The difference in one line each
- An estimate says: on what I have seen so far, this is what it should cost.
- A quote says: this is what it will cost, and I will do it for that.
- An estimate is expected to move as the job is understood; a quote is not.
- An estimate is a starting point for a conversation; a quote is the end of one.
The distinction is visible on the document itself. An estimate carries a line saying it is not a bill and that prices may change. A quote carries a fixed price and the date that price stands until — nothing about it invites the number to move.
Which one should you send?
The honest test is not how confident you feel. It is whether you could start the work tomorrow without learning anything that changes the price. If you could, quote it. If there is a wall to open, a survey to read, a supplier to hear back from, or a scope the client is still deciding, that is an estimate, and calling it a quote does not make the unknown go away — it only moves who pays for it.
Estimates and quotes in practice
Plenty of trades use both on the same job: an estimate to open the conversation, then a quote once the scope has settled and the client has chosen. The sample documents for each trade show what that looks like in the trades that work this way.
Whichever you send, say when it expires. A price with no end date is one you have agreed to honour indefinitely, and neither document was ever meant to do that.
Common questions
- Is a quote legally binding?
- Generally an accepted quote is treated as an agreement on price, while an estimate is treated as a considered opinion. The wording on the document does much of the work either way, which is why it is worth being deliberate about which one you send.
- Can I change an estimate after I send it?
- You can issue a revised one, and you should rather than editing the original — the client has a copy of what you sent, and two documents with the same number is how the conversation goes wrong. If the change came from something you found on site, say so in the revision.
- What about a proposal?
- A proposal is usually a quote with the argument attached: the approach, the timeline, why you rather than someone else. The price behaves like a quote's. If your trade competes on approach as much as on cost, that framing earns its extra length.