This is the invoice form with the title changed to QUOTATION. You get your business name and email, a number and date, the client's name, line items with quantity × rate, an optional single tax rate, a subtotal and a total, all in US dollars.

Three details need attention before you send it:

• The number starts as INV-001. Change it to a quote series such as Q-0031, so a quote is never mistaken for a bill.
• The client line is labelled "Bill to:". That reads oddly on an offer. Put the client's name and the project in it, e.g. "Northside Dental, website rebuild".
• There are no fields for validity, terms or exclusions. A quote without them is an open-ended offer. Add them to the PDF, or copy the wording from the sample below.

A web designer quotes a five-page site: 5 page designs at $400, 40 hours of development at $85 and a fixed $350 for loading the client's content.

If the work is taxable where you are, enter the rate: at 8.25% the tool adds $474.38 and the total becomes $6,224.38. Show tax on the quote if you will charge it, so the figure the client approves is the figure they pay.

Hourly lines are estimates even on a fixed quote. Say whether 40 hours is a cap, a guide, or the basis of a fixed price. For optional extras, don't add lines with a quantity of 0, which print as $0.00 and confuse the total. Issue a second quote, "Option B", with the extras included.

A sample built on the example above, with the parts the form leaves out. Replace everything in [BRACKETS].

Don't edit a quote the client has already seen. Issue a revised one with a suffix (Q-0031-R1) and the new validity date, and say in one line what changed. If two versions are in circulation, the client will usually hold you to the cheaper one.

Once accepted, the quote becomes the reference for everything else. Put its number on the deposit invoice, on the final invoice, and on any change request, so each bill can be traced back to the agreed price.