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Agreeing the job · Guide · For homeowners

The quote includes an allowance. What will you actually pay?

Your builder's quotation says:

Tiles: allowance £30 per square metre.

The total at the bottom of the page includes that amount. It is easy to assume the tile cost is settled.

It is not necessarily settled. An allowance is often a placeholder for a product, quantity or piece of work that cannot yet be firmly priced. The important question is not only how much has been allowed. It is how the amount will turn into the figure you finally pay.

A total can contain different levels of certainty

A project total might combine:

  • firmly priced work;
  • products you have not selected yet;
  • work that cannot be defined until something is opened or surveyed;
  • quantities that will be measured later;
  • a contingency reserve.

These amounts do not all behave in the same way. A clear quote should let you identify which number is which.

An allowance is not automatically a problem. It can be an honest way to avoid pretending that an unknown is known. The risk begins when the label hides the calculation.

Four labels you may see

Selection allowance or prime-cost item

This is commonly used for products that are not finally chosen, such as tiles, sanitaryware, appliances or door furniture. Some professional measurement rules use prime cost as a supply-only amount. Your quote may use the term differently, so check whether installation, delivery, wastage and VAT are included.

Provisional sum

This normally relates to work that is expected or possible but cannot yet be described or measured well enough for a firm price. Drainage repair after a survey is one example.

Provisional quantity

The work and rate may be agreed, but the amount depends on the quantity actually measured. Excavation at a rate per cubic metre is a common example.

Contingency

This is a reserve for uncertainty. It should not mean that the contractor can spend the whole amount without showing what it is for and obtaining any required approval.

The heading is not enough. Ask what the term means in this project.

Start with what the allowance covers

For a product allowance, check:

  • the exact product category;
  • the allowed quantity and rate;
  • whether VAT is included;
  • whether delivery and wastage are included;
  • whether standard installation is priced elsewhere;
  • whether a different product could change the installation work;
  • whether any percentage or fee is added;
  • how a cheaper choice will be credited.

For provisional work, check:

  • why it cannot be priced firmly now;
  • what work the amount is intended to cover;
  • what it definitely excludes;
  • what survey, design or decision will resolve it;
  • how the final work will be valued;
  • whether it can proceed before you approve the resolved proposal.

The shelf-price difference may not be the whole difference

Suppose the allowance is 24 square metres of tile at £30 per square metre. You choose a tile costing £58.

The basic product difference is:

24 × (£58 − £30) = £672 before VAT, if the rates exclude VAT

But a larger, heavier or patterned tile could also require:

  • more wastage;
  • a different adhesive or substrate preparation;
  • more cutting;
  • a different laying pattern;
  • additional labour;
  • different delivery arrangements.

Those consequences can be genuine. They should be described separately, not discovered inside a single unexplained “upgrade” figure.

A lower amount should also be visible

An allowance is not a minimum spend. If your selection or the actual measured work costs less, the agreed method should show the resulting credit.

Ask for the same calculation in both directions:

Original amount removed + actual amount added + agreed charges = addition or credit

The exact method depends on the agreement, but it should not change simply because one result favours one party.

Selection dates matter

An allowance also represents an unfinished decision. Your builder may need your choice before ordering, first fix or installation.

If you miss that date, the effect may be more than a late product. It can change the work sequence, leave labour unavailable or move the completion date.

A useful allowance therefore includes a decision date and any known lead-time requirement.

What Assurr adds

Assurr can preserve the original quote line and require the contractor to review any extracted information before it enters the project plan. Assurr shows variable amounts beside their work, selections, evidence and later adjustment.

Assurr does not distinguish every allowance subtype or calculate every contract-specific adjustment automatically. Assurr does not decide whether a price is reasonable or whether a charge is legally due.

Before you accept

You do not need every product to be chosen or every hidden condition exposed. You should be able to answer:

  • What remains variable?
  • What number is currently included?
  • What does that number include and exclude?
  • What evidence will establish the actual amount?
  • How will an addition or credit be calculated?
  • When must the underlying decision be made?

If the quote cannot answer those questions, the project total is showing more certainty than the agreement contains.

General guidance, not legal advice
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