An estimate is a range with assumptions. A quote is a price for a defined scope. Clients hear whichever word is printed at the top.
Bathroom exhaust fan and four downlights
Subject to inspection. Ceiling is lined - range assumes clear access and no extra cable.
Bathroom exhaust fan and four downlights
Fixed for this scope. Valid 30 days. Excludes chasing and after-hours.
Phone call on Monday: estimate. Site visit on Tuesday: quote. Same fan, same four lights. The second number is the one they can accept.
You can explain it is just a ballpark on the phone. The PDF they forward to their partner still has a number on it. If the heading says Quote, they will hold you to it. If it says Estimate and then lists a single figure with no assumptions, they will hold you to that too. The word only helps if the rest of the page matches.
A useful estimate names what you have not seen. On 14 Oak Street, the ceiling is lined. You do not know if the cable will reach, or whether the joists sit where the fan needs to go. So the estimate is $900-$1,400, and the page says why: typical house, clear access assumed, extra cable and chasing not included.
A useless estimate is about a grand. It feels friendly. It gives them nothing to compare, and you nothing to point at when the job is $1,400.
Once you have been on site - or the job is simple enough that you do not need to - write a quote. One total. Line items. Exclusions. Validity. That is the number they accept, and the number you invoice against.
The quote on Oak Street is $1,105 because the visit showed a clear run and a 150mm fan that fits. Chasing is still excluded, in writing. If the cable is short, that becomes a variation, not a fight about whether $1,105 included everything.
Send an estimate when you would be guessing: no access, covered work, a while you are here add-on, a renovation where the existing is a mystery. Call-outs and diagnostics are often estimates until the fault is found. Measured, specified work - a known switchboard, a listed fixture pack, a painted room you have walked - should be a quote.
If they need a number for finance or a body corporate pack, say whether it is an estimate or a quote in the first line, not in a footnote. Packs get photocopied. The footnote does not.
The estimate's job is to get you on site. After the inspection, replace it with a quote on the same job. Keep the estimate on the record so you can see how the range moved. If you never write the quote, you will invoice against a range, and someone will pick the bottom of it.
Treat it as a forecast, not a promise - and say that on the page. If you print Estimate but write a single figure with no assumptions, clients will hear a quote. This is not legal advice; it is how people actually behave when a number is in writing.
Yes, and you should, once you have seen the site. The estimate gets them in the door. The quote is what they accept. Do not let the estimate sit as the only number on the job.
When you cannot see the work. Lined ceilings, buried pipes, just have a look while you are here, no access to the switchboard. A fake-precise quote on a closed wall is how you eat the overrun.
Say so. I can quote once I have opened that ceiling. Until then this is an estimate. People respect the distinction more than a confident number you cannot stand behind.
Describe the job in plain English. Yes Foreman drafts the quote off your rates. When they accept, it becomes the work order - not a second document you retype.