Guide · For your client
How to read a renovation quote
You have a quote from a contractor and no way to judge it. This walks through what each part is telling you, and what is worth asking before you accept.
14 days from approval, card required, cancel before it ends. A person reads every application, usually the same day.
For your clientLast reviewed
Orientation
Start at the top, before the numbers
The first part of a quote tells you who is offering, for what property, under which reference, and until when. If those are missing, ask for them before reading anything priced — not because the contractor is doing something wrong, but because you will need them if you accept.
- Who is quoting
- The company as licensed, with a trade licence number you can check.
- For which property
- The address the work happens at — check it is yours.
- Reference
- The number to quote in every message about this job.
- Valid until
- After this date the contractor may re-price. Material costs move.
- Tax
- Whether the totals shown include tax or have it added.
The scope
Read the exclusions before you read the price
The list of what is not included tells you more than the total does. Two quotes that look far apart often differ only in what one of them left out. Read the exclusions first, then compare the scope lines room by room.
- Is every room you want done actually listed?
- Who is supplying the tiles, the sanitaryware, the appliances?
- Is making good after the work included?
- What has been assumed about what is behind the walls?
The money
Look for the parts that are still open
A total is not a single promise. Some of it is fixed, some is a placeholder for a choice you have not made, and some depends on what is found when the walls come off. A contractor who marks those clearly is being straight with you, not vague.
- Section totals — so you can drop a room without redoing the whole quote.
- Provisional sums — a placeholder until you choose the finish.
- A tax line, shown separately.
- The payment milestones, and what closes each one.
Validity
A quote is an offer with a shelf life
Materials and labour move. A validity date is normal and not a pressure tactic. If you need longer, ask — most contractors will re-issue rather than lose the job. What you should not do is accept a quote whose date has passed and assume the price still stands.
Before you accept
Five questions worth asking
None of these are confrontational, and a contractor who has done the work will answer them in a minute. If a question cannot be answered, that is information too — usually that the scope has not been thought through, which is what turns into changes later.
- What is not included that I might expect to be?
- Which items are provisional, and what would replace them?
- What approvals are needed, and who is getting them?
- What happens to the price if you find something behind the wall?
- What are the payment milestones, and what closes each one?
How Briked handles this
If your quote arrived as a link, it can answer some of this itself
A quote sent through Briked opens on your phone with its sections, its exclusions and its milestones laid out, and it shows where each quantity came from — what you told your contractor, or what they measured at the site visit. Briked is your contractor’s tool. You never pay for it.
Quote QT-2026-041
Your apartment, Dubai Marina
- Sections
- 6
- Provisional items
- 2, marked
- What Briked costs you
- Nothing
Quote QT-2026-041
Sent 2026-09-04
- Opened by client
- Yes
- Questions raised
- 1
- Revision
- B
- Accepted
- Waiting
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
Do I pay anything to use Briked?
No. Reading a quote, asking a question about it and accepting it are free for you, always. Your contractor pays for the tool; you never do.
Is a quote the same as a contract?
No. A quote is an offer. It usually becomes the scope the contract refers to once you accept it, but the contract adds the programme, how changes are handled, and what happens after handover.
What is a provisional sum?
An amount held for something you have not chosen yet — tiles, taps, appliances. It is a placeholder, and it is replaced with a real figure once you pick. If a quote has several, expect the total to move.
Should I get three quotes?
Comparing is sensible, but compare the scope before the total. Quotes that differ by a lot usually differ in what they exclude, not in the rate for the same work.
The quote arrived as a WhatsApp link. Is that normal?
Yes — most renovation work in the UAE is arranged that way. A link is better than a photo of a page: it opens on your phone, it stays current if the contractor revises it, and you can 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.