Two joinery quotes for the same project can differ by a wide margin, and the reason is often not the joiner. It's the brief. When the tender package is vague, each joiner fills the gaps with their own assumptions, and the lowest price frequently turns into the highest final cost once variations start.
A clear, complete brief gets you accurate quotes you can actually compare, and far fewer surprises later.
What a Strong Joinery Brief Includes
1. Complete drawings and a clear scope. Floor plans, elevations, and joinery details for every item in scope. Spell out what's included and what isn't, such as benchtops, appliances, and stone, so there's no ambiguity about who supplies what.
2. A defined finish and material schedule. Specify door finishes, carcass materials, benchtop materials, and colours. "High-quality finish" is not a specification, and it's the most common source of pricing differences between quotes.
3. Hardware specifications. Name the hinges, runners, handles, and any integrated features. Hardware varies enormously in cost and quality, and leaving it open invites inconsistent pricing.
4. Unit breakdown and quantities. For multi-unit projects, list the unit types and how many of each. Repeat layouts price very differently from one-off designs.
5. Program and key dates. Include the target install window, handover dates, and any staged releases. A joiner can only confirm lead times and capacity against a real program.
6. Site and access information. Lift or hoist access, working hours, storage on site, and sequencing with other trades all affect installation cost and timing.
7. Compliance requirements. Note any fire-rating, accessibility, or site-specific requirements up front, so they're priced in rather than discovered later.
8. How variations will be handled. Agree the process for changes before the contract starts, including who approves them and how they're priced.
Questions Worth Asking Each Tenderer
What assumptions have you made in this quote?
What's excluded that I might expect to be included?
What lead time are you confirming, and what does it depend on?
What's your current factory capacity relative to this program?
The answers often reveal more about the real difference between quotes than the final number does.
Compare Quotes Like for Like
Once quotes arrive, line them up against your brief item by item. A quote that's noticeably lower may have excluded items, assumed cheaper hardware, or priced an optimistic program. A quote that's higher may include things the others left out. Understanding the gap is more valuable than picking the smallest number.
The Takeaway
A thorough brief takes extra time upfront and saves far more downstream, through accurate pricing, realistic programs, and fewer disputes over scope. The better the brief, the better the quote, and the smoother the project.
If you're preparing a tender for an upcoming project, we're happy to review your scope and help you identify anything that should be clarified before it goes out.
📩 Contact us to request a joinery proposal or explore our past projects.
Thank you for reading - Digital Marketing Team