Most trade quotes go out as a PDF attached to an email, and most of the time the customer rings and says go ahead. That works until the customer remembers a different price, or a different quote. Getting the quote signed is how the yes ends up in writing, against the exact version and the exact figure you sent.
The short answer
- Write a quote somebody can say yes to. What is included, what is not, the price and whether it includes VAT, how long the price holds and when you would start.
- Save it as a PDF. Word and Excel both do it from the Save As menu, and quoting and accounts software usually can too.
- Send it with a signing link. The customer opens the email, reads the quote on their phone and signs with a finger.
- Keep the signed copy. It comes back to you and to the customer, with a record of who signed and when.
The rest of this page is the detail behind each step, including when you do not need a new tool at all.
Write a quote somebody can say yes to
A signature only proves they agreed to the document in front of them. If the quote says “supply and fit new bathroom” and little else, a signature proves they agreed to something vague. The protection is in the quote; the signature pins it down.
- What the job includes, in words the customer reads the way you do: “remove and dispose of the existing suite” rather than “strip out”.
- What it does not include. Making good, decorating, skip hire, anything behind a wall you have not opened yet.
- The price, and whether it includes VAT, in the figure itself: “£4,200 including VAT” or “£3,500 plus VAT”.
- How long the price holds. Materials move, and a quote with no end date is a promise with no end date.
- Deposit and stages. What is due before you start, and when the rest is due.
- When you would start, and roughly how long the job takes.
- How extra work is handled, for example that any change is priced and agreed in writing before it is done.
- Your business details and a quote number, so this quote cannot be mistaken for the last one.
Three ways to get the yes in writing
| How | What it costs you | What you are left holding |
|---|---|---|
| They reply “go ahead” to your email | Nothing | A yes, but not always to which version or which price, once more than one went out |
| Print, sign, scan or photograph | Days of chasing, and a printer at their end | A picture of a signature on whichever page they printed |
| A signing link | A minute to send | The exact file, signed, with who signed it and when |
The email reply is far better than a phone call and nothing. Its weak point is versions: two files both called Quote.pdf, the second with the spec changed and £1,400 added, and a yes that could belong to either.
If you already use a quoting or job app
Many job-management and quoting apps built for UK trades already let the customer sign the quote. If yours does, use it: one less tool and one less bill. Three things are worth checking about the one you have.
- Can you download the signed quote as a file you keep, or does it only exist inside the app?
- Does it record when the customer signed, and from what device?
- Could somebody else, the customer or a solicitor, check that the file has not been changed since it was signed?
If the answer to the last one is no, the signature is a picture on a page. That is the gap a sealed document fills.
If you write quotes in Word or Excel
Or in your accounts software, or on paper. This is where Pixasign fits: you keep writing quotes the way you do now, and Pixasign gets the yes.
- Save the quote as a PDF, or take a photo of a paper one.
- Upload it, put the signature box where the customer signs, and type their name and email address.
- Send it. The customer gets an email, taps the link, reads the quote and signs with a finger or taps to adopt their typed name. No app, no account, no password. The link stays live for fourteen days.
- When they sign, the whole file is sealed, and you both get the signed PDF with an evidence certificate: who signed, when, from what device and the approximate location.
The seal carries a timestamp from DigiCert, an independent timestamp authority, so the time on the sealed quote does not rest on your word or ours. The time of each earlier step is recorded by our server. Anyone can check the file free at pixasign.co.uk/check, with no account: it says whether Pixasign sealed it and whether it has changed since.
Send it from your computer, or have the office send it while you are still on site.
Extra work: get the variation signed too
The original quote is rarely where the money goes. It goes on the extra socket, the wall that turned out to be wet, the change agreed in a hallway. Write the variation as a short quote of its own, what it covers and what it costs, and send it the same way before you do the work. Each one counts as one document. Our page on e-signatures for tradespeople and builders goes through the disputes this heads off.
What a signed quote does not do
- It does not get you paid. Take a deposit if the job needs one. A signature is evidence of what was agreed, not money in the bank.
- It does not fix a vague quote. See the checklist above.
- It does not replace your terms and conditions. If you have them, put them in the same PDF as the quote, so they are signed together.
- Some documents carry extra formalities, deeds and certain land matters among them. That is a question for whoever drafts them, not for a software supplier. Our guide to whether an electronic signature is legally binding in the UK covers where the lines are.
What it costs
Pixasign is free for 1 user and 3 documents a month, with no card. Paid plans are one flat monthly price with unlimited users: £19 a month inc VAT for 50 documents, £59 inc VAT for 200 and £99 inc VAT for 500. Unlimited users means no charge per user: an account starts with room for 200 active people, and we raise that free on request. Your customers never pay and never need an account.
Send your next quote this way
Free for 3 documents a month, no card. Take the quote you were going to email today and send it for signature instead.
Start free UK company. Documents stored in the EEA.Questions
- Can a customer sign a quote on their phone?
- Yes. They get an email, tap the link, read the quote and sign with a finger or tap to adopt their typed name. There is no app and no account to create, and the link stays live for fourteen days.
- Is a quote signed online legally binding?
- Electronic signatures are valid and enforceable for the vast majority of UK business documents, and a quote is ordinary commercial paperwork. A small number of document types carry special formality requirements; if you are unsure whether something you send is one of them, ask a solicitor rather than a supplier. What settles a dispute in practice is evidence: who agreed, to which version, and when.
- Is an email saying “go ahead” enough?
- It is far better than a phone call and nothing. Its weak point is versions: once more than one quote has gone out, an email reply rarely pins down which one, at which price, the customer said yes to. A signed quote is the exact file, with the signature on it.
- How many quotes can I send for free?
- 3 documents a month on the Free plan, for 1 user, with no card. Each quote or variation is one document, however many pages it has and however many people sign it. Paid plans start at £19 a month inc VAT for 50 documents, with unlimited users.
- Do I need a quoting app as well?
- Not to get a quote signed. If you already use a quoting or job app that takes a customer signature, it may do all you need. If you write quotes in Word, Excel or your accounts software, Pixasign adds the signature and the proof without changing how you write them.