Itemised quotations, line by line, from a full bill of quantities
A single number on a page is not a quote, it is a guess with a font. This is what ours contains and how to read it.
Twelve stages, and a line for every item in them
Every estimate is issued as a stage-by-stage bill of quantities across twelve stages — preliminaries, demolition, substructure, superstructure, envelope, first-fix services, walls and plaster, second-fix services, finishes, kitchen and bathroom joinery, external works, completion.
Each line carries a quantity, a unit, a rate and an amount. You can price a line against another contractor's line, which is the only comparison that means anything. Two lump sums cannot be compared and are not meant to be.
Two numbers reach you, and here is why
The quotation resolves to construction works excluding VAT, and VAT. That is deliberate, and it is worth saying what is inside the first of those.
Overheads and risk allowance are inside the rates, not added underneath as separate lines. A quote that shows a clean subtotal and then adds percentages to it is a quote that will grow, and everyone in the room knows it. Ours is all-in at the line, so the line is the number.
What we will not tell you it is
It is not a fixed price, and we will not call it one. We work to a contract plus variations, and the first signed variation would make that promise false — so we do not make it.
What we commit to instead: nothing is added to your bill without your written approval first, every variation is priced with options before it is approved, and the completion date is written into the contract with a late-delivery guarantee behind it. That is a harder set of promises to keep than the one we are declining to make, and a considerably more honest one.
Where each of these is evidenced
- The estimate engine every price derives fromCost calculator →
- How the estimate band narrows as we learn moreCost calculator →
- The twelve stages, as publishedHow we build →
Do you charge for the quotation?
No. The estimate is free. The measured survey that turns an estimate into a survey-grade figure is charged, and it is credited in full against the contract if you go ahead.
Is overheads and profit shown as a separate line?
No. It is inside the per-unit rate you see, along with the site risk allowance. There is no percentage added underneath the subtotal.
Can I take your bill of quantities to another builder?
Yes. That is what an itemised quote is for, and we would rather be compared line by line than on a single number.
See the range before you speak to anyone.
The estimator gives you a band in a couple of minutes, and tells you how wide it is and why. If you would rather talk it through, that works too.