Send a client a price they can accept online

The usual way to send a price is a PDF attached to an email. The usual way a client accepts it is a reply that says "looks good, let's go". Six weeks later, when the kitchen is dearer than the client remembers, neither of you can say exactly which price they agreed to.

A price the client accepts in one place, with their name on it, takes a few minutes longer to set up and saves the argument.

Decide how much the client sees

A client needs to understand what they are paying for. They do not need your costs, your markup or your margin, and showing them invites a conversation about your profit instead of the job.

There are three sensible levels.

• The total only. Simple jobs and trusting clients. One number, with the notes.
• The total by trade. The most common choice. The client sees how the price divides between plumbing, electrical and so on.
• Every item. For clients who want to check, or jobs where the client will make choices item by item.

Whatever you choose, the client should see selling prices only, with markup and adjustments already built in, so the price adds up on its own and no cost leaks.

Say how long the price is good for

A price with no end date is an open offer. Set a valid until date, and the client knows when to decide. After that date the price should not be acceptable without you looking at it again. Materials and subcontractor prices move, and your price should be allowed to move with them.

Make it easy to ask a question

Most people do not accept a price they do not understand, and they do not always say what they do not understand. Give the client a place to ask, next to the price, and answer there. The question and the answer then stay with the price. If you need to nudge a slow decision, a reminder or two a few days apart is fair. More than that starts to feel like pressure.

Keep what they accepted

An acceptance is only useful if you can show what was accepted. Keep three things together: the exact price the client saw, the date they accepted, and their typed name and signature. If the price later changes, it changes by a variation, and you are comparing against something fixed.

If they decline

Let them say why, if they want to. A "too high" is a conversation. A "chose someone else" is information. Either way you have a record, and you can reopen the estimate as a new version if you want to try again.

Before you hit send

1. Choose the level of detail on purpose.
2. Check the total, GST and notes on the client's view, not yours.
3. Set a valid until date.
4. Say where questions will be answered.
5. Keep the acceptance with the price.

In Novato, a finished estimate can be sent to the client at the level of detail you choose. They review it in their portal, ask questions, and accept with a typed name and signature or decline. Your costs and margin never reach them.