Getting Comparable Quotes

Quotes are only comparable when they describe the same job, and most quote disputes start from the opposite situation: three prices for three different scopes, compared as if they were one. One firm may include controls, commissioning, scaffolding, waste removal and a handover visit, while another prices the equipment alone and leaves the rest to be discovered later. The remedy is to fix the scope before anyone prices it, by giving every bidder the same brief, the same site information and the same list of inclusions to price. This guide explains how to write that brief, what a complete quote should contain, and how to read the gaps that make a cheap price misleading. It does not set prices, which are home-specific and change over time.

A complete quote answers seven questions in writing: what work, with what materials and products, installed by whom, over what period, including what extras, excluding what explicitly, and handed over how. Product names and specifications matter, because two items with similar names can differ in performance, warranty and maintenance. Labour inclusions matter just as much: preparation, making good, electrical or plumbing adjustments, scaffolding, skip hire and disposal all cost money, and their absence from a quote is not a saving, it is an unpriced item. Payment terms, quote validity and what happens if hidden conditions emerge, such as damp or damaged joists, should also be stated rather than left to a later conversation.

Before inviting quotes, prepare the brief and the site pack: the assessment or certificate, photographs of the areas involved, access notes, and any constraints such as parking, working hours or listed status. Send the identical pack to each bidder and ask each to confirm in writing any assumption they have made. When quotes arrive, build a simple table with one row per inclusion and one column per bidder, marking each cell as included, excluded or unclear, and chase every unclear cell before comparing totals. Check VAT treatment, deposit size, payment stages and validity dates, and ask whether the price is fixed or an estimate. A bidder who answers those questions promptly is already telling you something useful about how the job will be run.

Quote practice is shaped by national consumer and scheme rules rather than by one shared template. In the UK, TrustMark-registered firms work to a code that includes clear written contracts and consumer protection expectations, and MCS-certified installers follow scheme requirements for microgeneration quotations and handover. In EU member states, consumer protection, contractor licensing and any supported-measure requirements are national, and a quote that satisfies one country's scheme may omit items another country's rules require. Whatever the jurisdiction, the reader's test is the same: the quote should state scope, products, inclusions, exclusions, price basis and handover in writing. Where a national scheme prescribes extra quote contents, ask for those too.

The costliest mistake is comparing headline totals without the table, which rewards the bidder who omitted the most. Another is accepting a verbal price for a job that has never been visited, since unseen conditions almost always change it. A third is ignoring validity periods: a quote that expired months ago is not a price you can hold a firm to, and a firm that honours an expired quote without rechecking material costs may cut corners elsewhere. A fourth is letting one bidder change the specification, for example substituting a cheaper control system, without flagging the change, so the comparison quietly stops being like for like. The table catches all four, provided it is built before anyone is chosen.

Keep the brief, the site pack, every quote and the comparison table together, and file the winning quote with its scope as the basis of the contract. If you negotiate changes after selection, record them as written variations with prices, rather than as verbal understandings. When the job is done, check delivery against the original inclusion table before final payment: controls demonstrated, commissioning sheets handed over, waste removed, surfaces made good. That final check is the moment when a comparable quote process pays for itself, because it turns the paper comparison into a finished job that matches what was priced.