Prepare a clear quote.

Begin with the request, not the total

Write down the result the customer wants. Then describe what you are offering to supply or do. A short description of the request gives the priced items a purpose: someone reading the document can see how the proposed work responds to their need.

Use the draft to connect the customer’s goal with the work offered, itemized prices, dates, and payment arrangements. Before sending it, check the business and document details appropriate to your work and location in the United States.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Give the scope a beginning and an end

Name the deliverables, quantities, visits, revision rounds, or other limits that define this job. Explain likely expectations that fall outside it. For a flyer, that might mean one layout and one revision round, with printing and additional formats excluded.

Record dependencies separately: information from the customer, access to the site, approvals, or materials you need to confirm. If something changes the work or the price, give it a place in the conversation before it becomes a surprise.

Check that you understand the requested work and have the resources and availability to deliver it. Make likely extras visible as exclusions or optional items so the customer can see the boundary of the offered scope.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Build the price from recognizable items

Use the customer's selling price for each item. Keep your internal cost calculation in the Pricing Explorer or your own records. A customer line might be one installation, three visits, or a quantity of goods; choose a unit that makes the quantity understandable.

The builder multiplies each quantity by its unit price and rounds that line to two decimal places. It then adds the included lines. Quantities can have up to three decimal places, while unit prices have up to two. An empty quantity or price stays unfinished; a zero price is a deliberate no-charge item.

Use one currency for the draft. Changing the currency label does not convert the amounts. Check the actual prices if you change the currency, and keep delivery or other charges visible as their own described lines where appropriate.

Keep optional work outside the offered total

An optional line gives the customer something extra to discuss. The builder lists it separately and leaves it out of the draft total. If that work becomes part of the offer, change the line to Included and review the scope and total again.

Optional items are not an alternatives engine. If the customer is choosing between two complete approaches, prepare separate drafts with clear references so that quantities and totals cannot be mistaken for one combined offer.

Make tax handling a deliberate choice

Choose the treatment you have confirmed for the job. The builder can leave entered prices unchanged with no added tax, treat the prices as already containing tax, or add one named rate to the included subtotal. It does not decide which treatment applies.

For an added rate, the tax amount is rounded once on the subtotal and then added to it. Optional amounts remain outside that calculation. The tax-included choice does not extract or display a separate tax component. If your document needs that breakdown, mixed rates, exemptions by item, or other treatment, resolve the calculation and document requirements separately.

Explain timing and the next conversation

State a workable schedule or explain what must happen before timing can be confirmed. Put customer responsibilities beside the assumptions. Add the payment arrangements you intend to discuss, and use terms you have reviewed for your work and location.

Make the next step specific: confirm a delivery address, review the proposed scope, supply the final artwork, or agree a booking date. The Customer Follow-up Planner can help you return to that commitment; opening it does not send or copy this quote automatically.

Review the draft before using it

Preview the document as the customer will see it. Check names, scope, quantities, prices, dates, and the total. The review page points out common missing details, but filled fields are not proof that the information is correct.

This builder labels its output as a draft for review and discussion. It does not issue the document or record customer acceptance. Review the scope, tax choices, and terms against the actual arrangement and applicable US state and local requirements before using the draft commercially.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Keep the right copy for the right purpose

The customer text and PDF contain the entered offer, including any terms you supplied. Working notes for yourself are excluded from both. The reusable file contains all fields, including those notes and unfinished entries, so keep it for your own use.

Download a reusable copy before closing. If you change an offer you have already shared, keep the earlier file separately and give the new draft a clear revision label. The builder edits one draft at a time and does not maintain an issued-version archive.