E-signatures for electricians: quotes, variations and sign-off agreed in writing

The short answer

1. Write the quote so it can be agreed. The circuits and points, who supplies the fittings, what making good means, the price and whether it includes VAT.
2. Send it as a PDF with a signing link. The customer reads it on their phone and signs with a finger. No app, no account, no password. The link stays live for fourteen days.
3. Get every variation signed before you do it. The extra sockets, the fault found on test, the move of the consumer unit: a short quote of its own, signed the same way.
4. Close the job with a sign-off. One page: the work done, anything left, and the final price against the quote.
5. Keep the sealed PDF. It comes with an evidence certificate of who signed and when, and anyone can check it free at pixasign.co.uk/check.

If you already run jobs through an app that takes a customer signature, it may do all of this for you. The rest of this page is the detail, and where Pixasign fits if your quotes are written anywhere else.

Where the money goes on electrical work

Most customers pay what they agreed. The losses sit in the few jobs where nobody can show what that was.

• The rewire priced from a walk-round. The quote was for the circuits you could see. Then the floors came up. The customer agreed the extra on the landing, and remembers a smaller number by the time the invoice arrives.
• The fault on a circuit you were not asked to touch. Testing turns something up, you explain it, they say get it sorted. Without anything in writing, the remedial work reads on the invoice like work you added yourself.
• Making good. You meant filled. They meant plastered and painted. Nobody wrote down which, and the argument is about the walls, not the wiring.
• The instruction on a commercial site. The site manager asks for four more double sockets in the meeting room. You fit them. At the final account the instruction is remembered as a question, not an order.

A quote the customer can say yes to

A signature only proves they agreed to the document in front of them. If the quote says “rewire house” and little else, a signature proves they agreed to something vague. On electrical work, these are the lines that save an argument later.

• The circuits and points, room by room if it is a rewire, so a disagreement about “the kitchen” has a list to go back to.
• Who supplies the fittings: the lights, the switches, the charger. Yours at a price, or theirs to hand on the day.
• What making good means: chases filled, or plastered, or decorated. Say which, and say what is not included.
• How faults found on testing are handled: reported, priced and agreed in writing before any remedial work is done.
• The price, and whether it includes VAT, in the figure itself: “£5,400 including VAT” or “£4,500 plus VAT”.
• How long the price holds, the deposit if you take one, and when you would start.
• A quote number and your business details, so this quote cannot be mistaken for the last one.

Then send it. Save the quote as a PDF from whatever you write it in, upload it, put the signature box where the customer signs, and type their name and email address. Send it from your computer, or have the office send it while you are still on site. The customer gets an email, taps the link, reads the quote and signs with a finger or taps to adopt a typed signature. There is no password to invent, which is where many customers give up. Our guide to getting a quote signed online goes through it step by step.

Getting a variation signed off

The original quote is rarely where the money goes. Write each variation as a short quote of its own: what is being added or changed, why, and what it costs. Send it before you do the work. On a domestic job the customer can sign it on their phone while you are in the room. Each one counts as one document.

On a commercial job, if the main contractor has its own instruction forms, use them. Where it does not, a one-page variation sent to the person who gave the instruction puts it in writing. If someone else has to approve it too, add them: each person gets their own private link and their own fields, you can set a signing order, and each is recorded separately on the evidence certificate. One document can have up to 20 people signing it. Our page on RAMS and subcontractor sign-off covers the paperwork that comes before you start on a site.

Sign-off when the job is done

A one-page sign-off closes the job: the work done, anything left to come back for and when, and the final price set against the quote and the variations agreed on the way. The customer confirms it before you leave. If something is queried later, the conversation starts from what they signed.

It is not a certificate. Electrical certificates and building control notifications are separate documents with their own forms, set by whoever issues them. Whether any of those can be signed this way is a question for that scheme or body, not for a software supplier, and this page makes no claim about them.

If your job app already takes a signature

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, for the quotes, variations and sign-offs you write in Word, Excel or your accounts software.

What you are holding afterwards

When the last person signs, Pixasign seals the whole file. The seal carries a timestamp from DigiCert, an independent timestamp authority. It is applied once, after the last signature, and that time does not come from us. The time of each earlier step is recorded by our server.

With the sealed PDF comes an evidence certificate: the name and email address it went to, when it was opened and signed, the IP address and approximate location, the device, and digital fingerprints of the file before and after sealing. The events are hash-chained, each locking in the one before. The chain’s final value is printed on the evidence certificate every party is sent, so a later change to the record would not match their copy.

The seal and its timestamp are inside the PDF. Anyone can check a document free at pixasign.co.uk/check: no account, no sign-in, no card. It tells you whether Pixasign sealed the file and whether it has changed since, and it decides that from Pixasign’s own records. Download your signed documents whenever you like. The files sit on hardware in Nuremberg, Germany, with encrypted backups in Reykjavík, Iceland, and card payments are handled by Stripe. The detail is on our security page.

What a signature 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 prove authority. It records who agreed, by the email address the link went to. Whether a site manager can commit their company to a variation is between them and their employer.
• 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. Put the electricians, the estimator and the office on it at no extra cost. Each quote, variation or sign-off is one document, however many pages it has and however many people sign it. Your customers never pay and never need an account.

Questions

Can an electrician get a quote signed online?

Yes. Save the quote as a PDF and send it with a signing link. The customer opens the email, reads the quote on their phone and signs with a finger or adopts a typed signature, with no app and no account. The link stays live for fourteen days. If your job app already takes a customer signature, it may be all you need.

How do I get a variation signed off?

Write it as a short quote of its own: what is being added or changed, why, and what it costs. Send it to the person who asked for it before you do the work, and they sign it on their phone. If the main contractor has its own instruction forms, use them. Each variation counts as one document.

Is a quote signed on a phone screen binding?

The Law Commission concluded in 2019 that an electronic signature is capable of executing a document where the signer intends to authenticate it and any formalities for that document are met, and a quote, a variation or a sign-off for electrical work is ordinary commercial paperwork. A small number of document types carry special formality requirements; if you are unsure whether something you are sending is one of them, ask a solicitor rather than a supplier. What decides a dispute in practice is evidence: who agreed, to which version, and when.

Can I use it for electrical certificates?

Pixasign signs and seals a PDF. Whether that suits a certificate or a notification is a question for the scheme or body that issues the form, not for a software supplier, and we make no claim about it. This page is about the commercial paperwork: the quote, the variations and the sign-off.