How long should an estimate be valid? Setting expiry dates

Thirty days is the standard validity window for an estimate, and shorter (7 to 14 days) when material prices are moving. The expiry date exists to protect you: without one, a client can come back months later and hold you to numbers that no longer reflect your costs or your calendar.

That’s the whole answer. The rest is how to pick your window and what to write on the estimate.

Why an open-ended estimate bites you

An estimate is a snapshot of three things: what materials cost today, what your schedule looks like today, and what the client described today. All three drift.

Lumber, copper, asphalt, paint. Supplier prices change between quote and signature, sometimes within the same month. If your estimate has no expiry, you either eat the difference or have an awkward renegotiation you could have avoided with one sentence.

Your schedule fills too. A price you quoted in March for an open April might not make sense for a packed July. And clients have a way of remembering the number while forgetting the scope. The job they describe six months later is rarely the job you priced.

Picking a window by trade

The convention most trades follow:

• 7 to 14 days when your materials are volatile. Roofing, framing, electrical, anything where a supplier price sheet can change under you.
• 30 days for stable service work. Cleaning, landscaping maintenance, consulting, design, most labor-heavy jobs where materials are a small slice.
• 60 to 90 days only when the client genuinely needs it, like a project waiting on permits or board approval. Price it knowing you’re carrying the risk.

When in doubt, 30 days. It’s long enough for a normal decision and short enough that your numbers are still real when they sign.

How to state it on the estimate

One plain sentence near the total. Something like:

This estimate is valid for 30 days from the date above. After that, prices may be adjusted to reflect current material and labor costs.

That’s it. No legal thunder, no all-caps. The point is that both of you can see the date and nobody’s surprised later. If your software supports it, set the expiry as a field so it shows up automatically. Most estimate and invoice software handles this for you, including reminders before the date passes.

When a client comes back after expiry

This happens constantly and it’s not a problem. Don’t lecture them about the date. Just re-quote.

Something like: “Happy to do this. That estimate expired on May 12, so let me send you updated numbers this week.” Then check your supplier prices and your calendar, adjust where needed, and send a fresh estimate with a fresh expiry.

Often the new number is the same and you’ve lost nothing. When it’s higher, the expiry date is what makes the increase a non-event instead of a fight. You set the expectation up front; you’re just following through.

The expiry date works for you in the meantime

A clear deadline gives the client a reason to decide. Not pressure, just a date. “Valid through June 30” turns a someday decision into a this-month decision, and that alone closes jobs that would otherwise sit in limbo.

It also gives you a natural reason to follow up. “Your estimate expires Friday, want me to hold the pricing?” is a useful nudge that doesn’t feel like nagging. If clients can accept the estimate online with one click, that nudge often turns into a signature the same day.

An estimate without an expiry date isn’t more generous. It’s just a promise with no end, and you’re the only one bound by it. Put the date on. Thirty days, shorter if your materials move, and re-quote without drama when it passes.