How to write an interior design quotation

1. Who it's from, and who it's for

Your studio's name and logo, address, phone, and GSTIN if you're registered; the client's name and the site address; a quotation number, the date, and how long the prices hold. It's the dull part, and it's what turns a message into a document.

Number every quotation, and never reuse a number. When a client says “the one you sent in October”, the number is how you both know which one. A prefix and the year help: TBS/2026/014 reads as the fourteenth quotation of 2026.

2. Group the work by room

Clients picture their home a room at a time, so price it that way: the kitchen with its subtotal, then the master bedroom with its own. A flat list of forty items makes the client do the grouping, and they'll do it with a calculator.

Rooms also make the budget conversation easier. When money is tight, dropping the study is a decision a client can make in a minute; trimming fifteen lines across the house is a negotiation.

3. Price each line the way it's priced

Cabinets and wardrobes are priced by area, so show the area. A wardrobe 8 ft wide and 7 ft high, at ₹1,450 a sq ft, is:

8 × 7 × ₹1,450 = ₹81,200

Fittings are priced per piece, quantity × rate. Work you can't sensibly measure, like site supervision, is a lump sum. Mixing the three on one quotation is normal; forcing every line into one of them is how a quotation stops matching the job.

Write what each line is made of, too. “Wardrobe” invites a client to compare you with a cheaper one; “Sliding wardrobe, laminate outside, liner inside” tells them what they're paying for.

4. GST: CGST and SGST, or IGST

If you're registered, the client's state decides the split. In your own state, 18% shows as CGST 9% and SGST 9%: on ₹2,53,210 of work that's ₹22,789 each, for a total of ₹2,98,788. In another state it's one line, IGST 18%.

Which rate applies to your kind of work, and whether your fee carries the same one, is a question for your CA, not for a template. If you're not registered yet, leave GST off the quotation rather than guess at it.

5. Your fee, three ways

Many quotations tuck the design fee into one line at the end. Clients look for it first, so give it room, and give them a choice. The same 1,400 sq ft home comes to ₹1,19,000 at ₹85 a sq ft, ₹1,18,400 at 8% of ₹14,80,000 of work, or ₹1,10,000 as a lump sum.

Each suits a different client: a fee per sq ft grows with the area, a percentage grows with the cost of the work, and a lump sum doesn't move at all. Offered side by side, the client tells you which they're comfortable with, and you stop guessing. The free fee calculator works all three out from your own numbers.

6. The payment schedule

Say when you get paid, and against what. Name stages a client can see — booking, design sign-off, handover — and put a percentage against each. The Sharma Residence's lump sum is 50%, 50% across booking and handover; its fee per sq ft would be 30%, 40%, 30% across booking, design sign-off and handover.

There's no standard split worth copying. A studio that buys materials up front may ask for more at the start; one that only designs can ask for less. Whatever you choose, the percentages add up to 100, and every stage is something both of you can point to when it's reached.

Each stage is also the first line of an invoice later. A clear schedule on the quotation means the invoice writes itself.

7. Terms, and sending it

Three or four plain lines: how long the prices hold, what isn't included (civil, electrical and plumbing work, appliances, whatever you're not doing), and what happens if the design changes after sign-off.

Then send it the way your client will read it. Clients often open a quotation on their phone, from WhatsApp, and a PDF laid out for A4 makes them pinch and zoom through every line. A link that opens as a page reads properly on a phone, and a PDF can still go with it for anyone who wants one.

Follow up once, a few days later, with the quotation's number and nothing else. “Did you get a chance to look at TBS/2026/014?” is enough.