Quote Turnaround Expectations
Quick on smaller jobs, realistic on larger ones. The aim is an accurate price, and a customer who always knows when it is coming.
Quote turnaround
On smaller jobs we aim for a price within about 48 hours. On larger ones, take the time accuracy needs and keep us informed.
Quote turnaround in our network has two speeds. Repairs, rooflight installations and similar smaller jobs: we aim to have your price back within about 48 hours. Larger jobs can take longer, provided you communicate clearly about when the price will arrive.
Both are aims set around real work, not a stopwatch. A price you can stand behind is worth more than a fast one you have to revise.
This page covers what each speed applies to, why the difference exists, how your price becomes the customer's quotation, and what makes a submission quick to turn round. It sits alongside the other standards on our contractor network overview.
Two speeds
What the standard looks like on each type of job
Smaller jobs
- Repairs, rooflight installations and similar work
- Usually priced from the site visit alone
- Aim: price back within about 48 hours
- Few moving parts and little waiting on suppliers
- The customer is often keen to get it booked
Larger jobs
- Replacements, bigger installations and larger construction
- May need supplier prices or more measuring
- Can take longer than 48 hours
- Provided you tell us when to expect the price
- Accuracy matters more than speed
Smaller jobs
Why about 48 hours is the aim on smaller work
On a repair or a rooflight installation, most contractors know their price by the time they are back in the van. The materials are familiar, the method is known, and there is rarely anyone else to wait on. Turning that into a figure within a couple of days is realistic for most firms.
It also matters to the customer. Smaller jobs are often urgent, or at least feel urgent: a leak, a failing seal, a rooflight they want in before the weather turns. A customer who gets a clear quotation quickly is far more likely to go ahead than one who has been waiting a week and has started asking around.
The 48 hours is an aim, not a hard deadline. A quote that takes three days because you were on a big job is not a problem, particularly if you tell us. A pattern of smaller quotes drifting with no word is. For the short answer to this question, see how quickly must I quote.
Larger jobs
Why larger jobs are allowed to take longer
On larger work, speed and accuracy pull against each other. Material prices move. Suppliers take time to come back. Some jobs need a second look, a structural question answered, or more careful measuring before a price is reliable.
Pushing for a fast price in those conditions produces bad numbers, and bad numbers cause problems later: a price you have to revise after the customer has accepted it, or a job that runs at a loss. Neither helps you, the customer or us.
So on larger jobs the standard is different. It can take longer than 48 hours, provided you communicate. Tell us roughly when to expect it, and tell us if that changes. The customer quotation we issue is valid for 30 days, so the figure you give us needs to be one you are comfortable holding.
We would always rather tell a customer that a price on a large job will take a few more days than send them a figure that later has to change. Customers on larger projects generally understand that, as long as someone tells them what is happening. That someone is us, and the information comes from you.
The flexibility is available to contractors who keep us informed. It is not available to contractors who go quiet.
From visit to quotation
How your price becomes the customer's quotation
You attend the site visit
We book it with the customer and tell them who is coming. You survey the job and decide the technical scope. See site visit expectations.
You price it at trade rate
You put your quote together at your trade rate and submit it to us. The scope and the pricing are yours. Trade rates explained covers how that works.
We prepare the quotation
We turn your submission into a professional written quotation, present it under the Mortaro template and name you as the appointed main contractor. Our fee is added on top of your figure, not taken from it. More in who writes the quotation.
We issue it and follow up
The quotation goes to the customer, and we follow it up. Chasing a customer about a quote is our job, not yours.
The customer accepts
We collect the deposit, pass it to you and organise the start date with the customer. How that works is in how and when you get paid.
Getting it right first time
What makes a submission quick to turn round
The faster we can turn your price into a clear quotation, the sooner it reaches the customer. These are the things that help.
A clear scope
What you will do, in plain terms. The customer reads the quotation, so a scope they can follow means fewer questions later.
Your trade-rate price
A firm figure at your trade rate, broken down where that helps the customer understand what they are paying for.
What is not included
Exclusions stated up front. Anything left unsaid tends to become a disagreement once the work is under way.
Assumptions and unknowns
Anything that could change the price once work starts, and how you would handle it. Better said at quote stage than discovered on site.
Lead times and duration
How long the job will take and any wait on materials. It helps us set a realistic start date with the customer.
Your warranty terms
Your workmanship warranty terms are confirmed in the customer's quotation. The network minimum is twelve months, and longer is typical on larger works.
On larger jobs
What good communication on a larger quote looks like
Communicating on a larger quote does not mean regular reports. It means three things, each of which takes a minute.
An expected date. After the visit, tell us roughly when you expect to have the price ready. A rough date is fine. We use it to tell the customer when to expect their quotation, so nobody is left guessing.
What you are waiting on. If the delay is a supplier price, a structural question or a second measure, say so. Customers accept a wait far more readily when they know the reason for it.
An update if it moves. If the date slips, tell us before it passes rather than after. That is the difference between a customer who is kept informed and a customer who feels forgotten.
This is the same principle behind our response time standards: the information reaching us is what lets us keep the customer on side while you get the price right.
When a customer has had a site visit, we tell them when to expect their quotation. If yours is going to be later than that, a short message lets us update them before they start wondering. It takes you a minute. It saves the customer's confidence, and it is exactly the kind of communication that earns latitude.
Why it pays
A prompt quote, properly presented, is easier to win
A customer's interest is highest just after the site visit. They have met the contractor, talked through the job and are ready to decide. A quotation that arrives while they are still in that frame of mind has the best chance of being accepted.
That is where the division of labour helps. You price the job while it is fresh. We turn it into a clear, professional document, issue it, and follow it up while you get on with other work. You do not have to type up a quote at nine at night or chase a customer who has gone quiet.
If you have ever lost a job because your price went out late, or went out as a text message, this is the part of the arrangement that changes it. The rest of what we take on is set out in what Mortaro handles for contractors.
How it is judged
How quote turnaround feeds into your record
Quote turnaround is part of the track record that allocation is based on, alongside response speed, communication with customers and completed work. Contractors whose quotes come back when expected, and who tell us when they will not, are the ones we turn to first. See how opportunities are allocated.
Established contractors with a good record get latitude. An occasional slow quote is understood, because they tell us and it rarely happens twice in a row. What we watch for is a pattern: quotes that drift with no word, on jobs where a customer is waiting.
None of this is about pressure for the sake of it. It is about a customer who has let a stranger onto their property and is waiting to hear what the job will cost. Treating that wait with respect is part of dealing professionally with customers.
Why two speeds
Why we do not set one deadline for everything
A single deadline across every job would be simpler to write down and worse in practice. Too tight, and larger jobs get rushed prices. Too loose, and smaller jobs sit for a week while the customer loses interest.
Separating the two keeps each honest. On smaller work, a quick price is realistic and it is what the customer needs. On larger work, a reliable price is what matters, and communication does the job a deadline cannot.
It also reflects how contractors actually work. Most firms can price a repair from memory and need time for a large replacement. A standard that ignored that would be ignored in return.
Straight answers
Quote turnaround questions
Is 48 hours a hard deadline?
No. It is our aim on smaller jobs such as repairs and rooflight installations. If a quote is going to take a little longer, tell us and we will keep the customer informed.
How long can I take on a larger job?
As long as an accurate price genuinely needs, provided you tell us when to expect it and let us know if that changes. Material prices and supplier availability move, and we would rather wait for a reliable figure.
Do I write the quotation the customer sees?
You write the price and the scope. We prepare the professional quotation from your submission, present it under the Mortaro template and name you as the appointed main contractor.
Who chases the customer once the quote is sent?
We do. Following up submitted quotations is part of what we handle, so you can get on with the work you already have.
What rate should I quote at?
Your trade rate. Our fee is added on top in the customer's quotation and nothing is deducted from your figure. See what rates do you expect.
For contractors
Tell us about your business
Your trade, the areas you cover and the size of work you take on. A person reads every enquiry, and if it looks like a fit we will send you the full application.