How long does a quote take - and what does your time cost?

Ask tradespeople how long a proper quote takes and the answer typically lands at 1-2 hours: finding materials, looking up prices, working out quantities, writing it all up neatly. And it usually happens after knocking off, once the actual working day is over.

Say you produce 3-4 quotes a week at an hour and a half each. That is 5-6 hours a week - a whole extra working day, every week, unpaid. Over a year that is more than 250 hours spent writing quotes instead of billing work or taking time off.

Time is not the only price. Every quote postponed until "when I get a minute tonight" is a quote the customer gets from someone else in the meantime. A fast reply wins jobs - a slow one loses them, no matter how good the price is.

• Reuse: build quotes from standard elements instead of starting from scratch every time
• Real price files: so you are not looking up prices manually
• Write the quote while the job is fresh - in the van after the site visit, not in the evening
• Use a tool that calculates quantities and prices for you

With modern tools, a quote can go from 1-2 hours to a few minutes: describe the job, check the lines, send. It is not about cutting corners - it is about skipping the manual lookup and typing work, so you can spend the time working or taking time off.