How Long Should a Quote Be Valid For?
Every quote you send is a promise with a shelf life. You priced it on today's material costs, today's diary and today's workload. Leave that promise open-ended and you are betting those three things will still look the same whenever the customer decides to ring, which might be next week or next spring. A validity period is how you stop the promise outliving the numbers behind it.
Why open-ended quotes are risky
Two things move against you over time. The first is material prices: timber, copper, board and plastics all shift, sometimes sharply, and a price that left you a healthy margin in March can be break-even by summer. The second is your own diary. A quote accepted months late lands in a schedule that has already filled up, and either you squeeze the job in at cost to your other customers, or you have the awkward conversation you could have avoided. Neither is a good position, and both start with a quote that had no expiry date.
Why 30 days is the common default
Thirty days is the figure you will see on most trade quotes, and it earns its place. It gives the customer enough time to get other prices, talk it over and make a decision without feeling bounced, and it is short enough that your costs and availability probably still hold. It also does a quieter job: a stated date nudges undecided customers into deciding, which shortens the time your quotes spend in limbo.
When to go shorter, and when to go longer
Shorter validity makes sense when prices are moving fast or your diary is packed. If a key material has been jumping month to month, 14 days with a line explaining why is honest and reasonable. The same applies in peak season, when holding a price is really holding a slot. Longer validity suits the opposite conditions: off-season, when you want the work and the diary has room, or simple labour-only jobs where materials barely feature and the price is mostly your time. Sixty days on a quiet January quote can be the thing that wins it.
How to state it on the document
Say it plainly and put it where it cannot be missed, near the price or the payment terms: "This quote is valid for 30 days from the date above" does the job. Some tradespeople prefer to name the actual expiry date, which is even clearer. Either way, do not bury it in small print, because the point is that the customer sees it and understands the price has a clock on it. When a quote does expire and the customer comes back, reply promptly, check your costs, and either reconfirm the figure or issue a fresh quote with a new date. Handled well, an expiry is a natural reason to re-open the conversation, not an awkward one.
Quotes with validity built in
The free quote generator includes a validity field as standard, so every quote you send states its terms clearly and saves as a PDF.
Open the quote generatorQuote validity FAQs
Is 30 days the standard validity for a trade quote?
It is the most common default across the trades, yes. A month gives the customer time to decide and compare, while being short enough that material prices and your schedule are unlikely to have shifted badly. It is a default, not a rule: adjust it when the job or the market calls for it.
What if the customer accepts after the quote has expired?
You are free to reconfirm the price, adjust it, or decline. The polite move is to reply promptly, check your costs and diary, and either honour the figure or issue a fresh quote with a new date. Do not let an expired quote drift silently into an assumption that the old price stands.
Can I withdraw a quote before it is accepted?
Generally yes. Until the customer accepts, a quote can be withdrawn, and doing so in writing with a brief reason is the professional way. Once it has been accepted, though, you have a contract and the position is very different.
Should estimates have a validity period too?
It does no harm, though an estimate is already understood to be approximate. If the estimate's figure leans on current material prices, a stated date or a line noting that prices will be confirmed at quote stage protects you from the figure being treated as fixed months later.