Is a quote a legal document

JAL68

I received a quote for a new roof on the 20th march 2021. Work is due to commence in less than 2 weeks. Yesterday, the contractor called and said that the price of wooden batton's has increased 3 fold and that he would give me a revised price. Am I correct in thinking that the quote that I accepted is legal and binding?

Bradden

I think you would nheed to check the exact wording of what you received. I understand there is a legal difference between a quote and an estimate.

Timber has increased significantly in the last few months.. but it has not tripled. 

If you are will ing to share details of the timber pricing  I'll happily tell you if it''s a realisit price.. I work for a Builders Merchant.

neilmcl

No, quotes are not necessarily legally binding. Also are your sure it was a quote not an estimate, do you have paperwork?

MattMattMattUK

JAL68 said:

I received a quote for a new roof on the 20th march 2021. Work is due to commence in less than 2 weeks. Yesterday, the contractor called and said that the price of wooden batton's has increased 3 fold and that he would give me a revised price. Am I correct in thinking that the quote that I accepted is legal and binding?

Usually no, it is not, or not in the way that that you want it to be. They can not quote you, fit the items, then charge you more, but as anything before work begins would be covered by their terms and conditions, rather than consumer rights law, they can change the price, amend or re-quote before they start.

pbartlett

normally, if you formally accept a quote then it becomes a contract, and if broken you have the same remedies a with any other broken contract eg claiming quantifiable losses. 

one proviso is if the quote states that this is not a formal.offer, or states 'subject to contract' or similar then clearly a contract cannot be formed by accepting it.

Flight3287462

One thing for sure is you either pay up or they won't be doing your roof, and if you leave it for awhile the prices could go up again.

Sandtree

pbartlett said:

normally, if you formally accept a quote then it becomes a contract, and if broken you have the same remedies a with any other broken contract eg claiming quantifiable losses. 

one proviso is if the quote states that this is not a formal.offer, or states 'subject to contract' or similar then clearly a contract cannot be formed by accepting it.

I'm not sure if English Law has set definitions of Quote and Estimate? I know some places in the world do.

When we used to be in another business we gave customers two options a fixed price quotation  or a Time and Materials where our hourly rate was fixed in the quote and the basis for materials similarly (eg 10% off manufacturer list price) but we only estimated what the total was with the invoice to be based on the actual not estimated hours etc. Did work for some law firms and none at all challenged if time went beyond estimate.