Quoting, from a sentence
TYPE IT OR SAY IT. GET A PRICE IN A MINUTE.
No price book to build first. No forms, no dropdowns, no setup. Describe the work the way you would say it to your mate and an itemised, sendable quote comes back before you are off the drive.
The quote is the job nobody pays you for
You priced it in your head on the drive home, then sat down at nine at night to turn it into something you could send. That is the hour every tradesman loses, every week, and it is the hour that decides whether you win the work, because the man who sends first usually gets it. Most quoting software makes you build a price book before it will do anything at all, which is a bigger evening than the one you were trying to avoid.
What you get
Everything below happens from one description of the job. There is nothing to set up first except your trade.
Type it or say it
Type the job the way you would scribble it on a pad. Or press the mic and say it out loud in the van, and it writes it down for you. Either way, it prices it.
Itemised, not a round number
You get every material with its quantity and price, and the labour against each stage, not one figure with nothing behind it. That is the difference between a quote a customer trusts and a number they haggle with.
Real UK material prices
Prices come from a built-in catalogue, so you are not typing part numbers by hand. Paste a supplier link and the actual price off that page is pulled in instead. They are a guide, not gospel. Always confirm anything significant with your merchant.
Your day rate, not an average
Labour is priced off the rate you set once, in your region. The quote is yours, not an industry number that has nothing to do with what you charge.
It catches what you would have forgotten
Waste removal, making good, access, testing, the sundries. The lines that never make it onto a quote written at nine at night are the lines that come out of your margin on site.
Every line is yours to change
Tap any price to edit it, add your own lines, bin what you do not need, or override the total outright. Nothing is locked until you send it.
It says what the price is based on
The customer sees the assumptions underneath the price: what has been allowed for and what has not. There is also a line saying anything extra gets agreed with them first. That one block prevents most arguments about a final bill.
The price locks when you send it
Once it has gone, the quote cannot be edited. That is not a limitation, it is your proof of what you both agreed. If the price needs to change, you send a new one or price the extra separately.
Quoting: frequently asked questions
How long does a quote actually take?
The median across every quote written in BuilderBuddy is about thirty seconds from describing the job to a finished, itemised price. A big or unusual job takes longer, because more of it has to be priced.
Do I have to set up a price book first?
No, and that is the main difference between this and most job management software. Pick your trade, describe the job, and the first quote works. Your region and day rate sharpen it, and you can set those as you go. There is no catalogue to import and no templates to build.
Are the material prices accurate?
They come from a built-in UK catalogue and are a solid starting point rather than a live feed from your merchant. Wholesale prices move, so confirm anything significant before sending. If you paste a supplier product link, the real price from that page is used instead. Every line is editable either way.
Can I use it for labour-only work?
Yes. Delete or zero the material lines and the quote is your labour at your day rate. Plenty of quotes written in it are labour only.
What happens after the customer says yes?
That is where it stops being a quoting app. Tap that you won it and the same words become your job sheet, your shopping list with quantities, the days to block out in your diary, and the invoice. You never type the job out a second time.