How to write an estimate that gets accepted
Most estimates are lost in silence rather than to a cheaper rival. The customer reads it, cannot tell what they are being asked to agree to, and decides to think about it.
Send it while they still remember you
The single biggest factor is speed. An estimate that arrives the same evening lands while the conversation on the doorstep is still fresh. One that arrives nine days later is competing with a memory of somebody who seemed keen.
Describe the work, not the tasks
"Supply and fit 3 × double sockets" is a task list. It tells the customer nothing about whether you understood what they wanted.
Compare: "Three double sockets on the island, run from the existing kitchen circuit, chased into the wall and made good. Tested and certified." Same job, same price, and now the customer can see you have been in the room.
Be explicit about what is not included
This feels like inviting objections. It is the opposite: it is how you stop an argument in week three. Two or three lines is enough.
- "Assumes existing pipework is sound; replacement quoted separately if needed."
- "Decorating not included."
- "Scaffold by others."
Give a shape to choose from, not one number
A single price is a yes/no question, and no is easier. Two or three options — a standard, a better, and one that solves a problem they mentioned in passing — turn it into a which-one question. Most people take the middle.
Do not pad it. An option that exists only to make another look reasonable is usually obvious, and it costs you the trust the rest of the document is building.
Answer the unasked questions
Every customer wants to know four things that they rarely ask directly:
- When can you start, and how long will it take?
- What happens when it goes wrong? Insurance, guarantee, who they ring.
- How much mess, and who clears it?
- When do they pay? Deposit, stages, final.
Four short lines cover all of it, and they remove most of the reasons to delay a decision.
Put an expiry on it
"Valid for 30 days" is not a sales tactic — material prices move, and your diary fills. It also gives you a legitimate reason to get in touch on day twenty-eight, which is the follow-up most people never make.
Make it easy to say yes
The customer should be able to accept without writing an email. A link they open on a phone, read, and approve with their name does far better than "let me know". Every extra step is a chance to put it off, and put off is where estimates go to die.