Citizens Advice distinguishes estimates from quotations, while RICS explains how contractual changes affect the final amount payable. [1] [2]
An estimate helps with budgeting
Treat an estimate as a starting point for investigation, not as confirmation that every item has been designed and priced. Ask which drawings, quantities and assumptions it uses, what is excluded and what further information is needed to turn it into an offer. This applies the written-information approach recommended in consumer guidance. [3]
An estimate does not give a trader an unlimited right to charge anything. Where a consumer service contract has not fixed a price or a method for fixing it, section 51 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 supplies a reasonable-price term. What is reasonable depends on the circumstances. [4]
A quotation needs a defined scope
Check the work covered, specification, exclusions, tax treatment, validity period and acceptance conditions. Do not separate the total on the front page from qualifications elsewhere in the document. Citizens Advice explains that a quotation is an agreed price, whereas an estimate is a rough prediction; disputes often turn on what work the parties actually agreed. [1]
Keep the information that influenced your decision. Under section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act, certain information about the trader or service can become binding where you took it into account. Later changes to that information require the express agreement contemplated by the section. [5]
What “fixed price” does not settle
A fixed price can coexist with defined provisional sums, client variations or an agreed fluctuation mechanism. Ask the contractor to identify every clause that can change the price and explain the evidence required. RICS's cost-reporting framework includes these adjustments separately from the starting contract sum. [2]
For example, changing the specified doors after acceptance is a different question from discovering that the contractor has underestimated the labour for unchanged work. Do not group both under a vague heading of “extras”: compare the request with the original scope and applicable contract mechanism. [6]
Before accepting
Prepare a short schedule showing the firm price, unresolved allowances, exclusions and proposed change procedure. Ask who can authorise an extra and how approval will be recorded. Check the quotation against that schedule before acceptance, and request an explanation wherever the document still leaves the price basis unclear.
When a dispute has already arisen, preserve the quote, messages and instructions rather than relying only on the label used at the top of the invoice. Individual contractual wording may require legal advice.