A price you expect the work to come to, given before anyone has committed to anything. An estimate is a considered guess rather than an offer: it can move when the job turns out to be different from the one you looked at. How far it may move before you need the customer's agreement in writing is not a matter of custom — consumer-protection law in many provinces and states puts a ceiling on the overrun, and the ceiling is different in each of them. Find out which rule applies where you work before you decide what your estimates say.
This one depends on where you work
The rule behind estimate is set by the province or state the work is in, and the versions do not agree with one another. We have described the shape of it and deliberately not named a deadline, a cap or a percentage — check the rule where you work, or ask someone who practises there.
In FieldQuo — Instant online estimate
FieldQuo can put an instant estimate on your website, built from rates you set, so a visitor gets a range on the spot instead of waiting for a call back.
Related terms
- QuoteA price you are offering to hold, which becomes binding when the customer accepts it.
- BidA price submitted in competition with other contractors, usually against a scope that somebody else wrote.
- AllowanceA placeholder amount inside a fixed price for something the customer has not chosen yet — the tile, the taps, the light fittings.
- Change orderA written record that the job has changed, what the change is, and what it costs — agreed before the extra work starts.
More in estimating and quoting
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