TUTORIAL

How Long Should an Estimate Be Valid For? Choosing the Date

Thirty days is the number most people use, and often it is fine. But the right date depends on two things you can check: how fast your material costs move, and when you could actually start. Here is how to pick it, and what to say when a client comes back after it has passed.

Connery Davoodian · Founder, Fynl · 2026-10-29

WHAT THIS ADDSAdvice on estimate validity usually stops at "30 days is standard". This guide gives a two-question method for picking the date per job, the wording that makes the date mean something, and a script for the late yes.

Set a valid-until date Download the valid-until date worksheet (PDF)

Why the date matters at all

An estimate without a date is a price you have promised forever. Six months later a client finds it in a drawer, the cost of your materials has moved and your calendar is full, and you are either working for less than you planned or explaining why the number on their paper no longer counts.

A valid-until date avoids that conversation. It also does a quieter job: it gives the client a reason to decide. A date on the page turns "we'll think about it" into "we'll think about it by the 14th".

In contract terms, a quote the client can accept is an offer. Cornell's Legal Information Institute notes that an offer can be withdrawn before it is accepted, and that acceptance creates a binding contract. A printed valid-until date makes the time limit plain to both sides instead of leaving it to argument. This is not legal advice; for anything large or unusual, check the rules where you work.

Is 30 days right?

Thirty days is the most common choice, and the free estimate maker uses it as the default for that reason. It gives a client time to compare two or three estimates, talk it over and get back to you, without leaving your price open for a season.

It is the wrong choice in two situations. The first is when a large part of the price is a material that moves quickly. Lumber, copper, fuel and some imported goods can change price within weeks; the US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes producer price indexes if you want to see how much a category has moved recently, and your own supplier's price list is the more practical check. If your supplier holds a price for 14 days, your estimate should not promise 30.

The second is when the start date is part of the deal. If you are offering to start next Monday, the estimate is really a reservation, and it should hold only as long as you can keep that slot free.

Longer dates, 60 or 90 days, suit work where costs are mostly your own time and the client's decision is slow by nature: a business buying a service that needs sign-off from several people, or a project planned for next season.

Pick the shortest of these that applies to the job, then round to a period clients recognise.

How to choose the date, step by step

1. Find the biggest cost that can move

Look down your line items. Which material or bought-in service is largest and most likely to change price? On a decking job it is the timber; on a catering quote it might be the protein; on a design project it may be nothing at all, because the cost is your time.

2. Ask how long that price holds

Many suppliers will tell you how long they hold a quoted price. If yours does not, look at how often their price has changed over the last few months. That gives you limit A.

3. Check your calendar

If the start date matters, work out how long you can keep it open before you would have to give the slot to someone else. That is limit B.

4. Take the shorter of the two

Use the shorter limit, rounded down to a period clients recognise: 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days. In the free estimate maker, "Price holds for" offers exactly those, plus "Until a date I pick" for a specific date such as the day before a supplier's price rise.

5. Print the date and what happens after it

The date prints as "Valid until" near the top of the PDF. Add one sentence to your terms saying what happens afterwards, so the date reads as a fact rather than a threat: "After this date we will check prices and our schedule and confirm the price again before starting." The worksheet with this post has wording you can copy.

Valid-until is not the same as a due date

People sometimes mix up the date on an estimate with the date on an invoice. They do different jobs. The valid-until date on an estimate or quote is the last day the client can accept this price. The due date on an invoice is the last day to pay for work that has already been agreed or done. An estimate has no due date, because nothing is owed yet, and an invoice has no valid-until date, because the price is no longer in question.

Keep them apart in your terms too. "Valid until 14 March" belongs at the top of the estimate. "Deposit of 30% due on acceptance, balance due within 14 days of completion" belongs in the terms, and will be copied onto the invoice later. When you press "Turn it into an invoice" in the estimate maker, the items, client and tax carry across to the free invoice generator, and you set the due date there.

When a client says yes after the date

A late yes is good news, not a problem. Treat it that way. Thank them, check the costs that can move and your calendar, and then do one of two things. If nothing has changed, say so and send a fresh estimate with the same figures and a new date; the client gets certainty and you get a clean record. If something has changed, send the new estimate and name the line that moved and why. A client who can see that timber went up by a stated amount is far less likely to argue than one who just sees a bigger total.

The date also gives you a natural reason to follow up. A short note a few days before it passes ("Just a reminder that the price on estimate 0014 holds until Friday") is helpful rather than pushy. Our quote follow-up guide has the full sequence and the wording.

If you send many quotes, tracking dates by hand gets tedious. On a paid Fynl plan the valid-until date shows on the online quote, a reminder email goes to clients who have not answered while the quote is still valid, and the default validity is a setting you choose once. For a few estimates a month, the tracking table in the worksheet does the same job.

The estimate maker is one of several no-sign-up tools on our free tools page, alongside the invoice generator and a QR code generator for your quotes and flyers.

DO THISSet the valid-until date from the shorter of two limits: how long your biggest material price is likely to hold, and how long you can keep the start date open. Print it, say what happens after it, and re-price politely when a late yes arrives.

KEEP ITA worksheet for choosing how long an estimate holds, with terms wording and a re-pricing script. Download the valid-until date worksheet — free PDF, no sign-up.

Questions people also ask

How long should an estimate be valid for?

Thirty days is common. Use a shorter period when a large part of the price is a material that changes price quickly, or when the estimate reserves a start date, and a longer one when the cost is mostly your own time and the client's decision is slow.

What happens when an estimate expires?

The price is no longer promised. If the client still wants the work, check your costs and calendar and send a fresh estimate with a new date, naming any line whose price changed.

How do I write the expiry on an estimate?

Print a Valid until date near the top and add one sentence to your terms, such as: after this date we will check prices and our schedule and confirm the price again before starting.

Can I change a quote after the client accepts it?

Only by agreement. Price any change, put it in writing and get the client's yes before you do the extra work.

Sources

Put the date on the estimate

Pick 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days, or your own date. It prints as Valid until on the PDF.

Open the free estimate maker More free tool guides