You quote a job in March, the customer signs in June, and the equipment costs 14% more than it did when you priced it. Somebody absorbs that, and without a clause in the quote, it is you.
Put an expiry on every quote
The simplest protection there is, and most contractors omit it. One line: “This quote is valid for 30 days.” It is standard, nobody objects to it, and it ends the argument about a price you gave someone last spring.
Thirty days suits most residential work. Shorten it to fourteen when a specific material is moving fast, and say why — customers accept a short window far better when it comes with a reason.
Escalation wording, for longer jobs
On work that will not start for months, an expiry is not enough. An escalation clause handles it:
Material pricing is based on supplier costs as of [date]. If supplier pricing for [material] increases by more than 5% before materials are ordered, the difference will be passed through at cost, with documentation provided. Decreases are passed through the same way.
The last sentence does real work. A clause that only moves upward reads as a licence to raise the price; one that moves both ways reads as fair, and it costs you almost nothing because prices rarely fall.
When to lock instead
If you can buy the material now and store it, a locked price is a selling point — and sometimes worth more than the margin you protect. Buying early also makes sense when the deposit covers it, which is another argument for taking the deposit at signature rather than at the start of work.
Do not quietly eat it
The common failure is not a bad clause — it is having no clause and absorbing the increase to avoid an awkward conversation. On a job with $4,000 of materials, a 12% rise is $480, which on many jobs is the entire profit. A documented pass-through conversation is uncomfortable for five minutes; absorbing it is a job you worked for nothing.
Keep the price book honest
Escalation clauses protect signed work. The thing that protects unsigned work is your price book being current. If the supply house quoted you a new number this week, that is the moment to change the entry — not at a quarterly review that never happens.
Show the increase, do not hide it
When you do pass one through, show the supplier documentation. Customers accept a verifiable cost increase and resent an unexplained one, and the difference between those two reactions is a single attachment.
Where Toolbelt helps
Your price book holds the material and labour rates separately, so a supplier change updates one entry and every future draft prices from the new number — and the quote carries your terms with it. Three free estimates, no card.
See also building a price book and change orders.