Carpentry quote template that bills shop hours

What to put on a carpenter quotation

A carpentry quote template that copes with the spread of work a carpenter takes on: built in shelving, trim and baseboards, hanging doors, framing and repairs. Workshop hours and site hours sit on separate lines, timber and hardware are listed, and lighting or extra finishes can be offered as options. Send it as a carpenter quotation online or download it as Word, Excel or PDF.

Carpentry quotes range from one door to a room of built ins, so describe the piece or the work precisely: dimensions, materials, finish and where it gets made. Separate workshop time from site time, because site time is where walls that are not square eat your margin.

1. Dimensions and drawingOverall width, height and depth, shelf and door count, with a sketch or drawing number the customer signs off.
2. Timber and sheet materialsSpecies or board type, grade and thickness: painted MDF, birch plywood, solid oak tops. Two quotes that differ only in timber grade look identical without this.
3. HardwareHinges, drawer runners, handles and fixings by type, with soft close noted if it is included.
4. Workshop hoursCutting, machining, assembly and sanding in the shop, priced by the hour or as a fixed build price.
5. Site hoursInstalling, scribing to walls and ceilings, fixing and making good, priced apart from the shop work.
6. FinishPrimed only, painted in a named color and sheen, oiled or lacquered, and who applies it.
7. Trim and door work by the unitBaseboard and casing per linear foot, doors per leaf hung, so small jobs add up from clear units.
8. Deposit and lead timeA deposit big enough to buy the materials, and the weeks between acceptance and install.

Sample carpentry quote: built in study shelving

True Grain Carpentry’s sample for Jonas Weber is a built in shelving and cabinet unit across a 3.2 m study wall, in painted MDF with solid timber tops. One materials line covers MDF, timber and hardware. Labor is split into 26 workshop hours and 8 site hours at $75, plus a fixed price paint finish. LED strip lighting is an optional extra. The subtotal is $4,640 before tax with a 30% deposit. All prices are examples.

Edit the True Grain Carpentry quote

5 lines are filled in, from mdf, timber and hardware to led strip lighting. Put in your own carpentry rates, then download the PDF.

Open the carpentry sample

How carpenters price a job

Carpenters price either by time or by the unit, and good quotes often mix the two. Built ins and furniture are usually a fixed price built from hours and materials, trim and doors suit a unit rate, and repairs or framing alterations suit an hourly rate with an estimate of hours.

1. Hours plus materials, shown as one priceEstimate shop and site hours, multiply by your rate, add materials with markup, and present a single figure. Standard for built ins and joinery.
2. Unit ratesPer linear foot of baseboard or crown molding, per door hung, per window cased. Quick to quote and easy for the customer to check.
3. Hourly with an estimateFor repairs and alterations where you cannot see what is behind the trim. Give an expected range of hours so the bill is no surprise.
4. Day rateA daily rate for a carpenter on a renovation site, usual when working under a builder or as one trade on a larger renovation quote.

Track actual shop hours against quoted hours on every built in, since that is the only way to price the next one right. The job pricing guide covers overhead, and the markup calculator checks timber margins.

Worked example: baseboard and six doors

Unit pricing makes a finish carpentry job quick to quote. Here is a three bedroom trim job priced per linear foot and per door, with example rates.

1. Measure the roomsRoom perimeters are 48 ft, 44 ft and 52 ft: 144 ft in total.
2. Take off doorwaysSix openings at about 3 ft each remove 18 ft, leaving 126 ft of baseboard to install.
3. Order materialAdd 10% for joints and offcuts: 126 x 1.1 = 138.6 ft. In 16 ft lengths that is 8.7, so buy 9 lengths (144 ft) at $1.80 per ft: $259.20.
4. LaborInstalling baseboard at $3.50 per ft: 126 x $3.50 = $441. Hanging six prehung doors at $95 each: $570.
5. Total$259.20 + $441 + $570 = $1,270.20 before door units, casing, paint and tax.

Old houses with wavy floors need scribing and more time per foot, and stain grade trim needs tighter joints than paint grade. Adjust the unit rate rather than hiding the difference somewhere else.

What a carpentry quote includes and excludes

Carpentry quote mistakes

• Quoting a built in from a rough measurement, then finding the alcove is 20 mm narrower at the top than the bottom.
• Not naming the timber, so the customer expects solid oak where you priced veneered MDF.
• Putting shop and site time on one line, which hides the true cost of awkward installs.
• Forgetting access: long boards up a narrow stair or around a tight apartment hallway.
• Leaving the finish vague, so painted turns into three coats in a color the customer picks later.
• Taking too small a deposit on custom work you cannot sell to anyone else.