02/09/2026
IS IT TIME WE STARTED CHARGING FOR QUOTES? 🤔
Something I’ve been thinking about lately…
Should tradespeople still be expected to provide completely free quotes?
Because a “free quote” isn’t actually free.
You might:
🚐 Drive 20–30 minutes each way
⛽ Spend £5–£10+ in fuel
📏 Measure the job
🗣️ Spend 30–60 minutes discussing what the customer wants
💻 Go home and spend another 30–60 minutes pricing it
📞 Answer questions and make amendments
📅 And potentially follow it up…
All before earning a single penny.
And with diesel currently averaging around 183p per litre in the UK, the cost of getting to jobs is certainly not getting cheaper.
There’s also evidence that unpaid work is adding up for tradespeople. A 2026 Simply Business survey of 408 UK tradespeople found they spend an average of 1.8 hours every week on unplanned work they don't charge for, equivalent to 93.6 hours a year.
And quoting can be even more significant.
Imagine you do just 5-10 quotes a week, taking an average of 1.5 hours each including travel and paperwork.
That’s:
7.5 hours a week
30 hours a month
390 hours a year
That’s almost 10 full working weeks spent quoting.
And some of those customers will never even reply.
So maybe the answer isn't charging everyone £50 just to give them a price.
Maybe it's:
💷 £20–£50 survey/quotation fee
✅ if they accept the job, it gets taken off the final price
🆓 Repeat customers remain free
That way the customer isn't necessarily paying extra if they choose you…
…but your time isn't automatically worth £0 if they don't.
And let's be honest…
If a customer asks three, four or five tradespeople to visit, measure up and produce detailed quotes, they're potentially getting hours of professional advice and work for nothing.
The Federation of Master Builders has also highlighted the problem, with member businesses reporting that detailed quotations can take many hours and may ultimately go nowhere.
So here's the question:
WOULD YOU CHARGE FOR QUOTES?
And if you already do…
How much do you charge?
👇 Let’s hear what the trade thinks.
