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Compare tradie quotes side by side

Yamate · free, runs in your browser, nothing is sent or saved

Paste two to four quotes for the same job. You get them lined up the way a builder's estimator lines up subcontractor bids: which lines match, which lines one quote prices and another leaves out, where the money differs on labour, materials and fees, and what each quote never says. Then you decide.

Paste the quotes

Nothing you paste is sent anywhere or saved — it is worked out in your own browser and closing the tab is the end of it. Paste the words of each quote (not a photo), one quote per box.

Why the cheapest quote is often the one missing something

No two tradies price a job the same way. One writes “supply and install” as one number; another lists the unit, the labour, the removal and the call-out as four. One includes taking the old one away; another assumes you will. Put the totals side by side and the lowest one wins a comparison it should not be in.

Builders solved this decades ago. Before a general contractor picks a subcontractor, an estimator levels the bids: lines up every scope item across every bid, marks what each one includes and excludes, and only then compares the money. The number that falls out is what the job costs on the same scope. That is what this page does with the quotes in your hand.

What the table shows

  • The totals, and whether each one says GST is in it. A “plus GST” total is 10% more than it looks next to an “including GST” one.
  • Lines matched across quotes — the same work under different words — with the lowest price on each line marked.
  • Lines one quote prices and another does not. This is the finding that matters. A line missing from the cheapest quote is either excluded, bundled into another line, or forgotten — and only the tradie can tell you which.
  • Labour, materials and fees added up per quote, where the quotes split them out.
  • What each quote never says — the same fourteen facts our quote checker looks for on a tradie's own quote: an ABN, GST, exclusions, what the price assumes, how extra work is priced, the deposit, terms, how long the price holds, when the work happens, how to accept it.
It says what is different. It does not say who is right. A higher line may be a better product, a longer warranty, or a tradie who priced the access properly. The table gives you the question to ask; the answer is theirs.

How to get quotes that can be compared at all

The tool can only line up what the quotes contain. Three things make that work.

  1. Give every tradie the same written job. Same scope, same photos, same list of what you want. Three quotes on three different understandings of the job are three guesses. Write it down once and send that.
  2. Ask for it itemised. Labour, materials, call-out, removal, on separate lines. One number with nothing under it cannot be compared with anything, and you can ask for the split — before you accept, and by law after you are billed (the itemised-bill rule).
  3. Ask what is not in it. “What would make this price change?” and “What is excluded?” are the two questions that turn a number into a quote.
Write the job down once, send it to three

Reading the differences

Dearest on labour. Hours and rates differ, and so does what a tradie counts as labour. A quote that bundles removal, prep and travel into “labour” will read dearer on that line and cheaper elsewhere. Look at the total before the line.

Dearest on materials. The most common honest reason is a better product: a named brand against “250L unit”, a two-coat system against one. If the quote does not name the product, ask what the number buys. A fixed price with no model on it is a fixed price for the cheapest one that fits.

Only one quote has a call-out or a removal line. The others either include it in another line or have not priced it. Either way it is a sentence you want in writing before you choose.

One quote is an estimate. The word matters. A quote is the price; an estimate is a guess that is allowed to move. Compare it as a floor, not a total.

Before you pick one

The cheapest complete quote from a licensed, insured tradie who put the exclusions in writing is usually the right answer. The cheapest quote is not the same thing. If a difference still does not make sense after you have asked, the rip-off guide is the next page.

Still not sure who to call? Ask in Who Do I Call? Australia, our free Facebook group. Post the problem, a photo and your suburb, and the tradies in there can point you right.

Am I being ripped off? Write a job brief Questions to ask first Check a licence Deposit limits Find a tradie near you

General information for Australian home owners, not legal or financial advice, and not an opinion on whether any price is fair. This page reads the words and numbers in text you paste and lines them up; it can pair two lines that are not the same thing, miss two that are, or read a quantity as a price, and it knows nothing about your job, your state or what the work is worth. Yamate is software; it does not vet, rank or recommend any tradesperson, and no regulator has reviewed this page. Nothing you paste leaves your browser. Yamate sells software to tradespeople and lists them in its directory.