Free estimate template to fill in and print

The part that travels: an estimate tells the customer what to expect, and what keeps it from being a fixed price is what the document says, not its heading.

UK: official guidance calls a quotation a fixed price and an estimate a rough or educated guess (Business Companion; nibusinessinfo.co.uk for Northern Ireland). The label alone is not the test: in Pickfords Ltd v Celestica Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 1741 a fax of budget figures was treated as an offer the customer could accept. So the estimate should say clearly that its figure is an approximation and that the price may change. For a consumer, what you wrote is read together with anything that qualified it on the same occasion (Consumer Rights Act 2015, s. 50(2)).

Ireland: the consumer authority draws the same line and advises customers to ask for a written quote rather than an estimate (CCPC).

Germany: a cost estimate (Kostenvoranschlag) is not binding unless the business guarantees its accuracy; section 649 BGB deals with exactly the estimate given without that guarantee.

No statute in the UK, Ireland or Germany names a percentage. A “10 per cent rule” is habit, not law.

UK: where the contract does not fix the price, a consumer must pay a reasonable price and no more (Consumer Rights Act 2015, s. 51); between businesses the same follows from the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, s. 15, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. If extra work turns up, Trading Standards guidance for garages says you must inform the consumer and seek their agreement before doing it (Business Companion).

Ireland: if no price was fixed, a consumer owes a reasonable price and no more (Consumer Rights Act 2022, s. 83).

Germany: if the work cannot be done without substantially exceeding the estimate, the customer may terminate and then pays for the work done. As soon as such an overrun is to be expected, the business must tell the customer without delay (section 649 BGB).

In practice: write a new estimate as soon as you see the cost moving, and have it confirmed before you carry on.

UK: nothing forbids it, but the customer has to know and agree first. Do not call a call-out or a valuation “free” if a charge falls due when the customer does not go ahead (Trading Standards pricing guidance). In a consumer contract no payment on top of the main price is owed unless the consumer expressly consented before being bound (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, reg. 40).

Ireland: for a repair, the European Repair Information Form is free of charge, and a diagnosis may be charged only if its cost was stated beforehand (S.I. No. 373 of 2026).

Germany: in case of doubt an estimate is not paid for (section 632(3) BGB). A fee has to be agreed beforehand.

An estimate breaks the likely total down: labour, materials and other costs such as travel, each with a quantity and a price. Add who it is from and for, the date, how long the prices hold, what the figure does not cover and what could change it.

A service provider who is asked for a price must give it or, where an exact price cannot be given, the method of calculation or a sufficiently detailed estimate (UK: Provision of Services Regulations 2009, reg. 9; Ireland: S.I. No. 533 of 2010, reg. 22). To a consumer the figure is the total including VAT.

A garage estimates differently, from its hourly rate, the hours and the parts. The repair quote calculator linked further down does that.

Your customer places the order on the basis of the estimate. No form is prescribed, and the lines for place, date and signature show later what both sides relied on. If you want to commit to a price instead, write a fixed-price quote. That page also covers how long a quote stays open and how VAT is shown.