Price Quotes for Contractors: An Easy Explanation

Whether you provide plumbing, hvac, electrical, or other services to your customers, you'll need to offer your service with the highest possible quality. When people select which company to use, price quotes are one of the most important determining factors. By pricing your work accurately with at a fair and suitable amount, you can secure as much business as possible.

But how can you determine the best price for your product, and how can you send out and keep track of all your quotes? There is a lot that goes into effective quoting, but once you've got the hang of it, there's no reason why the process should take up a lot of time. In fact, when you use high-quality software, you can produce quotes in minutes. What's more, you'll be reminded to follow up with customers, so you don't miss out on potential business.

The Difference Between a Quote and an Estimate

In addition to the word "quote", you might have encountered the term "estimate". So, are the two the same, or is there a difference? The terms are often used interchangeably to describe the amount of money you are requesting for your service, but the two are not the same.  An estimate is less binding because you are giving a ballpark price for the work that is subject to change but is a good idea from a customer experience to be careful to keep your estimates close to the final price.

On the other hand, a quote is almost like an invoice because you can't change the amount after both you and the customer have agreed on it. For this reason, you need to be careful about what quotes you send out. Always make sure that you are offering a fair price that works for both you and the client.

How to Come Up with a Figure

It can be hard to come up with the optimal quote, which should be high enough to allow you to make a good profit and low enough to encourage the customer to choose you. A good way to start is to figure out all the costs associated with the job. Figure out how many employees you need and the time required.  Detail out all the materials that are required.  If you require sub trades take into account, their cost and a small markup.  There also may be additional charges like equipment rentals (yours or rented), transportation costs, or other job related costs.

Once you've added up all the costs, you will know what it will cost just to complete the job.  But it is important to make sure you understand the margin you want to make so that your company is profitable and you are making money.  

Additionally, you should find out more about current market conditions by researching what other, similar businesses in your area are charging. To get started, you could opt for a similar price. If you'd like to charge more, you have to show the value for your services to your customers.

What Is the Best Way to Create a Quote? 

Customers almost always want to know how much they will need to pay you. Therefore, being able to provide a clear and easily understandable quote for your services drastically increases your chances of getting hired. Because you can't easily change your quote after you've sent it, you should always make sure you've considered all of your material and labor costs as well as the current market conditions.

To help the customer understand your quote, you must make it easy to read and include all the necessary information. Nowadays, almost all quotes are sent electronically since this provides more professionalism for your company.  Plus if you need to make changes you can do this quickly without repeating the entire quote.  Using paper to create quotes can take a lot of time and doesn’t provide the flexibility or efficiency of using quoting software to facilitate this task.

What to Include in Your Quote ?

Every quote should contain a header, a main body, and a footer. In the header, you state the name and address of your business, the client's name and address of the work and contact information. In the main body, you can describe what work you would be providing and how much it would cost the client. You can make this general or give the customer a detailed breakdown of the expenses.  We recommend creating invoices that provide detail of the job but price the job as a total plus applicable taxes.

Finally, you have to add a footer that details the total price of all the work, the amount of tax that has to be paid, and a space for signatures. While there are many templates out there that can help you construct this document, using a quoting software could be the most efficient solution because it saves you time and allows your quote format to remain consistent.

To help the customer understand your quote, you must make it easy to read and include all the necessary information. Nowadays, almost all quotes are sent electronically since this is quicker and more efficient. Because creating quotes manually can take up a lot of time and energy, many business owners have decided to use software that can facilitate this task.

How to Send the Quote to the Customer

In the past, almost all quotes were either delivered to the customer in person or sent via mail. Almost all businesses now send their quotes via email, so the customer receives them instantly. This allows your potential customer to decide more quickly and increases your chance of getting to work sooner.

What Are the Advantages of Using a Quoting Software?

There are several reasons why many business owners use quoting software instead of creating their quotes and estimates manually. Most importantly, this type of product makes it faster and easier to create high-quality quotes because you can utilize templates to generate pricing quickly, or you will have a historical detail of recent prices and recent quotes of customers that you can have with you when pricing the job on a mobile device.  Then once the job is completed, you'll be able to create and send documents to leads anywhere you are, duplicate and customize them, and follow up with customers who have shown an interest in your business in the past.

Create Your Quotes Anywhere 

When you work with a template that is saved on your computer, you can only send out quotes when you are in your office or you've taken your laptop with you. But a software like ServiceBox can be used on any device, so you can quickly and easily send quotes to new leads wherever you are. Since there is a mobile app, you can communicate with potential customers even when you're out completing a job.

Duplicate Quotes to Increase Your Efficiency

Writing a quote can be one of the most time-consuming tasks business owners have to complete, especially if they must write out the documents by hand every time. With ServiceBox, there is no need to create a new quote when a lead requests more information about your business.

Instead, you can duplicate your quotes or use quote templates, so you don't have to re-write them or copy and paste them from one document to the next. That way, you can send out a similar proposal to multiple people. This is especially useful for businesses that offer the same service to several customers or those that have a special introductory offer.

Customize Your Quotes

Although your quotes for different customers might be similar, you could add unique touches. This is easily achievable when you use a quoting software, and there are various features that help you to customize your quotes.

For instance, you can choose to send your customers a detailed breakdown of the costs, or you can hide this information and keep the quote more general. What 's more, you can add pictures, additional attachments and signatures, thus personalizing the quote.

Keep Track of Your Customers 

Competing against other businesses in your industry can be hard. But there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of success. Once you've sent an easily readable quote to your customers, don't wait for too long before following up with them. After you have given them sometime to gather other quotes and think about your offer, you should contact them again to see if they are still interested.

When you use a quoting software like ServiceBox, it's much easier to keep track of your quotes and leads. The software saves all your past quotes, so you can view them in one place. Additionally, you will receive reminders to get in touch with customers, so you'll never forget to follow up.

How Can You Get Started? 

Aside from helping you construct and send out quotes, ServiceBox also allows you to manage your customers' information, inventory, scheduling invoicing, preventative maintenance and more. The easiest way to get started is to experience the benefits of the software first-hand.

To show you how the service could help you, we offer a free demo for one month. That way, you can figure out whether the product is right for you and how it can help you grow your business. After the trial period, you can choose whether you'd like to keep using the software, which can cost as little as $20/month per user.

Creating quotes is crucial for business success because many customers base their decisions on the price of services. But if you don't have good software to help you manage your quotes, the process can become overwhelming, and you might lose track of potential customers and fail to follow up with them. For this reason, most business experts recommend that you use a high-quality quoting software, especially if you are managing many inquiries at a time.

Good software can help you create quotes from anywhere, quickly duplicate them and send them to new leads, customize them with your own info, and keep track of quotes you have sent to potential customers. Get in touch with us now at ServiceBox to book your free demo. We will be happy to show you how our software's various features can simplify your life and allow you to increase your business's efficiency. 

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