What Should I Include in a Kitchen Installation Quote?

For installers

A kitchen installation quote needs to do more than tell somebody what the job costs. It should explain the job. That sounds obvious, but plenty of quotes still amount to little more than:

Fit kitchen – £4,500.

The problem isn't necessarily the price. It's that the fitter and the customer can both read those two words and have a completely different idea of what £4,500 includes.

Does it include taking the old kitchen out? The skip? Plumbing? Electrics? Appliances? Tiling? Going back after the worktops have been fitted? What happens if the plaster falls off when the old units come out?

If you haven't written it down, there's a fair chance somebody will eventually say: “I thought that was included.” And that's usually when a simple conversation starts becoming a difficult one.

This page deals with kitchen quotations. If you also install bathrooms, the same need for a clear scope, responsibilities and payment terms applies, although the work you describe will be different.

Your quote is also part of the sell

When a customer gets two or three prices, they often know very little about the businesses behind them. If yours says Kitchen installation – £5,200 and somebody else's says Kitchen installation – £4,500, you've made it incredibly easy for them to compare one thing: the price.

A better quote gives them more to compare. It shows you've thought through the job, explains what happens, makes responsibilities clear and starts answering questions before the customer needs to ask them. I've always believed professionalism is made up of lots of small things. This is one of them.

Start with the job you've actually priced

Make it clear which kitchen, plan and specification your price relates to.

If you've priced from drawing revision three and the retailer sends revision five two weeks later, those may no longer be the same job. A moved appliance, another tall unit or a change of worktop can affect far more than that one item. It can affect plumbing, electrics, flooring, decorating, fitting time and the order everybody needs to work in.

Reference the plan or information you've priced from where possible. You're not creating paperwork for the sake of it; you're creating a starting point everybody can come back to.

Say what you're actually doing

This is the heart of the quote. You don't need to describe every screw you're going to put into a cabinet, but the customer should be able to understand the main scope of the installation. Depending on the job, that could include:

• removal of the existing kitchen
• disposal of old units and packaging
• fitting cabinets, panels, plinths, cornice and trims
• fitting or arranging worktops
• appliance installation
• plumbing work
• electrical work
• gas work where relevant
• plastering or making good
• tiling
• flooring
• decorating
• waste removal
• final adjustments and handover

Not every fitter does all of those things, and that's fine. The important bit is making clear which ones you are doing.

A clear quote doesn't mean pricing every last screw

This is where I think some of the advice given to customers can go too far. I completely understand why somebody spending £10,000 on an installation wants to know what they're paying for. They should. But there's a difference between explaining the scope of the job and giving somebody your entire internal costing sheet.

I used to find that a customer could be perfectly happy with the complete price. “£10,000? Great. We're happy with that. When can you start?”

Break the exact same £10,000 into twenty-five separate little prices and suddenly you can create twenty-five separate arguments:

• “I'm not paying that for the plumbing.”
• “My brother can do the electrics.”
• “I'll buy that timber myself.”
• “Leave that bit out.”

Before long, the job you've priced, planned and taken responsibility for isn't the same job anymore.

There's an old contractor joke I always liked. The customer asks, “Can you break the £10,000 quote down for me?” The contractor replies, “Absolutely. £10,000 for me to do it. £0 for me not to.”

It's funny, but there's a serious point underneath it. You're allowed to sell a complete service.

Scope and cost breakdown are not the same thing

The customer absolutely needs to know what £10,000 buys. That doesn't automatically mean they need to know your buying price on every material, the margin you've allowed on individual items, how much of the price is covering your overheads, exactly how many hours you've allowed for each small part or what profit you expect the business to make. That's your business.

Sometimes a sensible middle ground is to separate the main parts of the job, for example:

• installation package
• electrical works
• plumbing works
• plastering
• waste

Even then, be careful. If the customer removes one section, you don't necessarily just subtract that line from the total and carry on. You may need to reprice the changed job because taking your plumber out could change the programme, responsibility, return visits and who is coordinating that part of the installation. The job has changed. The price may need to change with it.

What isn't included can be just as important

Sometimes the most important part of a quote isn't what you've put in it. It's what you've left out. If the customer is arranging their own flooring, say so. If you're fitting the sink but somebody else is making the connections, say so. If the stone company is templating and fitting the worktop directly, make that clear. If decorating isn't included, write it down.

You don't have to fill a quote with pages of exclusions designed to frighten everybody. You just need to remove the obvious areas where two people could reasonably make different assumptions.

A useful test is: What might this customer think I'm doing that I'm actually not doing? That's usually where your exclusions come from.

Be careful when customers bring their own trades in

This is another one I learned through experience. A customer says, “My brother's a plumber. He'll do that bit.” On the face of it, no problem. But now your programme relies on somebody you don't control.

If the plumber is meant to be finished on Tuesday so you can continue on Wednesday and he doesn't turn up, you may have a wasted visit, a fitter standing around or another job that needs rearranging. The same goes for electricians, tilers, decorators or anybody else.

It isn't necessarily because they're bad at their trade. Quite often they're doing the customer a favour around their own work, which means your installation isn't their priority. That's why, if the customer wants to provide their own trade, the quote should make the responsibility clear. Who arranges them? When do they need to be there? What needs to be completed before you return? What happens if you arrive and the work isn't ready? If a wasted visit or customer-caused delay may be chargeable under your agreed terms, say so before it happens. Don't invent a charge after you've lost the day.

Be clear about who supplies what

Kitchen fitting has another complication that a lot of trades don't have to the same extent. Products can come from everywhere. The retailer supplies the kitchen. The customer buys the appliances online. You supply fixings and small materials. The worktop company supplies the stone. The electrician supplies sockets. Somebody else supplies the flooring.

Make clear where it matters:

• what you're supplying
• what the customer is supplying
• what another contractor is supplying
• who is responsible for checking important items are there

Because when something is missing on day three, the customer normally doesn't care very much whose purchase order it was on. They just know their kitchen isn't moving forward.

Don't forget all the smaller costs

This is where installers can quote themselves into a bad job. You remember the ten days fitting, but forget the parking, waste, consumables, collections, delivery issues, travelling, additional visits, other trades, time between templating and returning, and all the bits and pieces that don't look much on their own.

Some should appear separately on the quotation. Others will simply be built into your price. But they need to be somewhere.

The customer doesn't need to know what every tube of silicone costs. You do.

Put the payment terms in the quote

We've covered this separately in How Much Deposit Should a Kitchen Fitter Take?, but the quotation needs to show the payment structure you've agreed.

Don't quote the job today and explain the payment stages after they've accepted it. If there's a deposit, show it. If further payments are linked to stages, show them. If the final balance is due at completion, say so. The customer should know what they are agreeing to before they agree to it.

What happens when you find something you couldn't see?

Anyone who has been fitting kitchens for long enough knows this part. You take the old units out and suddenly find a wall that's nothing like you expected. The floor is rotten. The electrics need more work. The plumbing is somewhere it wasn't supposed to be. Something has been boxed in for 20 years that nobody knew was there.

You cannot price something you genuinely couldn't see. But you can explain beforehand what happens when you find it.

Your quote should make clear that unforeseen or additional work outside the agreed scope will be discussed and priced before you simply get on and do it. That protects the customer and it protects you too, because “I thought you'd just sort that while you were there” has cost tradespeople a lot of money over the years.

And when the customer changes something?

That's slightly different. The job hasn't surprised anybody. The customer has changed the job. Maybe they now want extra sockets, another unit moved, a different appliance fitted or something done that wasn't in the original quote. Changes happen, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The mistake is doing the work first and arguing about the price afterwards. Record the change, agree what it costs and, if it affects the programme, explain that as well before carrying on. Writing it down can feel overly formal at the time. It's considerably easier than trying to reconstruct a conversation three weeks later.

Quote or estimate?

They aren't quite the same thing. A quotation generally represents an agreed price for the work described, while an estimate is a guide to what the job is expected to cost.

That distinction matters. If you call something a quotation, you shouldn't assume you can simply increase the number because the job took longer than you expected. If the customer changes the scope or genuinely additional work appears, that's different. Agree it properly.

Don't use the word quote when what you really mean is, “I think it'll be somewhere around this, but we'll see how we get on.” If that's what you're offering, make that clear.

Put a validity period on it

Prices move, diaries change and subbies change their prices too. The job you're quoting for today may not start for four months, so put a sensible validity period on the quotation. Otherwise somebody can appear nine months later expecting you to honour an old price and start next Monday. Again, it's a small thing, but small things add up to a better-run business.

What should I check before I send it?

At a minimum, I'd want to know:

• Is the customer's name and job address correct?
• Is it clear what installation work is included?
• Are important exclusions written down?
• Does the quote match the latest survey and plan?
• Have I allowed enough fitting time?
• Have I allowed for any subbies I'm responsible for?
• Have I allowed for waste, parking, collections and consumables?
• Are customer-supplied trades and responsibilities clear?
• Are extra works clearly separated?
• Are the payment terms clear?
• Have I shown whether VAT applies?
• Is there a quote-validity period?
• Have I given a sensible indication of timing?
• Have I written down any important assumptions?
• Have I checked the total?

That's already far more useful than “Fit kitchen – £4,500.”

Every Install can help you check it

The Every Install Pro Toolkit has a Price & Quote section built around exactly this.

The Quote Checklist gives you a final check before the quotation leaves your business. The Scope of Works Builder helps you put the installation into plain English so the customer can see what is included and excluded. And when the job changes, the Variation / Additional Works Form gives you somewhere to record the extra work, price and any effect on timing before it disappears into a collection of texts and conversations.

Explore the Price & Quote tools in Every Install Pro →

If you're still working out what number needs to go on the quote in the first place, the Installer Pricing Calculator is included with Free membership.

Join Every Install free and use the Installer Pricing Calculator →

This article provides general business information rather than legal advice. Contract and consumer-law requirements can depend on the individual job and circumstances.