Guide · Quote
What belongs in a renovation quote in the UAE
A quote that comes back with five questions cost you a day. This is what to put on it so it comes back accepted.
14 days from approval, card required, cancel before it ends. A person reads every application, usually the same day.
For contractorsLast reviewed
The problem
A quote your client can read two ways is a quote you will argue about
Most renovation quotes in Dubai are a page of trade headings and one total. The client cannot tell whether the total includes the joinery, whether the tiles are theirs or yours, or what happens if the villa needs a new consumer unit. So they call. Then they call again. Every one of those calls is a scope line you did not write down.
The header
The top of the quote answers who, where, when and for how long
Six facts, on the first page, above anything priced. Your client will forward this to a spouse, a landlord or a building manager, and every one of them needs to know which company issued it and until when it stands. A quote with no reference number and no validity date is a quote you cannot refer back to.
- Your company
- Trading name, trade licence number, address, and the person the client should call.
- Your client
- Name as it will appear on the contract, plus the property address the work happens at.
- Quote reference
- One number you can say out loud on the phone. Revisions keep it, with a new letter.
- Date issued
- The day you sent it — not the day you started pricing.
- Valid until
- A real date. Rates for tiles, timber and labour move; an open-ended quote is a promise you did not mean to make.
- Currency and tax status
- AED, and whether the prices shown include tax or exclude it. Say which.
The scope
Every line names a place, a thing and a quantity
Trade headings are for your team. Your client thinks in rooms. Write the scope so a person standing in the flat can point at each line and see the thing it describes, and give every line a quantity and a unit, even when the quantity is one.
- Say where: “Master bathroom”, not “sanitary works”.
- Say what: the item, the finish, and the make where it changes the price.
- Say how much: a quantity and a unit on every line, even if the unit is “item”.
- Say what you assumed: “existing waste position retained” belongs on the line, not in your head.
The money
Show the total, and show what could still move it
One number at the bottom is not a price your client can check. Break it by section, then say plainly which parts are still open: a provisional sum for a finish they have not chosen, an item priced on an assumption, tax, and what is not included at all.
- A subtotal per section, so a client can drop a room without renegotiating the job.
- Provisional sums named as such, with what they cover and what would replace them.
- A tax line, shown separately — see the VAT and eInvoicing guide.
- Exclusions as their own list, not a footnote in small type.
- The payment milestones, or a pointer to where they are written.
Validity
Say what happens when the client changes their mind
They will. A quote that says nothing about change leaves you deciding, mid-job, whether to absorb it. Write the rule now, while nobody is upset: changes are priced and accepted before the work happens, and the accepted quote plus its accepted changes is what the contract covers.
How Briked handles this
The quote is built from the scope, so the two cannot disagree
You send a scope link. Your client answers questions about their own flat, on their phone. What comes back is a structured scope you price with your own rates, section by section. The quote your client opens is that same scope with the money on it — and a person accepts every number before it is sent.
Quote QT-2026-041
Villa, Al Barari
- Sections
- 6
- Valid until
- 2026-10-06
- Status
- Waiting for you
Quote QT-2026-041
Built from the client’s answers
- Scope lines
- 48
- From client answers
- 31
- From your site visit
- 17
- Accepted by
- You, before sending
Other guides
General notes
An indicative range is a range, not a price. Only the quote you send your client is a price.
A person accepts every number before it leaves your company. Nothing drafted by AI becomes the record on its own.
Your client never pays for Briked. Answering your scope link, reading your quote and accepting it are free for them, always.
Your rates, your scopes and your clients stay yours. We never show one contractor’s work to another. Read the data promise
The trial runs 14 days from the day we approve your application. A card is required to start it. Trial terms
Common questions
How long should a renovation quote be valid for?
Long enough for your client to decide, short enough that your material prices still hold. Most UAE renovation contractors put a real date on it and re-issue with a new revision if it passes. The point is that a date exists, not that it is generous.
Should the quote include VAT?
Show it as its own line and say whether the section totals include it or exclude it. A quote where nobody can tell is a quote that gets queried. If you are registered, the tax invoice rules apply once you invoice — see the VAT and eInvoicing guide.
What is a provisional sum, in plain words?
An amount you carry for something the client has not chosen yet — the tiles, the sanitaryware, the ironmongery. It is a placeholder, not a price. Name it, say what it covers, and say that it is replaced by a real figure once the choice is made.
Do I need to itemise labour separately?
Not usually, and many contractors deliberately do not. What matters is that each section total traces to the scope lines under it, so the client can see what they are buying rather than a rate they will then argue about.
Can I send a quote on WhatsApp?
Most UAE renovation jobs are won on WhatsApp, so yes — but send a link, not a photo of a page. A link opens on the client’s phone, records that they opened it, and lets them accept it without printing anything.
Scope it, quote it, get it accepted — on your next job, with your rates.
14 days from approval, card required, cancel before it ends. A person reads every application, usually the same day.