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How to write your first quote

The first quote makes almost everyone nervous. Afraid of getting the price wrong, forgetting a clause, looking too expensive. In practice, a good quote always follows the same logic. Once you have it, it becomes a formality.

What a quote must contain

A quote can stay simple. But some information has to be there, to avoid any misunderstanding later on.

• Your contact details and the client's. If it's a company, add its IDE (UID) number.
• A quote number and a date.
• The list of services, line by line, with the price of each.
• The total. State VAT if you are liable for it. In Switzerland, VAT registration becomes mandatory above CHF 100,000 of annual turnover. Below that, you invoice without VAT and say so clearly.
• The validity period, usually 30 days.
• Payment terms: the deadline, and any deposit.

Fixed price or hourly

You have two ways to price a job. A fixed price announces one global amount for a defined result. The client feels reassured, but you carry the risk if the work overruns. Hourly billing charges your actual hours. It's more honest when the project is vague, but the client has no ceiling.

A rule that works well: fixed price when you know the work well and the scope is clear, hourly when a lot is still unknown. Either way, set your limits. A fixed price includes a specific number of revisions. Beyond that, it's billed on top.

Set your price without underpaying yourself

The most common first-quote mistake: take the salary you're aiming for, divide it by the hours in a month, and quote that rate. The catch is that a freelancer never bills every hour. There's prospecting, emails, bookkeeping, holidays, social contributions, insurance, equipment.

Your hourly rate has to cover all of that, not just your salary. That's the calculation VUED runs: it gives you your minimum rate, the one below which you work at a loss, taking your canton and your costs into account. You start from there, never below.

The terms not to forget

• Validity: "Quote valid for 30 days." After that, you're no longer bound by this price.
• Deposit: for a first client or a big project, asking for 30 to 50% on order protects you.
• Payment deadline: "Payment within 30 days of receiving the invoice" is the norm in Switzerland.
• Scope: write down what's included, and what isn't.

Send it, then follow up

Send your quote as a PDF, with a short message. If the client hasn't replied after a week, follow up. Something simple is enough: "Hello, I'm getting back to you about the quote sent on [date]. Do you have any questions?"

Following up isn't pushy nagging, it's part of the job. A serious client finds it perfectly normal to have a quote chased.

To put a number on all of this: calculate your freelance hourly rate in seconds.