The point of a free estimate template is that the protective parts are already there. Assumptions and tolerance are exactly what gets dropped when someone is pricing a job from a van at five o’clock.
What belongs in the template
- Your details, tax number and standard terms.
- Your standard assumptions, the ones true of most jobs you price.
- Your tolerance sentence, with the percentage filled in.
- A validity date field.
- The words “Estimate” and “estimated” where they belong, so nobody has to remember.
What stays blank
The customer, the number, the dates, the scope, the figure. And any assumption specific to one job, which you add per estimate rather than carrying forward.
A template to copy
[Your trading name]
[Address] · [phone] · [email]
ESTIMATE No. EST-____
Date: ____
Valid until: ____
Prepared for
[left blank]
Description Qty Rate Amount
____________________________ ___ ______ ______
____________________________ ___ ______ ______
Estimated total ______
This estimate assumes
- [standard assumption]
- [standard assumption]
- Materials priced at the date above.
Tolerance
The final figure will not exceed this estimate by more than [10]%
without your written approval.
Notes
This is an estimate, not a fixed price. We will confirm the figure
once [the trigger, e.g. the floor is lifted].Renaming to suit your trade
Every label on the sheet is editable, so the template can carry your words. Rename Prepared for as Client. Rename Notes as Assumptions, which puts the protective block where people actually read.
Some trades use “Quotation” and “Estimate” with strict local meanings. Set the title once in the template rather than deciding each time.
Keeping variants
A vehicle workshop might keep two files:
estimate-diagnostic.json, with a wide tolerance and an assumption block about parts availability.estimate-service.json, for scheduled work where the scope is known and the tolerance can be tight.
Two files, thirty seconds to make the second one, and neither needs cutting down each time.
Saving works the same way as everywhere on the site: Save as file writes the sheet to your own disk, and Open a saved file brings it back. Nothing is kept for you.
Columns for estimating
Estimating often wants Hours and Rate rather than Qty and Rate, because labour is the uncertain part. Add an Hours column from the column bar and remove anything you are not using.
If you estimate as a single figure with no breakdown, remove the Amount column entirely and the totals go with it, leaving a clean description block. That suits survey work where the detail comes later.
A check before saving
- Is the tolerance percentage a number you will hold to?
- Do the standard assumptions match the work you actually do?
- Is the word “estimate” in the title and in the notes?
- Are the figures blank?
Sending it
Export as a PDF so the assumptions block arrives looking the way you wrote it. The print settings are the same as for every sheet here, and are covered in turning an invoice into a PDF.
Send the file rather than pasting a figure into an email. The number without the assumptions is exactly the thing that causes disputes later, and an email loses the assumptions first.
Turning it into a bill
When the work is done, the estimate is not what you invoice. Bill the real numbers on an invoice and put the estimate number in the details box.
If the figures differ, say why on the invoice itself rather than waiting to be asked. There is more on that in when the final bill differs.
Keeping the file
Save each estimate to your own disk as you issue it. When the customer comes back, you want the assumptions you made, not a recollection of them.
Next
For what goes in each section, see how to write an estimate. For the awkward conversation later, see when the final bill differs. Or open the estimate generator and build the file.