Proposals
How to break down a quote into line items
Break a quote into one line per part of the work the client could question, priced by the unit you measured, with the optional extras listed apart. The 31 quotes and proposals counted here use a median of six lines, two of them optional, and the largest line carries about half the base price.
Indunil Asanka · Co-founder
4 min read · Published
To break down a quote, list each part of the job the client might question as its own line, price it by the unit you actually measured (a metre, a tile, an hour, a day), keep optional extras as separate lines below, and show the tax and total underneath. The 31 finished quotes and proposals counted here use between four and nine lines, with a median of six.
What was counted
The set is the 31 quote and proposal examples on this site, counted on 21 October 2026: 14 quotes and 17 proposals for fictional Australian businesses, from a $2,772 cleaning quote to a $179,960 dental fit out. Each example stores its pricing table as data, so a script counted the lines, the optional lines, the lines with a quantity above one, and the share of the base price taken by the biggest required line. The examples are grouped into seven trade groups. The 18 proposal templates in the product use fewer lines, a median of five, because they are starting points rather than finished jobs.
This is one site’s set of carefully written examples, not a survey of real quotes. It is useful because every example was written to be the quote a client could accept without phoning to ask what a line means.
Quotes run longer than proposals
Quotes in the set have a median of 6.5 lines and proposals 5. A quote prices a defined job, so it lists the job’s parts. A proposal sells an approach and prices phases or packages, so its lines are fewer and larger. The building trades run longest, with a median of seven lines and the construction estimate at nine: preliminaries, demolition, partitions and ceilings, hydraulics, electrical and data, mechanical, joinery, a provisional sum for equipment connections and one optional feature wall.
Measured work gets a quantity
A third of all lines, 64 of 188, carry a quantity above one. That is the sign of measured or repeated work, and the lines read differently because of it:
- The roofing quote prices 18 replacement tiles at $22, 42 metres of ridge capping at $38 a metre and 185 square metres of coating at $24.
- The electrical quote prices 8 safety switches at $115 each, so a ninth circuit has an obvious price.
- The wedding photography quote prices 8 hours of coverage at $450 an hour.
Retainers have the highest share, 58% of their lines, because a month of a service is itself a unit. The renovation quote goes the other way: every line is a trade at a fixed price (strip out, waterproofing, plumbing, electrical, tiling, cabinetry), because a bathroom is priced by scope, not by the square metre.
One line usually dominates
In the median example, the largest required line is 55% of the base price. In events and catering it is 69%, because the venue or the catering itself is most of the job. Professional services sit at 58%, where one line is usually the core engagement and the others are set up, reporting or travel. Creative work is the most even at 40%, with design, revisions and files priced apart.
That is worth knowing before a client meeting. If one line carries more than half the price, it is the line the client will question, so its description has to say what is in it and how it was sized.
Optional extras sit underneath
Every one of the 31 examples carries at least one optional line, and the median is two. They are always upgrades a client can reasonably decline: gutters and gutter guard on the roof, LED downlights and smoke alarms on the switchboard upgrade, a second photographer and an album on the wedding quote. The required lines make the base price, and the optional ones sit below it until ticked. Proposal pricing psychology covers how many extras to offer.
A breakdown that holds up
- One line per part of the job a client could question or buy elsewhere. Five to eight lines covers most small jobs in this set.
- Use the unit you measured. Metres, tiles, hours, days, months. A quantity makes a variation easy to price later.
- Say what each line includes in one sentence. The description is where disputes are prevented.
- Put allowances in their own line. A provisional sum or a prime cost item is an estimate, and the line should say so.
- List extras last and mark them optional.
- Show tax per line and in the summary, and state whether prices include GST.
The post on how to write a quote covers the rest of the document around the table.
In the product
The proposals module writes exactly one pricing table per quote or proposal, with the columns Item, Qty, Unit price, Tax, Discount and Amount, and up to 40 generated line items. A price hint in the brief becomes an item at exactly that price. Each item can be marked optional and selected by default, and a quantity can be made editable within a minimum and maximum, so the client can tick extras and change quantities on the online quote. The optional extras page shows the table, and the guide to creating a quote with AI walks through the brief.
| Trade group | Examples | Median lines | Range | Median optional lines | Lines with a quantity over 1 | Largest line share (median) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building, renovation and outdoor trades | 7 | 7 | 5 to 9 | 2 | 13 of 48 (27%) | 50% |
| Creative and media | 4 | 6.5 | 5 to 7 | 2 | 6 of 25 (24%) | 40% |
| Web and software | 4 | 7.5 | 5 to 8 | 2 | 9 of 28 (32%) | 49% |
| Events, catering and celebrations | 3 | 6 | 5 to 8 | 2 | 8 of 19 (42%) | 69% |
| Professional and advisory services | 5 | 5 | 4 to 5 | 1 | 6 of 24 (25%) | 58% |
| Marketing and coaching retainers | 5 | 5 | 5 to 6 | 2 | 15 of 26 (58%) | 58% |
| Interiors, furniture and cleaning | 3 | 6 | 5 to 7 | 2 | 7 of 18 (39%) | 60% |
| All 31 examples | 31 | 6 | 4 to 9 | 2 | 64 of 188 (34%) | 55% |
A finished example
An electrical quote should name the work, price parts and labour by line, and say what certificate the customer receives. This example from a Geelong electrician replaces a ceramic fuse board with a new switchboard and eight safety switches for $2,820 including GST, with LED downlights and interconnected smoke alarms as options.
Read the electrical quote example for a switchboard upgradeQuestions people ask
Should a quote show labour and materials separately?
When the client could buy the materials elsewhere or compare them, yes. The plumbing quote here prices the heat pump unit apart from removal, installation and compliance, so a cheaper competing quote can be read as a cheaper unit or less work. When materials are incidental, as in painting, one line per area of work reads more clearly than a materials list.
Is a lump sum quote with one line acceptable?
It is legal, but it invites the question of what the money buys, and it makes a variation harder to price later because nothing in the quote says what each part was worth. None of the 31 examples here uses fewer than four lines. A single price can still sit at the bottom, with the lines above it explaining how it was built.
How detailed should each line description be?
One sentence that says what is included and how it was measured. The roofing quote's sealing line reads primer sealer and two coats of membrane roof paint in your chosen colour, per square metre, with 185 as the quantity. A client who reads it knows what changes if the roof turns out larger.
Do line items need GST shown on each line?
Not necessarily. An Australian tax invoice needs the GST amount, and a quote should say clearly whether prices include GST. Every example here shows a tax rate per line and the GST in the summary, which keeps mixed lines straight when some items are GST free, such as fresh food in the tax invoice example.
Where do optional extras go in a quote?
Under the required lines, marked as optional, and out of the main total until the client ticks them. All 31 examples carry at least one optional line and the median is two. Listing them apart keeps the base price comparable with competing quotes while still putting the upgrade in front of the client.
Written by
Indunil Asanka · Co-founder
Builds the generation pipelines behind OneCraft: the slide, flyer and poster layout engines, the document grid and the render workers that turn a written brief into a finished file.
LinkedIn profileWritten and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .
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The job quoting process, from enquiry to signed quote
A good job quoting process collects the facts that change the price before anyone drives out, visit only when the facts are not enough, price every cost with a margin, write the quote with scope, exclusions, payment terms and an expiry date, and get the acceptance signed. A quote that is accepted becomes a binding contract, so it should read like one.
How much deposit should a builder ask for?
For home building work in Australia, the law answers first: 10% at most in New South Wales, and in Victoria 10% under $20,000 or 5% from $20,000. Across 49 priced quotes and proposals counted here, the building trades ask for a median of 20%, but every large build sits at 10%.
How to quote faster without quoting cheaper
To quote faster, stop writing each quote from a blank page: keep a price list of your common items, use one template per job type, collect the same measurements at every site visit, and send the quote from the site or the van the same day. Speed comes from preparation, not from cutting corners on the price.
For the steps inside the builder, read the guide on this topic.