How long should a quote stay valid?

Thirty days is standard. Shorter if your material costs move, and say so on the document.

An open-ended quote is a liability. Material prices move, your availability changes, and a client accepting a six-month-old number expects you to honour it.

State the validity on the document — "this quote is valid for 30 days from the date above". If your costs are volatile, say what happens after: "prices subject to confirmation of material costs at time of order" is honest and expected.

What the validity period is protecting you from

Three things move between quoting and starting: material prices, your own availability, and your understanding of the job. A quote with no expiry means a customer can accept it eight months later at a price built on none of those still being true.

It happens more than people expect, usually on jobs the customer was saving up for.

Sensible periods by type of work

• Labour-only, small jobs: 30 days. Your rate is not going to move and neither is much else.
• Materials-heavy trade work: 14 to 30 days. Timber, copper and insulation have all moved sharply within a month in recent years.
• Anything with a supplier quote behind it: match your validity to theirs. If your kitchen supplier holds a price for 14 days, you cannot hold yours for 60.
• Professional services: 30 to 60 days. The main risk is your calendar rather than your costs.
• Large or staged projects: 30 days, with a stated mechanism for price adjustment on materials if the start is delayed.

Write it as a date, not a duration

"Valid for 30 days" requires the reader to find the quote date and do arithmetic. "Valid until 13 October 2026" does not, and it cannot be argued about. Same reasoning as putting a real due date on an invoice rather than "net 30".

What happens when it lapses

Nothing automatic — you simply are not bound by it. The graceful response to a late acceptance is to requote rather than to refuse: "That price was from July and materials have moved since. Here's the current figure." Most customers accept this without complaint if the original said so.

Honouring a lapsed price occasionally, as a deliberate gesture, is fine. Doing it every time teaches customers that your dates mean nothing — the same lesson unenforced payment terms teach.

Expiry as a reason to follow up

An approaching expiry gives you a message that is useful rather than needy. "Just a note that the quote for the rewire holds until the 13th — let me know if you'd like me to extend it." That is a nudge with a legitimate reason behind it, and it frequently converts quotes that were drifting.

Price-adjustment clauses on long jobs

For work starting months after quoting, a fixed price is a bet on materials. A short clause — that material prices are held for a stated period and adjusted against supplier invoices beyond it — is standard in construction and entirely reasonable elsewhere. Say it at quote stage. A price adjustment disclosed in advance is a term; the same adjustment produced at invoice time is a dispute.

Free, unlimited, no ads and no account. Get EstimateBill — or try the free browser invoice generator with nothing to install.