What a free quote template quietly costs you.

A free Word or Excel quote template feels like the cheap option. And it is, right up until the first job it quietly costs you.

The £300 that never reaches you

You're subcontracting on a £4,000 job: £1,500 of it materials, £2,500 labour. You're registered, so CIS comes off at 20%. Note who does that: the contractor deducts it, from the invoice you hand them.

• If your invoice splits the materials out, the deduction only touches the labour. 20% of £2,500 is £500, and £3,500 reaches you.
• If it doesn't, they apply it to the whole £4,000. £800 comes off, and £3,200 reaches you.

That £300 was yours. You didn't get a sum wrong — it came off because the document you sent gave them nothing to deduct against but the total. You get it back at the end of the year, which is a long way from the merchant bill due this month.

The reverse charge is the same shape of problem pointing the other way. On a job where it applies, you don't charge the VAT at all: the document has to say so, and the contractor accounts for it. A template will happily add 20% because that is what it did last time, so £800 of VAT goes on an invoice that should carry none, and the contractor cannot reclaim it. That conversation happens after you've sent it.

Both of those are printed on one real document, and this is one — stamped by the same engine that would price your own job. CIS comes off the £4,320 of labour alone rather than the £6,120 total, so £864 and not a penny more, with the materials shown beneath it as an excluded memo. The reverse charge is stated in HMRC's own terms, the VAT shown for information and left out of the amount payable. It is a different job from the worked example above; the mechanism is the same.

QUOTATION

Ref TD-2101

Prepared for

Harbourline Construction Ltd

Address

Bay House, Fleetsbridge, Poole BH17 7AA

VAT no.

GB 418 2276 51

Submitted by

Norman Building Works

Address

Unit 4, Kingland Trade Park, Poole BH15 1TX

Phone

01632 960 118

Email

office@normanbuilding.co.uk

VAT no.

GB 274 1592 08

Project

Second-fix carpentry, office fit-out

Six units, second fix and snagging

Issued

25 Jun 2026

Valid until

25 Jul 2026

Schedule of Works	Amount
1.Second-fix carpentry, per unit 6 Unit	£4,320.00
2.Ironmongery, doors and architrave	£1,800.00

Net total	£6,120.00
VAT — reverse charge	—
VAT for you to account for to HMRC	£1,224.00
Contract Sum	£6,120.00
Less CIS at 20%, on labour only	−£864.00
costs excluded from CIS at direct cost (materials, hire, fuel)	£1,800.00
Amount payable	£5,256.00

VAT reverse charge applies. We have not charged VAT. You must account for VAT of £1,224.00 (20%) to HMRC under Section 55A VATA 1994. It is shown above for information and is not included in the amount payable. Both VAT numbers (ours and yours) must appear on the invoice.

Subcontractor UTR 4729183056. CIS is shown at the rate we expect; the rate actually deducted is the one HMRC returns when you verify us.

Payment Terms

Payment	When it becomes due	Amount
Stage payment 1	On first fix	£2,400.00
Final balance	On completion	£2,856.00

Payable within 30 days of the date it becomes due.

The terms of this quotation and how to accept it continue overleaf.

How to pay

Pay by bank transfer to:

Account name	Norman Building Works
Sort code	20-45-72
Account number	63817044

Please use TD-2101 as your payment reference.

Before you transfer anything We will never write to you to say our bank details have changed. If you get a message of that kind, however convincing, do not pay it. Ring us on 01632 960 118 and check first.

Terms & Conditions

1. This quotation is valid for 30 days from the date of issue. After this date, prices may be revised.
2. The price covers only the works and materials described above. Any additional or changed work will be quoted and agreed as a variation before it is carried out.
3. Where shown, VAT, CIS and any reverse-charge treatment have been applied in line with current HMRC rules.
4. Invoices are payable by the dates set out in the Payment Terms above. Interest and reasonable recovery costs may be charged on overdue amounts under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
5. Work will be carried out with reasonable skill and care and, where applicable, in line with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
6. If we uncover something that could not reasonably have been seen when we quoted, such as rot, a hidden leak or unsafe wiring, we stop, tell you what we have found, and price the extra work for your approval before going on.
7. We do not disturb material we suspect contains asbestos. If we find any we stop, tell you, and price any testing or removal for your agreement first.
8. Planning permission, listed building consent, party wall agreements and freeholder approval are not included. If any are needed we will tell you and agree who arranges them before work starts.
9. Please give us safe access to the working areas for the agreed hours, along with water, power and somewhere reasonable to store materials.
10. If severe weather, a supply failure, utility works or serious illness delays the works, we tell you promptly and agree new dates with you. Neither of us treats a delay of that kind as a breach of contract.
11. When the works are finished we walk round the job with you and agree a written list of anything that needs putting right. That walk-round is Practical Completion: the works are treated as complete from that date, and any defects period runs from it.

CIS has been deducted as the engaging party is a CIS-registered contractor.

How to accept this quotation

This quotation may be accepted by any of the following, whichever happens first:

• Accepting online using the secure link we send, quoting ref TD-2101;
• Paying the deposit or any amount shown towards the works;
• Confirming acceptance in writing by email to office@normanbuilding.co.uk;
• Signing and returning a copy of this quotation.

On acceptance, this quotation and the terms above form a binding agreement, and the works will be scheduled accordingly. Errors and omissions excepted.

Client signature

Contractor signature

End of document

Norman Building Works · QUOTATION TD-210125 Jun 2026

This document and several others are on the example documents page, at full size.

What a template can't record

The quote is only half of it. The other half is what you can show later, and this is where a document that only exists as a file on your phone struggles.

A template can't tell you whether the customer opened it, or record that they accepted it, or when. There is no version of it that both of you agreed to, so "quote v3 final" sits in your sent items next to "quote v3 final FINAL" and neither is evidence of anything. When the job changes, and it does, the change gets agreed in a doorway and remembered differently by each of you.

TradeDraft records the acceptance with who and when, keeps what was actually sent, and prices a change as a variation before the work happens rather than after. None of that is a promise about a court. It is a record you have and would otherwise be trying to remember.

The template costs nothing up front. Absorb one "can you just…" you never charged for, and it's the most expensive option you've got.

When a template is fine

We'll be straight with you: if you do the odd small cash job, never touch VAT or CIS, and don't mind chasing signatures, a free template does the job. TradeDraft earns its keep the moment your quotes get bigger, your tax gets more complicated, or you want to look like the professional you are.

The 30-day trial needs no card. Sending, downloading and online acceptance are all included.

Read next: the price in full — £45 a month flat, what it includes, and how a quote's price is built.