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Get Fixed-Price Quotes for Building Work
A simple, free way to get comparable fixed-price quotes for repairs and small building jobs, and to agree the work properly with the builder you choose.
How it works
- List the work. Describe each job in the schedule below, or bring your list across from the repair cost estimator.
- Ask for quotes. Send the same request letter and schedule to at least three contractors. If one asks a question, send the answer to all of them.
- Compare and check. Compare the prices item by item, and against your own estimate if you used the repair cost estimator. Then check the contractor you prefer (see the checklist).
- Accept in writing. Send the acceptance letter, and let the others know with the unsuccessful letter.
- Agree the terms. For a small job under about £5,000, such as a gutter repair, replacing roof tiles or putting up a fence, the acceptance letter is all you need: it confirms the work, the price, the dates and the payments, and the builder confirms by reply. For a bigger job, you and the builder also sign the JCT Home Owner contract before work starts.
- Completion. Pay once the work is finished and you're happy with it. On a bigger job, you can hold back a small retention until any snagging is put right.
This pack is an automated tool and gives general guidance only. It isn't professional advice on your property. Prescott Chartered Surveyors does not prepare or check your schedule, compare quotes, recommend contractors, supervise the work or sign it off. You describe the work, choose the contractor and agree the terms yourself, and those decisions, and their consequences, are yours alone. The contractor is responsible for their own work.
Please read these terms before using the tool.
Terms of use for the free tools
- These terms apply to the repair cost estimator, the fixed-price quotes pack and the party wall notices on this website (the tools). They are provided free by Prescott Chartered Surveyors, the trading name of Richard Prescott MRICS. By ticking the box before using a tool, you agree to these terms.
- Personal use only. You may use the tools only for your own home or another property you own, for your own personal use. You must not use the tools, or copy, sell or reproduce their prices, content or documents, for any commercial purpose, including pricing or advising on work for others or running another website or service.
- Automated tools, not advice. The tools are automated and give general information only. No one checks what you enter or what the tools produce. They are not a quotation, a survey, or professional or legal advice on your property, and using them does not make you a client of Prescott Chartered Surveyors.
- Estimates. Prices are estimates based on published price guides, and what you are charged may be quite different. Always get at least three written quotations and agree a fixed price before work starts.
- Your decisions. You decide what work is done, which contractor to use and what you agree with them. You are responsible for the details you enter and for checking every document before you send or serve it. Any contract is between you and your contractor or neighbour; Prescott Chartered Surveyors is not a party to it. The contractor is responsible for their own work.
- Safety.
- Do not climb a ladder, go onto a roof or work at height to measure or inspect anything; take all measurements from the ground.
- Do not carry out building work yourself because a tool shows a price for it. Work at height should be done by a competent contractor using a tower or scaffold where needed, and you should check that your contractor holds public liability insurance.
- Structural work, such as removing a wall or chimney breast, or digging foundations near a neighbour's building, needs calculations from a structural engineer or chartered surveyor and Building Regulations approval before it starts.
- Buildings built before about 2000 may contain asbestos. Do not drill, cut, sand or break materials that might contain it; they should be tested, and removed only by a suitably qualified contractor, licensed where required.
- Older paint may contain lead and should not be dry-sanded or burnt off.
- Gas work must be done only by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and electrical work by a registered electrician.
- Never cap or block a chimney or flue that is still in use, including a neighbour's. A disused flue should be capped and ventilated by a competent contractor.
- Liability. Because the tools are free and automated, Prescott Chartered Surveyors does not accept liability for any loss arising from your use of them or reliance on their results. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
- These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.
1. Your details and dates
2. The work
Your estimate (for your eyes only)
This is your estimate from the repair cost estimator. It is not included in the letters or schedule sent to contractors. When the quotes come back, compare each contractor's price for each item with your estimated range. A price well above the range is worth questioning before you accept. Your total includes 10% for extras. Contractors' prices won't include it, so keep it aside in your budget rather than comparing it with their totals.
Total estimate:
Your items from the repair cost estimator have been added. Edit them to say exactly what you want done. The estimated prices and quantities stay with you and are not sent to contractors.
Describe each job clearly, for example "Replace front and rear gutters and two downpipes in black uPVC". Don't give measurements or quantities: each contractor measures on site and prices the whole job. Lines for access (ladder, tower or scaffold) and for setting up and clearing away are added automatically.
| No. | Description of work | Remove |
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3. Size of job
Use the JCT contract for any job over about £5,000, or any job that needs Building Regulations approval, planning permission or a party wall notice, involves structural work, will take more than a week, or is paid in stages. For anything smaller, the acceptance letter is enough.
4. Payments
Keep it simple and avoid paying large sums before work is done. For a small job, pay in full once the work is finished and you're happy with it. For a bigger job, the main payment is made at practical completion, with a small retention (typically 3%) paid within 14 days once any snagging is put right.
5. Your letters
Start with the request for quotation. Once you've chosen a contractor, fill in their details and make the acceptance letter and the letter to the others. Each letter appears underneath, with buttons to copy it or download it as a Word file. To change a letter, change the details above and make it again.
Only needed for the acceptance letter.
The Word file is locked so the wording can't be changed; only the grey boxes (dates, prices, names and signatures) can be filled in. To change anything else, change your answers above and make the letter again.
For bigger jobs: the JCT Home Owner contract
You don't need a formal contract for a small job under about £5,000: the acceptance letter is enough. For a bigger job, the JCT Home Owner contract (HO/B) is a short, plain-English contract for a homeowner dealing directly with a builder. You buy it from JCT; it comes with two copies, one for you and one for the builder. Once you've both signed it, it sets the terms of the job, and the builder's own terms and conditions don't apply.
You fill it in with:
- your names and addresses, and the property address;
- the work, by attaching your schedule and the builder's priced copy;
- the fixed price, including VAT;
- the start date and the completion date;
- the payments you've agreed, including any retention.
The contract itself deals with the rest, such as changes to the work, delays, your right to cancel, and what happens if there's a dispute, so you don't need to repeat those in your letters.
At completion
- Walk round with the builder and list anything to be put right (snagging).
- Pay the main sum at practical completion, and the retention within 14 days once the snagging is done.
- Collect any certificates and guarantees, such as Building Control completion, FENSA, electrical or Gas Safe certificates.