Psalm/Is a quote legally binding?
A guide for UK trades · Updated 5 October 2026
A quote that names the work and a price is normally an offer, and once the customer accepts it you have a contract at that price for that work. An estimate is a best guess that can move, but where no price is agreed the customer pays a reasonable price, and no more.
The quote generator is free, needs no account, and nothing you type leaves your device.
When it binds
A quote that names the work and a price is normally an offer. The customer accepts it by signing, by replying yes or by paying the deposit, and from then there is a contract at that price for that work. Before acceptance either side is free to walk away, and a quote that stands for 30 days cannot be accepted on day 31.
When the customer is a consumer, meaning someone buying mainly for a purpose outside their trade or business, such as a homeowner, two rules in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 matter. Section 50 treats anything said or written to the customer about the service as a term of the contract if they took it into account when deciding to buy, subject to anything you qualified it with on the same occasion and to any change you both expressly agree. So the work, the price and the exclusions on your quote are the terms, and so is a price you only said out loud. Section 49 adds that you must do the work with reasonable care and skill. Both are on legislation.gov.uk, read on 5 October 2026.
If the customer is a business, the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 applies instead, and legislation.gov.uk shows that Act extends to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This page is not legal advice.
Quote or estimate
A quote is a fixed price for work you have described. An estimate is your best guess before the work is known, and it can move as the job unfolds. The difference matters because of what the law does when nobody has agreed a price: the customer must pay a reasonable price for the service, and no more. That is section 51 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for a consumer, and section 15 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, which says a reasonable charge, for a business. Both say that what is reasonable is a question of fact, which in a dispute means someone else decides it, not you. Both read on legislation.gov.uk on 5 October 2026.
The heading on the paper does not settle it. If your document names a price for described work and the customer accepts it, treat it as a quote, whatever it is called. If part of the job cannot be priced until you start, say so, and price that part as a provisional sum.
Charging more
Not for the work as quoted. Three things can properly move the final bill, and each is written down before it happens.
What you cannot do is raise the price because your own costs rose after the customer accepted. That risk is yours, which is why a quote carries an end date. gov.uk's guidance on writing a fair contract for customers, updated 22 July 2026 and read on 5 October 2026, lists a term that lets you change the contract after it has been agreed, raising the price for example, among those that may be unfair, so a clause that lets you add whatever you like is a risk. Say what can change the price, and why.
Here is one job as quoted and as finally invoiced. Everything in the tables is invented.
| Item | The quote | The final invoice | Why it changed or did not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remove and dispose of the old worktop | £150.00 | £150.00 | As quoted |
| Solid oak worktop (3.6 m × £320.00 per metre) | £1,152.00 | £1,152.00 | As quoted |
| Template, cut, fit and oil, with sink and hob cut-outs | £780.00 | £780.00 | As quoted |
| Oak upstand (3.6 m × £42.50 per metre) | £153.00 | £153.00 | As quoted |
| Disconnect and reconnect the sink and hob | £265.00 | £265.00 | As quoted |
| Provisional sum: making good the wall behind the old splashback | £120.00 | £85.00 | Adjusted to the actual cost, as the quote said |
| Extra, agreed by email before the work: a second cut-out (£95.00) and 1.2 m more upstand (£51.00) | None | £146.00 | The customer asked for it, and the price was agreed first |
| Total before VAT | £2,620.00 | £2,731.00 | |
| VAT at 20% | £524.00 | £546.20 | |
| Total | £3,144.00 | £3,277.20 |
Invented firm (Whitmore Interiors, London), invented customer (Charlotte Hayes), invented figures. The extra work and the provisional sum are the only differences, and each was agreed or provided for in writing.
Writing it
Six habits keep the quote and the final bill on the same side of the argument.
The kitchen fitting quote template sets out all ten parts of a quote with wording you can copy.
Backing out
If the contract is made with you in person away from your business premises, for example at the customer's kitchen table, the customer has 14 days to cancel without giving a reason. The rule, the regulation numbers and what the customer owes if they cancel after asking you to start are set out, with sources read on 5 October 2026, on the bathroom installation guide.
After those 14 days, or where the right does not apply, a customer who pulls out may owe you for what you have lost, and whether they do depends on your terms and the facts. A deposit you have explained clearly is the part you control. gov.uk's fair contract guidance, read on 5 October 2026, says a term is unlikely to be fair if it makes prepayments non-refundable whatever the reason the customer cancels, and that you may legitimately keep a deposit in full if it is no more than a small percentage of the price and you make clear when exactly it becomes non-refundable. How to invoice a deposit covers the paperwork.
Questions people ask
Once the customer accepts it, yes. A quote that names the work and a price is normally an offer, and acceptance makes a contract at that price for that work. Before acceptance either side can walk away. This page is not legal advice.
An estimate is a best guess and does not fix the price. Where no price is agreed, the customer must pay a reasonable price and no more (Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 51, read on 5 October 2026). If your document names a price for described work and the customer accepts it, treat it as a quote.
Not for the work as quoted. The price can change for extra work the customer asks for, a provisional sum that the quote said would be adjusted, or a condition the quote stated, and each should be agreed in writing before the work is done.
It can be. Section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats anything said or written to the customer about the service as part of the contract if they took it into account when deciding to buy. A spoken price is much harder to prove, so put it on paper.
For as long as you say. Print an end date on it, such as 30 days, because material prices move. The free quote generator offers 14, 30, 60 or 90 days, or none.
Only by agreement. Write the change down, give it its own price and ask the customer to confirm it by email before you do the work.
Yes, for 14 days after the day the contract is made, if it was made with you in person away from your business premises. The detail and sources are on the bathroom installation guide. It is not legal advice.
Put it on paper
The free quote generator has a place for each of these: your logo, the customer, every line with a quantity and a price, VAT on each line, how many days the price stands, your terms and a PDF at the end. There is no account, and nothing you type leaves your device. When quotes become orders, stage payments and jobs, Psalm for kitchen fitters and for worktop fabricators keep them together from £39 a month for three people. Ten UK job and quoting tools are compared with their prices on the price page.
Type the lines into the free quote generator and download the PDF. No account, no card.