Shopfitting quote: what to include so it wins and holds margin

In short

Split a shopfitting quote into joinery, M&E, preliminaries, provisional sums and programme assumptions so customers can compare it fairly. Add exclusions and a variation rate sheet before sending, so scope changes are priced rather than absorbed.

A shopfitting quote needs five separately priced sections: joinery, mechanical and electrical (M&E), preliminaries, provisional sums, and a programme with its stated assumptions. Add a short list of exclusions and a variation rate sheet. With those in place, a retailer or main contractor can compare your price against two others line by line, and you can point to a specific section when the scope moves. Without them, the customer compares one lump sum, picks the lowest, and you absorb every change that was never priced.

This guide gives you the structure section by section. It suits fit-out and joinery firms working in the wider construction and trade sector, and the logic holds in any market that prices work by trade package.

Why a single lump sum loses work and margin

Imagine three quotes for a 120 square meter boutique store. One is a single figure of 96,000. Another is 88,000, and yours is 92,000. The customer cannot tell whether the cheapest firm priced the bespoke till counter, the shop front glazing, the extra socket outlets or the out-of-hours working that the landlord requires. So they choose on the headline number.

A lump sum also hurts you after you win. When the customer asks to move a wall, add a feature display or change a laminate to a veneer, there is nothing in your quote to measure the change against. You either argue from memory or quietly do the work. Published cost guides for UK shop fitting show how wide the range is - one 2026 UK guide puts shop fit-out costs between roughly 300 and over 1,500 pounds per square meter depending on specification - so a bare total tells the buyer almost nothing about what they are buying.

Section 1: Price joinery by item, not by the room

Joinery is usually where the design intent lives and where the customer changes their mind. List each fixture as a line: cash desk, wall shelving run, fitting rooms, window display plinths. For each, give the material, finish, quantity or length, and the drawing reference it was priced from.

Separate supply from install where you can. If the customer later drops two shelving runs, you remove two supply lines and two install lines, and the saving is obvious and fair. Also state what drawing revision you priced. "Priced from drawing rev C" is one short sentence that settles many later disputes.

Section 2: Keep M&E in its own section

Electrical, lighting, small power, data points, HVAC adjustments and fire alarm alterations belong in a separate section, even when your own team does only part of it. Customers often change lighting levels and socket positions late, because they only see the problem once the fixtures are standing.

Show whether M&E is priced by your team or by a named sub-contractor, and state the allowance for testing and certification. If a sub-contractor quote is the basis, note its date and validity. That protects you when a specialist's price lapses between tender and order. For a closer look at quoting this trade, see our guide on quoting a retail shop lighting installation.

Section 3: Show preliminaries as a visible cost

Preliminaries are the costs of running the job rather than building it: site management, supervision, welfare, protection of existing finishes, waste removal, parking and permits, insurance and out-of-hours premiums. Shopfitters often bury these inside the joinery rates. Then a customer who trims joinery also trims your overheads without realizing it.

Price preliminaries as their own section, ideally with a weekly rate where the cost scales with time. If the programme extends by two weeks because the landlord's approval arrives late, you can add two weeks at the stated rate instead of renegotiating the whole job. A stated weekly rate is the single most useful line for protecting margin on delay.

Section 4: Use provisional sums honestly

A provisional sum is an allowance for work that cannot yet be priced accurately. As the Designing Buildings wiki describes it, it is a best-guess figure for an element not defined in enough detail to price, and the parties do not expect it to be paid without adjustment. In shopfitting, typical candidates are shop front signage, floor finishes awaiting a final choice, security systems and landlord-required works.

Label each one as provisional, give the allowance, and state what will trigger a firm price: for example, "firm price within five working days of receiving the final signage drawing." Do not hide a guess inside a normal rate. The customer sees a clear gap in the design and you see a defined way to close it. Provisional sums also stop a low bid from looking complete when it is not.

Section 5: State programme assumptions in plain terms

A programme is only as reliable as what it assumes. Write the assumptions beside it: access hours, the date the site is handed over, who supplies utilities, lead times for bespoke joinery, the latest date for design freeze, and whether the landlord's approvals are in place. Each assumption becomes a trigger. If the shop unit is handed over late, the start date moves and the preliminaries rate applies.

Keep it short. Six to eight assumptions are enough. Customers do read them when they are specific, and a firm that states assumptions looks organized next to one that does not.

Exclusions and a variation rate sheet

Finish with two short items. First, a list of exclusions: things a reasonable customer might assume are included but are not, such as shop front glazing, signage, decoration of landlord areas, or builder's clean beyond a basic level. Second, a variation rate sheet showing day rates for labor, a markup on materials, and the process: written instruction, priced change, approval before work starts.

When the customer changes scope mid-job, send the priced variation referencing the section it touches. Because your quote is split into joinery, M&E, preliminaries and provisional sums, the change lands in one place and the price is easy to explain.

Building the structure once

Rebuilding this layout for every enquiry is where the effort goes. Set up a quote template with the five sections, standard exclusions and your assumptions wording, then edit only the job-specific lines. In Zigaflow, quotes carry these sections as priced groups, and document templates keep your terms and exclusions consistent across every estimator. Where a customer wants a choice of specification, tiered quotes let you offer a standard and premium finish side by side without writing two documents.

A quick check before you send

Run through these before every shopfitting quote leaves your desk: Is each fixture on its own line with a drawing revision? Is M&E separate, with sub-contractor quote dates? Are preliminaries visible with a weekly rate? Are provisional sums labeled and subtotaled apart? Are programme assumptions written down? Are exclusions and variation rates attached? If the answer to all six is yes, the customer can compare you fairly and you can defend your margin when the scope changes.

Sources

• How Much Does A Shop Fit Out Cost In 2026? UK Pricing GuideNew Look UK · accessed 2026-11-02
• Provisional sumDesigning Buildings · accessed 2026-11-02