Build the template from lines: a crew-and-truck line billed by the hour (with a minimum and a clock rule), a flat-rate alternative built from the same hours plus an overrun allowance, packing materials and labour, access adjustments for stairs and long carries, then assumptions and exclusions. Use AI to check arithmetic, overlaps and gaps; you set the rates.
Blank quote forms are easy to find. They fail in the gaps between the lines: a stairs charge nobody defined, an hourly clock that starts at the depot on one page and at the door on another, a flat price that quietly assumed ground-floor access. AI is a good second pair of eyes for those gaps and a poor source of rates, so every figure below is a placeholder for yours.
The two-bedroom move, quoted hourly and at a flat rate
A template is only useful once you can see it filled in. These are the assumptions for one illustrative job, and they go at the top of the quote:
- First address: a third-floor flat, three flights of stairs, no lift, truck able to park within 20 m (about 65 ft) of the door.
- Second address: a ground-floor house, truck within 10 m of the door.
- Contents as listed on the survey sheet: sofa, armchair, a double bed and a single bed, two wardrobes (one to be taken apart), two chests of drawers, TV and unit, dining table with four chairs, a bookcase and about 55 boxes.
- The customer packs most boxes; the crew packs the kitchen and fragile items.
- Crew of three movers and one truck.
| Option A: hourly | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Crew of 3 and truck | 4 hours estimated at $180 | $720.00 |
| Trip charge | Depot travel and fuel | $60.00 |
| Packing materials | Packing sheet below | $142.50 |
| Packing labour | 2 packers × 2 hours at $55 | $220.00 |
| Estimated total | 3.5 to 5 hours gives $1,052.50 to $1,322.50 | $1,142.50 |
| Option B: flat rate | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Moving labour, truck and fuel | ($720 + $60) plus 15% for overrun, rounded | $895.00 |
| Packing materials | Packing sheet below | $142.50 |
| Packing labour | 2 packers × 2 hours at $55 | $220.00 |
| Flat total | Holds if the assumptions above hold | $1,257.50 |
The packing sheet adds up like this: 12 medium boxes at $3.50 is $42; 8 small boxes at $2.50 is $20; 2 wardrobe boxes at $14 is $28; one pack of packing paper is $24; 3 rolls of tape at $3.50 is $10.50; 2 mattress covers at $9 is $18. Total $142.50.
The flat price is not a discount. It is the hourly estimate ($780 with the trip charge) plus 15%, which is $117, rounded to $895, because the mover now carries the risk of a slow day. The two prices cross at (895 minus 60) divided by 180, which is 4.64 hours. If the move takes less than about 4 hours 40 minutes the hourly price is cheaper for the customer; if it takes longer, the flat price is. If the same move ran to six hours, hourly would cost $1,502.50 with packing and the flat price would still be $1,257.50. The $245 difference is yours to absorb, which is why the assumptions, adjustments and exclusions below exist: they are what lets a flat price survive a bad day.
The master template, line by line
The filled-in quote is one copy; the master is what every copy comes from. Keep it as one spreadsheet or document with fixed blocks, in the same order every time:
| Block | Lines | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Quote number, customer, both addresses, move date, quote valid until | Print the end date automatically |
| Contents | Reference to the survey sheet and its date | The quote is only as good as this sheet |
| Moving | Crew and truck rate, minimum, clock rule, increments, trip charge | One sentence per decision |
| Flat alternative | Price, how it was built, what it holds for | Only when the survey is solid |
| Packing | Materials sheet, packing labour, unused-box credit | Never on the same row |
| Adjustments | The table of units and triggers | Identical on every quote |
| Protection | What cover comes with the move and how to add more | Wording from your insurer |
| Assumptions and exclusions | The two lists | Same order every time |
| Payment and acceptance | When the balance is due, how hourly time is billed, how to accept | Say how a change of date is handled |
The fixed paragraphs (clock rule, adjustments, assumptions, exclusions) should exist in one place and be pasted, never retyped. Retyping is how two quotes in the same week end up with different stairs charges. Once a month, paste the master and your last five sent quotes into an assistant and ask it to list every paragraph that differs from the master, with the quote number. In an illustrative run the answer was that three quotes had a waiting-time charge of $2 a minute and two had $3, because someone had edited an old copy. The master said $3, so the fix took ten minutes and saved a dispute.
Crew-hour lines: the clock, the minimum and the trip charge
The hourly line has four decisions in it, and each must appear on the quote in one sentence:
- Rate by crew size. For example, two movers and a truck at $140 an hour, three at $180, four at $220. Each mover adds $40.
- Minimum. Three hours, say, so a small job still pays for the truck leaving the depot.
- Clock rule. The clock runs from arrival at the first address to departure from the last, so the drive between addresses is billed. Depot travel is covered by the trip charge. If your rule is garage to garage, say that instead, because the customer will compare quotes.
- Increments. After the minimum, billed in 15-minute steps.
Estimating the hours is the weak point, and it is where AI helps most if you feed it your own history instead of asking it to guess. Keep a log of finished moves: size of home, stairs at each end, crew size, actual hours. Then ask:
From the log below, for each size of home and each stairs pattern, give the median hours and the range covering the middle half of the jobs, plus the number of jobs in each group. Flag any group with fewer than 8 jobs as unreliable. Show how you calculated each figure.
[paste log]An illustrative result for two-bedroom moves with stairs at one end: median 4.0 hours, middle half between 3.5 and 5.0, from 14 jobs. That is where the 4-hour estimate and the 3.5 to 5 hour range in Option A came from. If the assistant gives a figure for a group with three jobs, ignore it, and rebuild the median in a spreadsheet to be sure: the tutorial on why AI is bad at maths explains why assistants slip on exactly this kind of sum, and what to check in quotes and invoices.
The minimum deserves its own line, because it is where hourly quotes surprise people. Take an illustrative one-bedroom move: two movers and a truck at $140 an hour, with about two and a quarter hours of real work. The three-hour minimum applies, so the moving charge is 3 × $140 = $420, plus the $60 trip charge, $480 in all. The customer pays for 45 minutes the crew did not need. If the quote shows "Minimum charge: 3 hours ($420)" as a separate line, nobody is surprised on the day. If it is buried in small print, the first complaint will come from exactly this kind of job.
Packing lines: materials at unit prices, labour by the hour
Price packing in two lines that never share a row: materials, counted from the survey, and labour. Materials go on a sheet with a unit price for each item, so a customer can see the arithmetic and an assistant can check it. Labour can be hourly (2 packers × 2 hours at $55) or per room; choose one and say which. State what happens to unused boxes: for example, unopened boxes returned on the move day are credited at 50%. That one sentence prevents the most common packing argument.
Give the assistant the packing sheet and ask it to re-add every line and compare the box counts with the inventory. A realistic slip: a draft had a "packing kit" at $35 and also listed tape, paper and mattress covers separately. The kit already contained them, so the customer was charged twice for $52.50 of materials. The check prompt asked "does any line contain another line?", and the answer pointed to the kit.
Stairs, long carries and heavy items as access adjustments
A flat price assumes certain access. Adjustments are the pre-agreed prices for when the access turns out differently. Write them as units with triggers, so nobody has to invent a number on the day:
| Adjustment | Trigger | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| Extra stairs | Each flight above the 3 assumed at the first address, or any at the second | $40 per flight per address |
| Long carry | Truck cannot park within 20 m (about 65 ft) of a door | $30 for each extra 10 m |
| Heavy item | Any single item over 100 kg (about 220 lb), such as a safe or piano | $60 each, or a separate quote |
| Waiting time | Crew held up more than 15 minutes (keys, lift, parking) | Crew rate, $3 a minute |
| Extra disassembly | Anything beyond one wardrobe and the bed frames | $25 each |
Compare the vague version most templates carry. Before: "Stairs: extra charge may apply." After: "Access: this price assumes three flights of stairs at the first address and none at the second, with the truck within 20 m of each door. Each extra flight is $40 at that address, charged once, not per mover." The second can be checked by the customer on the survey call, and it is the one a dispute can be settled with. The same logic applies to your contract terms on liability and cancellation; the quote should point to them, not restate them.
Assumptions and exclusions that make a flat price safe
Assumptions are what has to be true for the price to hold. Exclusions are what the price never includes. Put both on the quote, in the order the customer will notice them:
- Assumptions: inventory as per the survey sheet; the access described above; everything packed and ready when the crew arrives; appliances disconnected by the customer; keys, lift booking and parking arranged by the customer.
- Exclusions: items not on the survey sheet; hazardous materials; plumbing and electrical disconnections; built-in units; parking fines and permits; storage; and waiting time beyond 15 minutes.
- What happens if reality differs: the adjustments above apply, or the job continues at the hourly rate, and the crew leader tells the customer before work goes on.
Here is why the last line matters. In an illustrative case, a flat quote went out for a two-bedroom move on the strength of a phone call. On the day, a 150 kg safe and a loaded garage appeared, neither of which had been mentioned. The job ran 2.5 hours over, and the quote had no clause for items missing from the survey, so the firm absorbed about $450 of crew time. The fix was not harsher wording but a sentence on the quote, "Items not on the survey sheet are charged at the hourly rate", plus an inventory step at booking that asks about garages, sheds and heavy items by name.
A draft, a check prompt and what the AI found
Once the template is built, ask an assistant to review each quote before it is sent. Paste the draft, the survey sheet and the rate card, and tell it what to look for:
Review this moving quote against the survey sheet and rate card. List, numbered: arithmetic errors; lines that overlap or charge for the same thing twice; assumptions that contradict the survey sheet; vague words ("approximately", "about", "may apply"); missing lines (parking, lift, waiting time, validity date). For each, quote the line and say what to change. Do not change the quote itself.
[paste quote, survey sheet, rate card]An illustrative result for a rough first draft:
- "Travel time" (line 3) and "Trip charge" (line 4) both cover the drive from the depot. Possible double charge.
- Packing labour shows $110; 2 packers × 2 hours × $55 is $220.
- The assumptions say "ground-floor access" but the survey sheet describes a third-floor flat with no lift.
- The flat price is written "approximately $895". The price is open-ended.
- No line says who arranges parking or the lift booking.
- The hourly option says "about 4 hours" but gives no billing increment after the minimum.
- "Trip charge" may double-count fuel with "Crew of 3 and truck".
Now apply judgement, which is the part the assistant lacks. Items 1 to 6 are real: delete "Travel time" and keep the trip charge, correct the labour to $220, rewrite the assumption, replace "approximately" with the firm price and the sentence about what changes it, add the parking line, and add the 15-minute increment. Item 7 is a false alarm. Your crew rate includes the truck but not fuel, and the trip charge is what covers fuel, so leave it. An assistant flags patterns, and some of those patterns are fine. The aim of the check is fewer errors going out and a short list of questions for you, not a quote that an assistant has signed off. The approval-step tutorial for AI-written quotes shows how to build that human sign-off into the process, so it happens every time.
Getting the inventory right before you price
Every figure above depends on the inventory, so get it before you quote. A short survey call covers the facts that change the price: floors and lifts at both addresses, how far the truck can park from each door, the biggest and heaviest items, anything that must be taken apart, garages and sheds, and how much is already packed. Take notes in the customer's own words, then ask an assistant to tidy them:
Turn these call notes into an inventory table with columns: item, quantity, needs disassembly (yes, no, unknown). Then list the questions I still need to ask. Do not add items that are not in the notes.
[paste notes]The useful part of the answer is the question list. An illustrative one for the two-bedroom move: which wardrobe is the large one and does it come apart; does the washing machine go, and who disconnects it; how far can the truck park from each door; is there anything over 100 kg; is there a garage or shed. A draft that quietly assumed "one wardrobe" when the notes said two is the sort of slip to look for. For moves that are bigger or less certain, photos or a video walkthrough give you more than a call; the tutorials on turning customer videos into quotes and on chasing quotes and confirming move dates carry on from here.
Offer hourly or flat: a rule for each enquiry
You do not have to offer both every time. A simple rule keeps the choice consistent:
| What you know | Offer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Survey done, access known, inventory fixed | Both, flat as the default | You can price the risk; customers like certainty |
| Phone call only, items vague | Hourly with a range | The inventory could still change |
| Unknown access, heavy items, a garage or storage involved | Hourly, plus a survey before any flat price | Too many open risks to price |
| Small job near the minimum | Flat for the minimum hours | Simplest for everyone |
When you send both options, say in the covering email what the customer is choosing between, in a sentence they can repeat to a partner. Ask the assistant to draft the email from the two totals and the break-even figure, then read it for claims. An illustrative version after editing:
Hi [first name], here are two ways to price your move on [date]. Option A is hourly: we estimate 4 hours, $1,142.50 in all, and the final figure follows the actual time. Option B is a fixed $1,257.50 that holds as long as the move matches the survey sheet. If the move takes less than about 4 hours 40 minutes, Option A will cost you less; if it takes longer, Option B will. Both include packing the kitchen and fragile items. Reply with A or B and we will confirm the date. [your name]
The first draft said "the flat rate saves you money". It does not, on a normal day: at four hours it costs $115 more. An assistant writes the cheerful version of anything unless told not to, so the check is to read every sentence that claims a benefit and ask whether the numbers prove it.
Say on the quote which kind of price it is: an estimate that follows the actual hours, or a fixed price that holds while the assumptions hold. Rules on whether an estimate can be exceeded, and by how much, differ by place, so check yours with your trade body before you write the wording. Then keep the loop closed. After every move, log the actual hours next to the quoted ones, and every quarter ask an assistant for the median overrun by job type. That is where the 15% allowance should come from, and in an illustrative quarter where two-bedroom jobs with stairs ran 12% over, the allowance would drop from 15% to 12% and the flat price would fall from $895 to about $875, which is how you win a comparison without guessing.
Questions moving company owners ask about quotes and AI
Should the quote include insurance or liability cover?
Describe what cover comes with the move and what the customer can add, using wording from your insurer and your contract. Do not let an assistant paraphrase liability terms, because a friendly rewrite can change their meaning. Keep the quote's own wording short and point to the contract for the detail, and have an adviser read that wording.
How long should a quote stay valid?
Choose a window you can honour and put the end date on the quote. Rates, crew availability and peak dates all move, so an open-ended quote is a risk you carry for free. Two to four weeks is a sensible starting point, shortened for busy periods. Whatever you pick, make the template print the date automatically.
Can AI work out the size of a move from photos?
It can list the items it sees, which is a useful prompt for questions, but treat any volume or hours it suggests as a guess. Confirm by call or video survey before you quote a flat rate, and compare its list with what the customer told you. The tutorials on video quotes for removal firms cover that step in more detail.
What if a flat-rate job runs long?
Honour the price unless the assumptions on the quote were broken. If they were, apply the adjustment lines you defined, explain at the time and before work continues, and confirm in writing. Then record the actual hours so next quarter's overrun allowance comes from your own jobs and not from a guess.
Further reads
- Can AI Replace the Home Survey for a Removal Company? — How far a survey can be replaced by AI before quoting.
- AI Video Survey Tools for Movers Compared: Cost and Accuracy (2026) — Video survey tools compared on cost and accuracy.
- Trucking Price Quote Template: Build One and Check Rates With AI — Another freight-style quote template with a rate check.
- Auto Repair Price Estimate Template: Build One With ChatGPT — Estimate lines for labour and parts built with ChatGPT.
- How to Create Quotes and Estimates in Minutes With AI — A general method for quicker quotes you still check.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.