What to include in a quote, checked against 31 examples

Include your business name and ABN, the client, a reference, a plain description of the work, each priced line with GST, the total, how long the price holds, the deposit and payment terms, the conditions that change the price, and somewhere to accept with a name and date. Every one of the 31 quotes and proposals checked on this site carries the core of that list.

What was checked

The set is the 14 quote and 17 proposal examples on this site, read on 21 October 2026. They are finished documents for fictional Australian businesses: trades, creative studios, consultants, event companies and a furniture supplier. A script searched each document’s text for the elements in the table above, and the cases where wording varied, such as “excluding GST” against “prices include GST”, were checked by hand.

The examples were written to be complete, so the interesting rows are the ones that are not 31 out of 31. They show which elements depend on the trade.

The seven things every example carries

1. Business name and ABN. In the letterhead or footer of all 31. The ABN is what lets a business client pay without withholding, as the ABN on an invoice page explains.
2. Scope before price. Every quote opens with a Scope section, and every proposal with the client’s needs and the deliverables, before the pricing table. A client reads what they are buying before the number.
3. GST stated. All 14 quotes say whether prices include GST at the top of the pricing section, and the proposals state prices excluding GST. The Australian Taxation Office’s tax invoice rules apply to the invoice, not the quote, but a quote that leaves GST unclear becomes an argument at invoice time.
4. Validity. Each quote prints a Valid until date under its reference, and each proposal states how many days its price holds. 30 days is most common, used by 19 of the 31.
5. Optional extras. Every example lists at least one optional line below the required work.
6. Numbered terms. A short terms section follows the price in all 31: payment, then the conditions specific to the job, then validity.
7. Acceptance lines. Every example ends with name and date lines for the client and the business.

Where the trades differ

Deposit lines. 27 of the 31 show Deposit due now and Balance under the total. The four without are monthly services billed in arrears or in advance: the cleaning quote, the bookkeeping and accounting proposals and the managed IT proposal. The deposit data post shows the percentages by trade.

Reference numbers. Every quote carries one, in the form business initials, Q and a number, for example TWP-Q-3308 on the plumbing quote. Only 4 of 17 proposals do. A quote is matched to a purchase order and an invoice; a proposal usually is not.

Licence numbers. Four of the seven building trade quotes print a licence or registration number beside the ABN: the electrical quote, the painting quote with its Queensland building licence, the plumbing quote and the renovation quote. Licensing rules differ by state and trade, so the right answer for your business is the one your licensing body gives.

Cancellation. 14 of 17 proposals say what happens if the client stops part way: notice periods, which stage is billed, whether the deposit is kept. Only one quote does, the wedding photographer’s, because a date booked months ahead is the one quote here where the client could cancel long before the work.

Warranties. Six documents state a warranty: the electrical, painting, roofing and landscaping quotes, the software development proposal and the furniture supplier’s proposal. Two proposals state the opposite plainly. The grant writing proposal says funders decide and nothing is guaranteed, and the SEO proposal says rankings are not guaranteed. Saying what is not promised is as useful as a warranty.

A checklist for your own quote

• Business name, ABN, contact details and licence number if your trade has one.
• Client name, site address and the date.
• A reference number you will reuse on the invoice.
• Scope in words: what is included, how it was measured, and what is not included.
• Priced lines with quantities and units, GST per line, subtotal, GST and total.
• Optional extras, marked as optional.
• Deposit and balance, with when each falls due.
• Terms: payment, the conditions that change the price, warranty, cancellation.
• How long the price holds.
• How to accept, with a name and date.

How to break down a quote covers the pricing lines in detail, how to write a quote covers the wording, and quote, invoice or proforma covers which document to send when.

In the product

The proposals module writes a quote or proposal in a fixed section order with exactly one pricing table, terms as numbered clauses, and the pricing settings: currency, tax label, deposit and validity. The client opens a tracked link, can tick optional items and change editable quantities, and accepts with a name, email, drawn signature and consent box, or by e-signature when that accept mode is chosen. An expired quote cannot be accepted. The AI quote generator page shows the brief, and the guide to creating a quote with AI walks through it.