Ten things, and the four that get left off are the four that cost you money. Your legal business name, address, license number and email. The client's name and the job address. An estimate number, a date, a revision. A line-by-line scope with the actual materials named. A price on every line and a total. Then the four: a payment schedule, approximate start and completion dates, written exclusions, and an expiry date on the price. Inputs to residential construction were up 6.2% year over year in June 2026 (BLS PPI, via NAHB) and the average remodeler nets 6.3% (NAHB, on 2024 numbers). Honor an undated price three months later and you have given back a chunk of the profit you never quoted for.
What has to be on the estimate before you send it?
Everything the client would need to hold you to it, and everything you would need to hold them to it. That is the whole test. What each line is actually there to stop:
| Element | What it stops |
|---|---|
| Business name, address, license number, email | A client who cannot verify your license, or cancel in writing. California now requires the email address on the contract |
| Client name and job address | Two Millers, two jobs, one price sheet |
| Estimate number, date, revision number | An argument about which version got signed |
| Line-by-line scope | A total price the client reads as covering more than you priced |
| Materials named by product and grade | "Tile" arriving as $2 tile when the client pictured $9 tile |
| Price per line, then the total | A $400 negotiation turning into a $4,000 one |
| Allowances with a real number and a written credit | Selection creep billed as a surprise |
| Payment schedule | Fronting the material package out of your own account |
| Approximate start and completion dates | The call that starts "you said it would be done" |
| Exclusions | Free work behind the drywall |
| Expiry date on the price | Honoring February's lumber in July |
| Change-order terms | Doing the extra first and asking for the money after |
| Subcontractor disclosure | A California license problem as of January 2026 |
Thirteen rows, and only the last one is new. The other twelve have been the answer for thirty years and still get skipped, because the estimate goes out from a phone in a truck at 8pm.
Is any of this legally required?
Yes, and the threshold is lower than most contractors assume. California requires a written contract on any home improvement work over $500 in aggregate, and Business and Professions Code 7159 names what belongs in it: contractor name, business address and license number, the contract price on its own labeled line, a description of the project with the significant materials and equipment specified, the payment schedule for progress payments, an approximate start date, an approximate completion date, a statement of what counts as substantial commencement of work, change-order procedures, the commercial general liability and workers' compensation notices, the mechanics lien warning, and cancellation rights. The down payment may not exceed $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less.
Two things changed on January 1, 2026. SB 517, which absorbed AB 1327 after it passed, requires the contract to carry the contractor's email address and phone number and to state that the client may cancel by email. It also adds a yes/no checkbox on whether subcontractors will be used, and if the answer is yes, this disclaimer verbatim: "One or more subcontractors will be used on this project, and the contractor is aware that a list of subcontractors is required to be provided, upon request, along with the names, contact information, license number, and classification of those subcontractors."
Here is the position, and it holds in states with no such statute: write the estimate to contract standard every time. You do not get to choose which document ends up signed. A client who prints your PDF, writes "approved" at the bottom and hands it back has just decided that the estimate was the contract, and whatever is missing from it is missing from your defense.
What four things cause disputes when you leave them out?
Exclusions. They settle more arguments than inclusions do. A client reads silence as inclusion. The wording that works is flat and unapologetic: Excludes any repair to framing, subfloor or plumbing found behind existing finishes; permit fees; hazardous material disposal; painting of any surface not listed above. Four lines. Put them under the total, not in a footer nobody scrolls to.
An expiry date on the price. Thirty days is the convention. The right window follows the material, not the calendar. In the June 2026 PPI, softwood lumber was 7.0% higher than a year earlier, roofing asphalt products 9.2% higher, ready-mix concrete up 1.9%, and gypsum products down 1.1%. A reroof quote in a year like that has no business staying good for ninety days. A drywall patch can sit for six months.
Change-order terms. In California this is not a preference — 7159 puts change-order procedure in the required list. The wording matters less than the timing rule attached to it: no work outside the written scope starts before a signed change order, with a price and your minimum charge on it. The conversation you are avoiding at 7am costs less than the invoice argument in week six.
The payment schedule. Deposit, progress payments tied to milestones you can point at, and a retention you are comfortable financing. Check your own state's cap before you write the deposit line. California's is the lesser of $1,000 or 10%, and a contractor who takes 30% because that is what he has always taken has a license problem rather than a paperwork problem.
How specific does the scope description have to be?
Specific enough that two people reading it a month apart bill the same job. "Paint master bath - $640" is not a scope. It is a number with a room name in front of it. The client reads that as walls, ceiling, trim, both sides of the door, the closet interior. You priced walls and ceiling. You find out on the day.
Two habits that cost nothing and win arguments:
Number the revision. Put Rev 3 - supersedes all versions dated before March 14 on the estimate itself. Send three versions across five weeks and the client signs whichever one they printed first. That is version one. The cheap one. The revision line is the entire argument, and it is eleven words.
Write the completion date in working days. Approximately 12 working days from start, weather permitting — not a calendar date. The statute asks for an approximate completion date and that is what it means. A calendar date is the thing a homeowner reads back to you when the tile is on backorder, and no amount of explaining the backorder gets that date out of their head.
What this misses
These statutes are California's. Most states regulate residential contracts above some threshold and several cap deposits, and the numbers are not the same anywhere. Check your own board before copying a figure off this page. Naming California is a starting point, not a national rule.
Whether a signed estimate binds you varies. An estimate is generally not a fixed price and a quote generally is, but that turns on the wording of the document and on state law, not on which word you typed at the top.
None of this makes your number right. A perfectly formatted estimate carrying a price built on your wage instead of your burdened rate loses money on schedule, neatly, every time — which is the markup versus margin arithmetic and it costs more contractors more profit than anything on this checklist. The formatting matters after the number is right.
The complete estimate is also the one that gets answered, which is most of why clients go quiet on a bare total with a signature line. Whether it is worth building the line items on site rather than at the kitchen table at 9pm is a different question, and the honest answer depends on your trade. BidWalk writes the lines while you are still standing in the room, exclusions included, so the version you send is the version you would have written with an hour and a desk.
