Material prices keep moving. Protect your quotes.

The gap nobody prices in

You quote in March. The client signs in June. You buy in July — 9 % higher. Nobody did anything wrong, and you just lost most of the margin on that job. Copper, timber, insulation and equipment have all had double-digit swings inside a single year.

Defense 1 — a short, real validity date

The single most effective line, and the one most often missing:

This quote is valid for 30 days from the date of issue.

Thirty days is the standard and nobody objects to it. It's not a trick — it's the honest statement that you can't hold a price against a market you don't control. Without it, a client can hand you back a six-month-old price and be legally entitled to it.

Defense 2 — an escalation clause on material-heavy jobs

For jobs where materials are a large share (kitchens, heat pumps, roofing, custom joinery), add:

Material prices are based on supplier rates at the date of issue. If supplier prices rise by more than 5 % before the order is placed, the difference will be passed on at cost, evidenced by invoice, after prior written agreement.

Three things make it acceptable: a threshold (small moves absorbed by you), at cost (you're not profiting from it), and prior agreement (no surprise). Clients accept this far more readily than a padded price.

Defense 3 — the provisional sum

When you genuinely can't know — the tiles aren't chosen, the fixture isn't decided — don't guess and don't inflate. Name it:

Provisional sum for floor tiles: $1,200 (allowance). Adjusted to actual cost once the selection is confirmed.

This keeps your quote honest and comparable, and removes the argument later.

The practical habits that matter more than clauses

• Lock the price with your supplier on big orders, and take the deposit that lets you buy immediately.
• Buy on signature, not on start date. The deposit exists for exactly this.
• Re-price templates quarterly. Copying last year's quote is one of the classic margin killers.

Keep your prices current without effort

Stale catalog prices are the root cause. Pro Speak Artisan builds your service catalog from your own recent estimates and flags any line priced below your historical average — so drift shows up before it costs you.