Inside a tradie’s quote
You get three numbers and no explanation of how any of them was reached. Here are two complete Australian quotes taken apart line by line by the tradesman who wrote them, costed to 2026 — including the four things he deliberately never showed the customer.
Every guide on comparing quotes tells you to get three. Almost none of them tell you what a quote is actually made of, which makes comparing them largely guesswork.
David, a horticulturist in regional NSW, ran acreage mowing and fallen tree clearing as a one-man operation for around two years in the early stages of building his horticultural business. He has written out both of his quoting methods in full: the hourly rate, the timing method, the fuel arithmetic, the consumables, and the parts he kept off the page.
These are two small jobs. That is exactly why they are useful — the whole calculation fits on one screen, and the same logic scales to a bathroom or a roof.
David stopped quoting commercially around fifteen years ago and has taken only private work since. The method below is the one he used when he was quoting for clients; he has costed both examples to 2026 prices so the totals are current, but the rates are his and the practice is historical. Read them as a worked demonstration of how a quote is assembled, not as a price list you can ring and book.
Worked example: mowing 2.5 acres
The job is a 200m by 50m block, 10,000 square metres, roughly 2.5 acres. Grass only, no trees, fenced boundary. Costed to 2026 prices, his method produces a quote of $400.
Before he prices anything
He would look at the property on satellite imagery before visiting, estimating boundary lengths and tree cover. Then visit, because the things that wreck a quote are not visible from above.
What he is establishing on site: the owner’s expectation of finished grass height, whether the grass is currently over 150mm and will therefore need two passes rather than one, whether the property is lightly treed or open pasture, and above all whether there is old fencing wire lying hidden in the grass, along with taps, water meters, gas meters and electrical runs. Hidden wire destroys nylon line and can damage a machine.
He works to 100mm finished height in summer and 75mm in the cooler months, and tells the owner so, because an unstated assumption about finished height is a dispute waiting to happen.
How the time is calculated
This is the part no customer sees, and it is more precise than most people would guess.
His mower has a 42 inch deck, near enough to a metre, so a 50m boundary means 50 passes. He knows the machine mows 50m in 27 seconds and 200m in 105 seconds in a straight line, and he adds 10 seconds for every 360 degree turn at the end of a pass. On a large block those turns add up to real money.
For this property: 5,250 seconds of straight mowing, plus 49 turns at 10 seconds each for another 490 seconds. Total 5,740 seconds, or 1.59 hours, rounded to 1.6. At his rate of $55 an hour that is $88 of mowing labour.
Brushcutting is timed separately and costs more than the mowing. He allows 15 minutes to edge a 50m fence run and 40 minutes for a 200m run, both sides, which totals 110 minutes for this boundary. That is $101 — more than the mowing itself, on a job most people think of as “mowing”.
Where there are trees, he adds 15 seconds per tree to cut underneath and 30 seconds of walking time between each one. Counting trees and noting their spacing is part of the site visit for exactly this reason.
The full build
Two details worth pulling out. The $55 an hour includes GST, personal injury insurance and property damage insurance — it is not take-home pay, it is the rate that has to cover being insured to be on your property. And fuel is charged as a flat 40 litres whether he burns it or not, which is a simplification rather than an overcharge: it saves measuring, and it means an easy job subsidises a hard one.
Travel was $50 up to 10km and $80 up to 20km. Past 20km he would not quote at all.
Worked example: clearing a fallen tree
A 4m by 4m fallen tree on acreage. On the same 2026 costings, his method produces $194. Understanding what that $194 does and does not buy is the whole point of this section.
The scope, stated before he leaves home
He would tell the owner what the service was before travelling out, repeat it on site, and repeat it again in the quote. Everything cut is left where it falls.
- Anything over 75mm in diameter is cut into 300mm lengths, sized to be moved by hand and to suit a domestic fireplace
- Canopy and branches under 75mm are cut into 2m lengths, so they can be dragged to a burn pile
- Nothing is removed from the property, chipped, or stacked
- Acreage only, not suburban gardens
Stating scope three times over sounds excessive until you consider that scope disagreement is the single most common source of a dispute over a trade bill.
What he checks before quoting
Power lines, irrigation and water pipes, meters and gas connections. Ground conditions — even or sloped, rocky, boggy or sandy, and whether there is a watercourse. Whether snakes are a realistic prospect. Whether the tree has come down across a wire fence or a structure, which risks both injury and a destroyed chain.
Then he measures the trunk and canopy and photographs the tree.
Knowing the machine
He can price the job in seconds-per-cut because he knows his saw exactly: a 50cc chainsaw with an 18 inch bar, cutting to 450mm width, a 500ml fuel tank giving 45 minutes of continuous running, and a bar oil tank that always outlasts the fuel. A new chain needs a 10 minute touch-up at each refuelling stop; on green rather than dead timber it may last the whole job.
From that: 5 seconds to cut anything under 75mm. Five minutes per 300mm slice through a trunk up to a metre across. Ten seconds per slice for the branches in between.
The full build
He allows for a brand new spare chain on every job, whether it is needed or not, because hidden rocks, embedded dirt and old fencing wire in a fallen tree will destroy a chain without warning. That single $40 line is 20 per cent of the quote, and it is insurance rather than a part he expects to fit.
$194 covers any fallen tree up to 4m long. Past that, the price rises by a flat $100 per metre — $294 for 5m, $494 for 7m, $794 for 10m. A published increment like this is a good sign in a trade quote. It means the person has done enough of these to know what the next metre costs them.
The four things the customer never sees
Asked what he deliberately kept off a quote, his answer was specific and consistent across both trades:
- All costs relating to specific equipment
- How long the job will take
- His hourly rate
- Fuel and oil charges
This is worth understanding rather than resenting. A quote is a price for an outcome, and itemising the internals invites a negotiation over each line by someone who does not know what the line is for. Watching a customer work out that they are paying $43 for chain oil, without knowing that a 5 litre container is what makes the job possible at all, helps nobody.
But it has a direct consequence for you. Two quotes for the same job can be built on completely different assumptions and you will not be able to see it from the numbers. One might assume a single pass on grass that needs two. One might include removing the material and one might leave it in situ. The only way to find out is to ask, in writing, before you compare.
Why two quotes for the same job are thousands apart
His list of causes, and none of them is dishonesty:
- A higher hourly rate
- More staff on site
- Bigger, more complex, or simply more machinery
- Subcontractors on different rates
- Equipment that is hired or leased rather than owned
- A faster finish — more equipment, more people and a higher skill level get you your property back sooner
The fallen tree is the clearest illustration on the site. His one-man quote is $194. A tree crew for the same tree runs into the thousands, and here is what the thousands buy: a minimum of three tradespeople, a truck towing a chipping machine, a separate ute for the lead climber, three chainsaws and associated gear. One expert does the tree work while two others cart debris and feed the chipper. When the truck fills, someone drives it to a dump site. Two of them then rake and clean the site.
Everything leaves. You do nothing.
Those two quotes are not competing. They are different products, and comparing them on price alone is the mistake.
What sounds cheap but isn’t
Take the $194 tree. What you have actually bought is a tree cut into pieces and left exactly where it fell.
You now have to drag every 2m length of canopy to a burn pile. You have to move and stack every 300mm round. And anything up to a metre in diameter still has to be split before it is firewood. That is a weekend of physical work, and it is nowhere in the quote because it was never the tradie’s to do.
Before accepting the cheaper quote: do you have the time, the energy and the know-how to do the part it leaves you? If the honest answer is no, the cheaper quote is not cheaper. It is a deposit on a job you will end up paying someone else to finish.
His view on the bottom quote in a set is blunt. The cheapest number often comes from someone who wants the work and believes the job is easier than it is, without the knowledge, tools or efficiency to do it properly. That commonly ends with a second tradesperson brought in during or after the job to fix and clean up, at a combined cost well above the quote that looked expensive.
Cheaper quotes, in his words, are always cheap for a reason. Usually something has been left out, which is what keeps the price down.
And what sounds expensive but is
Sometimes the high quote is simply the correct price. A higher skill level, more years of experience, a better finish, a complete tool set, more people on site, hired specialist machinery that makes the work faster and the result better. That quote is expensive because the job is, and because the person quoting intends to do it properly.
One nuance worth being honest about. Elsewhere on this site we note that a quote priced far above the others can be a polite decline — a tradesperson who does not want the work, priced so as not to win it. Asked directly whether he had ever done that in his own quoting years, David’s answer was no. He would tell the owner on the spot whether he could take the job, before gathering any information for a quote. The market behaviour is real, but it is not the only explanation for a high number, and assuming it is will cost you the best tradesperson in the set.
What homeowners get wrong when comparing quotes
His four rules, and they are all versions of the same thing:
- Use identical terms of reference with everyone who quotes. Not roughly the same description. The same one.
- Be explicit about what is and is not included — and hold that line even when one business offers to throw in an extra task, or quietly leaves out something another business quoted on.
- Check the methodology and materials match. Two quotes using different methods are two different jobs.
- Note the difference in completion time. A higher quote often means a faster job, and on some projects that is worth paying for.
Once you have three quotes built on the same brief, our quote comparison tool will show you the spread and where the outlier sits.
What to ask before hiring
- The expected commencement date and the expected completion date, as two separate answers
- Your own overall budget, stated to them
- How experienced they are at this specific task, and their trade qualifications
- References from previous clients with similar jobs — and he is emphatic about this for anything large, such as a tree over 10m
- Photographic evidence of prior work of the same kind
- Whether weather affects completion. This is the one people forget: chainsaw work is commonly banned during extreme heat events because of fire risk, and wet weather stops outdoor work entirely. A job quoted in November may not start when you think.
For managing the work once it starts, our guide to hiring and managing a contractor covers the homeowner’s side of the same relationship.
Frequently asked questions
Why won’t a tradie tell me their hourly rate?
Because a quote prices an outcome rather than time, and itemising the internals invites line-by-line negotiation by someone who doesn’t know what each line is for. The four things most commonly kept off a quote are equipment costs, job duration, the hourly rate and fuel charges. That’s normal practice rather than concealment, but it does mean two quotes can rest on completely different assumptions that you can’t see from the numbers. Ask for scope in writing instead of asking for the rate.
Why is the cheapest quote usually the one to check hardest?
Because cheap quotes are cheap for a reason, and it’s usually something omitted. Sometimes that omission is legitimate and stated — a tree cut up and left in situ costs a fraction of a full removal. Sometimes it’s an inexperienced operator who believes the job is easier than it is, which commonly ends with a second tradesperson brought in to fix and finish, at more than the higher quote would have cost.
Why are two quotes for the same job thousands apart?
A higher hourly rate, more staff on site, more or larger machinery, subcontractors on different rates, hired rather than owned equipment, and a faster completion time. A one-man operator cutting a fallen tree and leaving it in place might quote under $200. A three-person crew with a truck, a chipper and a separate ute, removing everything and raking the site, runs into the thousands. Those aren’t competing quotes — they’re different products.
What does an hourly rate actually have to cover?
More than wages. The rates in these examples — $55 an hour for mowing, $60 for chainsaw work, costed to 2026 — include GST, personal injury insurance and property damage insurance. Equipment maintenance, replacement and consumables are recovered separately as job line items. A rate that looks high next to a wage is covering the cost of being insured to work on your property.
What questions should I ask before accepting a quote?
Start and completion dates as two separate answers, the tradesperson’s experience with this specific task and their qualifications, references from similar jobs, photos of prior work, and whether weather will affect completion. That last one matters more than people expect: chainsaw work is commonly banned during extreme heat events because of fire risk, and wet weather stops outdoor work outright.
Should I compare quotes on price alone?
No, and it’s the most common mistake. Give every tradesperson identical terms of reference, be explicit about what is and isn’t included, check that the methods and materials match, and factor in completion time. Two quotes built on different assumptions aren’t comparable, and the gap between them may be telling you about scope rather than value.
Sources & further reading
- Both worked quotes, the timing methods, rates, consumable costs and quoting philosophy on this page were contributed in full by David, a horticulturist in regional NSW, who ran acreage mowing and fallen tree clearing as a one-man operation for around two years while building his horticultural business.
- He stopped quoting commercially around fifteen years ago and has taken only private work since. He has costed both worked examples to 2026 prices, so the totals are current, but the method and rates are his own from when he was quoting for clients. They are one operator’s approach rather than a market survey, and are published to show how a quote is assembled rather than as current market rates. Other tradespeople, and other trades, will build a quote differently.
- The description of a multi-person tree crew’s equipment and workflow is his account of the industry he worked alongside.
Cost ranges here are planning estimates that vary by region and property — see how we research and what our numbers mean, and always confirm with local, itemised quotes.