by one minus the margin. Break-even / (1 - margin) is the fixed price. Example: $603.20 / 0.70 = $861.71.
- Test an overrun. Recalculate the cost at one extra hour and check the margin you would keep at the same price before you commit to it.
- Fill in the nine fields. Business, client, number and date, scope, fixed price, tax, payment terms, valid-until date, exclusions and the rule for extra work.
- Send it as a PDF. Export the quote page only, keep the cost tab private, and file the quote under its number.
Run your own numbers — free
The free calculator does this whole method in about a minute: loaded labour, overhead share, break-even and the price to quote at your margin. No signup, nothing to download, and your numbers stay in your browser.
Open the free calculator →Get the free spreadsheetWant it built around your own rates, services and branding? Done-for-you custom calculator ($497).
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct format for a quote?
A quote lists your business details, the client and site, a quote number and date, the scope of work, one fixed total price, tax, payment terms, a valid-until date, and what is excluded with the rule for extra work. One page is enough if all nine parts are on it.
How do I create a quote?
Define the scope, add up labour at the loaded rate, materials and your overhead share, then divide by one minus your margin. Example: $603.20 of cost at a 30% margin is $861.71. Put that fixed total on a page with the scope, terms and an expiry date, and send it as a PDF.
Is a quote the same as an estimate?
No. A quote is a fixed price for a defined scope, and an estimate is an approximation that can change. Citizens Advice in the UK describes a quote as a fixed price and an estimate as a rough guess. Label the document with the word that matches what you are promising.
Is a quote a final price?
For the scope written on it, yes, that is the point of a quote. The total should only change if the client asks for extra work and agrees a price for it. Write that rule on the quote, with an expiry date, so a fixed price does not become an open-ended one.
How legally binding is a quote?
It depends on where you work. UK consumer guidance from Citizens Advice says an accepted quote is a binding agreement, written down or not. Other countries and US states have their own contract and consumer rules. This guide is arithmetic, not legal advice, so check locally before you rely on it.
Is there a quote template in Word?
You do not need a special one. A quote is a one-page document, so a Word or Google Docs page with the nine fields works. A word processor will not calculate the price, though, so work the number out in a spreadsheet or calculator first and type the fixed total in.
Where can I find free quotation templates?
Design galleries and invoicing apps list free quote and quotation layouts for Word, Excel, Google Docs and PDF. They cover presentation. Check that the one you choose has a scope block, a fixed total, tax, terms and an expiry date, and work out the price separately with the free calculator on this page.
Sources
- Citizens Advice (UK): Before you get building work done — The definition of a quote as a fixed price and an estimate as a rough guess, when a quoted price can change, and what a quote should include. UK consumer guidance; other jurisdictions differ.
I'm not a contractor, landlord or accountant. I build the pricing maths, and every number on this page shows its working so you can check it instead of trusting it. Watch the breakdowns on YouTube →