How Long Should a Quote Stay Valid?

You quoted a bathroom reno in March. The client goes quiet, then rings in July: "Still good for that price?" Tiles are up, your sparky's rates moved, and now you're eating the difference or looking like the bad guy for re-quoting.

An open-ended quote is a liability. A validity period fixes that in one line. Here's how long a quote should stay valid, the exact wording to use, and how the expiry date can do your follow-up without you lifting a finger.

Key takeaways

• A calendar month is a common, no-argument validity window for most trade and service quotes.
• An expiry date lets you re-quote when material or labour costs move, instead of absorbing the blowout.
• The date creates urgency — a deadline gives the client a reason to book now.
• Software can trigger the chase — reminders before expiry, auto-archive after.

How long should a quote stay valid?

Thirty days from the issue date is the safe default for most service work. It's long enough that a client doesn't feel rushed, and short enough that your costs won't have shifted much underneath you.

Shorten the window when your inputs move fast. If your quote leans heavily on timber, steel, fuel or subbie rates that jump week to week, a fortnight is fair — and nobody blinks at it.

Stretch it only when you've locked your costs. Got a supplier price held in writing for a couple of months? Then matching that longer window is honest. Don't promise a window your suppliers won't back.

Pro tip: match your quote validity to the shortest supplier price you're relying on. If the tiles are only held for three weeks, don't quote for a month.

Why an open-ended quote costs you money

A quote with no expiry is a standing offer the client can accept whenever suits them — even after your costs have climbed. That's the trap. You wrote a price for today's world and made it valid forever.

Picture a landscaper who quoted a retaining wall in autumn. The client accepts in spring, sleeper prices have jumped, and there's no expiry clause to point to. Now it's an awkward phone call or a margin you'll never see again.

An expiry date ends that argument before it starts. Past the date, the old number's gone and you re-quote at today's cost — no bad blood, because you flagged it up front. This is the same discipline behind charging properly for variations to a contract: protect the price you actually agreed to.

What to write on the quote

Put the validity in plain English on the quote itself, near the total, where the client can't miss it. One line does the job:

• "Valid for thirty days from the issue date."
• "This quote is valid until [date]. Prices may change after this date due to material and labour costs."
• "Pricing held until [date], subject to supplier availability."

Skip the legal jargon. You don't need a paragraph of terms — you need a date the client understands and a reason it exists. The "prices may change" clause is what lets you re-quote cleanly later.

Name the condition if there is one. If your price depends on booking the job before winter, say so. A vague "subject to change" means nothing; "subject to timber price at time of order" means everything.

Turn the expiry into your follow-up

The expiry date is a built-in reason to follow up — use it instead of nagging. "Just checking in" feels desperate. "Your quote expires Friday" is a legitimate, useful heads-up the client actually wants.

A deadline moves people. The same client who'd sit on an open quote for months will book when there's a date on it. That's the urgency lever, and it's why validity windows belong under a getting-paid strategy, not just a legal one.

But here's the catch: it only works if you actually chase before the date. Most quotes die in silence because nobody remembers to circle back. If you're sending the quote and hearing nothing, a system that automates quote follow-up turns the expiry date into a sequence that runs itself.

A plumber sends a hot-water quote on a Monday. Wednesday, an automatic text: "Your quote's valid till the 14th — want me to lock in a day?" The client books before the weekend, and the plumber never touched their phone.

From accepted quote to paid invoice

A validity window only pays off if the yes turns into cash fast. The moment a client accepts, the quote should become an invoice — not a job that waits three weeks for you to do the paperwork.

Stale quotes clog your pipeline too. If you can't see which quotes are live, expired or accepted, you're guessing at your own workload. Auto-archiving expired quotes keeps the list clean and shows you where deals actually stall.

Tie the whole chain together — quote, expiry, follow-up, acceptance, invoice, payment — and getting paid stops being a chase. See how the quote-to-invoice hand-off works and how tradies collect on the day rather than weeks later.

Our recommendation

Use a calendar month as your default, drop to a fortnight when your materials move fast, and never send a quote without a date on it. Add the "prices may change after this date" line so re-quoting is never a fight. Then set the follow-up to fire before the deadline — that's where the extra jobs come from.

How IgniteOS does this for you

IgniteOS builds the expiry date, the follow-up and the invoice into one flow. Your quotes go out with a validity window baked in, reminders text and email the client before it lapses, and the second they accept, the get-paid tools turn it into an invoice with a payment link.

No more forgotten follow-ups or margin eaten by stale prices — the documents and quoting features handle the chase and the archive for you. See how it speeds up cash flow on our get-paid-faster page, and if you want to know what a tangled tool stack really costs, our calculator puts a typical replaced stack at about $18,000 a year.

One next step: put a thirty-day expiry and an automatic reminder on your next quote, and watch how many more come back accepted before the date.

Frequently asked questions

How long is a quote legally valid in Australia?

A quote is valid for whatever period you state on it — there's no fixed legal expiry, so the window is yours to set. Thirty days from the issue date is the common default. Without a stated date, a quote can read as an open offer the client may accept later, even after your costs have risen, so always put the date in writing.

What should I write on a quote about expiry?

Put one plain line near the total: "Valid for thirty days from the issue date. Prices may change after this date due to material and labour costs." Skip the legal jargon. The "prices may change" clause is what lets you re-quote cleanly once the window closes, without an awkward argument over the old price.

Can I change the price after a quote expires?

Yes — once the stated validity date passes, the old price no longer stands and you can re-quote at current cost. That's the whole point of an expiry date. If you flagged it up front on the quote, re-quoting is expected rather than a surprise, which keeps the client relationship intact.

How do I follow up on a quote before it expires?

Use the expiry date as your reason to reach out — "your quote's valid till Friday" beats "just checking in." Better still, automate it. IgniteOS can text and email the client before the deadline and turn an accepted quote into an invoice on the spot; see the get-paid-faster page.