How long should a quote stay valid?

A customer rings in October about a quote you sent in April. They'd like to go ahead. You look at the number you wrote six months ago, then at what the materials cost now, and you have a small private moment of horror.

Then comes the awkward bit. Do you honour it, do you explain, or do you quietly hope they've forgotten the figure? Most owners have been here, and most have eaten the difference at least once because saying anything else felt impossible.

The fix is boring and it works: put a date on it, and put it on every quote you send from now on.

Why quotes without expiry dates are a trap for both of you

An undated quote doesn't feel like a problem when you send it. It feels like being relaxed and easy to deal with, which is how you'd like to come across.

But an undated quote is a promise with no end. Materials move. Your rates move. Your diary fills up. Six months later you're either losing money on the job or having a conversation that makes you look like you're pulling a fast one, and neither of those was necessary.

It's not fair on the customer either. Without a date they have no idea whether they're supposed to decide this week or whenever. Plenty of quotes go quiet simply because nothing told anybody to act.

How long is right

It depends on what's volatile in your trade, and it is worth a minute's thought rather than copying somebody else's number. Four windows cover nearly everything.

Thirty days suits most work where labour is the main cost and you can see your diary that far ahead. It is long enough to be reasonable and short enough to mean something.

Fourteen days is right when materials are a big share of the price and those prices have been moving about, or when your own availability changes fast.

Seven days is for genuinely volatile situations, like a slot you are holding open or a price a supplier gave you this morning. Say why you have picked it, or it reads as pressure.

Ninety days works for large planned jobs where the customer has to arrange money, permissions or other trades. Long jobs need long windows, and there is nothing weak about giving one.

Whichever you pick, put it in the quote as a date rather than a duration. "Valid until 14 November" is clear. "Valid for 30 days" makes them work out when you sent it.

Separate the price from the slot

These are two different things, and treating them as one causes half the trouble. The price might hold for a month. The Thursday you mentioned almost certainly won't, because somebody else will book it. Saying so plainly is useful to the customer and takes the pressure off you.

This price holds until 14 November. The start date I mentioned is the week of the 21st, but I can't hold that — first to confirm gets it.

That's honest, it explains why moving quickly is in their interest, and it doesn't pretend to an urgency you don't have.

What to say when a stale quote comes back

It will still happen occasionally, and the way you handle it matters rather more than the money does. Don't pretend the old price is fine if it isn't — you'll resent the job for a fortnight. Don't act as though they've done something wrong either, because they haven't. They kept your email, which is the behaviour you want.

Say the true thing, briefly, with a number:

Good to hear from you. That quote was from April and the materials have gone up since — it'd be £1,980 now rather than £1,840. Everything else is the same. Happy to talk it through if that's a problem.

One sentence of reason, one new figure, no apology beyond the normal. Most people accept it without much fuss, because they already suspected six months was a long time.

If it's close enough not to matter, honour it and say you are. "It's gone up a bit since but I'll do it at the original price" buys a lot of goodwill for very little.

Use the date as a reason to follow up

The expiry gives you the least awkward follow-up message in business, which is a genuinely useful side effect. A few days before it lapses, you have a real reason to make contact that isn't nagging. "That quote runs out Friday — did you want me to hold it, or shall I leave it for now?" It's practical, it's easy to answer either way, and it gives people permission to say no, which is why it gets replies. Plenty of jobs get won in that message — not because of any pressure, but because the customer meant to reply in September and life happened.

The information around the date

A date on its own leaves a set of unspoken questions. What happens if I come back a week late. Does the price change or the whole quote. What if I want to change one thing. Is the deposit refundable if I have to postpone.

Nobody asks those, because asking feels like negotiating before you've even agreed. They just sit there quietly making the decision slower.

That's the sort of thing we built hailera for — you write the answers once, check them, and publish them as an agent so your site and the AI apps people ask can answer directly instead of leaving it hanging. A short page on your website explaining how your quotes work does most of it for nothing, though, so start there if you haven't got one.

Put it in the template once

This is a five-minute job you do once. Add a line to whatever you send quotes from, carrying the date, the slot caveat and one sentence about what happens afterwards. Then you never think about it again, and the October phone call stops being something you have to improvise your way out of.

Today: open your quote template and add "valid until" with a real date. Then look at your sent folder for any quote over a month old that never got a reply, and send the one-line follow-up.

Written by the team at hailera — we help small businesses answer customer questions without being there.