How to read a house builder's quote
A house builder's quote is a priced list of work on a house you are building yourself. Read it by headings, by share of the total, and by cost per square metre. Missing headings are a prompt to ask, not a decision that the price is high.
What a quote is
The file is the contractor's list: preliminaries, foundation, structure, roof, envelope, services, finishes. Each line has a quantity, a unit and a price. The total is the sum of those lines, not a separate opinion about whether the house is cheap.
What to look at first
- 01Confirm the country, region and city the quote is for.
- 02Note the floor area, so later figures can be compared per m² and per ft².
- 03List the headings. Typical house work includes site works, structure, roof, windows, electrical, plumbing and finishes.
- 04See which of those headings are absent. Absence is a question for the contractor.
- 05See how the total splits across headings. A roof that is half the price is unusual; it is still a hypothesis until someone who knows the file comments.
What this is not
It is not a visit to the site and not a report of what has been built. It does not decide whether you should sign. A person can add a written comment on the paid reading that includes one.
Questions on this
Can I send a quote for a flat?
No. This reading is for a house you are building or renovating yourself.
How fast is a paid reading?
Within one working day after payment for the reading without a comment, and within three working days when a person writes one.
Read one before you buy one
The specimen shows the whole structure: status, what each payment was meant to buy, the forecast with its range, the photographic record and the limits of what was checked.