What should be in a builder's quote,
line by line?

Part of a bigger picture: the whole checklist for choosing a builder in Queensland.

Before the house

• Asbestos removal by a licensed contractor, with disposal.
• Demolition and site clearance, including old slabs, footings, sheds, the driveway.
• Disconnections: power, sewer capping by a licensed plumber, gas.
• Soil test and structural engineering for the footings and frame.
• Design and drawings, and any development application the overlays require.
• The certifier's fees for the building approval and the mandatory inspections.

Some builders show these as a separate “preliminaries” or “site” section; some leave demolition and asbestos to you. Either is fine as long as it's written down. What isn't fine is a quote that doesn't mention them.

The site

• Earthworks: cut and fill, and the removal of spoil.
• Retaining walls, engineered where they hold a slope.
• Stormwater drainage to the street or the easement, and any on-site detention required.
• Service connections: sewer, water, power to the new house, and the temporary builder's supply.
• Temporary fencing, site toilet, skips and the like.

On a sloping Bayside block the site section is where the honest quote and the optimistic quote part company. Why is here.

The structure

• Footings and slab to the engineer's design for the soil class, with termite management and the membrane; or posts, bearers and floor frame on a highset.
• Wall and roof frame, timber or steel, with bracing and tie-downs.
• Roofing, gutters, downpipes, fascia.
• External walls: cladding, brick, render, as specified.
• Windows and external doors, with the glazing certificate the certifier wants at the end.
• Stairs, decks and balustrades.

The inside

• Plumbing and drainage, and the hot water system.
• Electrical, switchboard, lighting, data, smoke alarms.
• Insulation to the energy efficiency requirements.
• Internal linings, cornices, doors, architraves and skirtings.
• Waterproofing to the wet areas, with its certificate.
• Joinery: kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, wardrobes.
• Tiling, painting, floor coverings, fit-off (tapware, fittings, appliances if included).

The outside and the paperwork

• Driveway and crossover, paths, clothesline, letterbox.
• Fencing and basic landscaping, or a clear statement that they're excluded.
• The Home Warranty premium, which the builder collects and pays to the QBCC.
• Insurances: contract works, public liability.
• The builder's margin and GST, and whether the total includes them.

The allowances

Listed separately, each with its estimate: tiles, tapware, appliances, lighting, sometimes the site works if the soil test isn't in yet. This is the part of the quote that behaves like an estimate rather than a price, and the QBCC's advice is direct.

“Allowances (items or services for which the price is not fixed when the contract is signed) should be kept to a minimum as the final cost often exceeds the estimate in the contract.” The QBCC's checklist asks you to check what proportion of the total is allowances.

Queensland Building and Construction Commission, Consumer Building Guide, version 3, effective July 2023. Count them. Ask why each one is there.

Where a quote is usually thin

• The site. Earthworks and retaining priced as if the block were flat, or as an allowance.
• The allowances. A cheap quote is often a quote with the real prices moved into a long allowance list.
• What's missing. No driveway, no fencing, no certifier, no Home Warranty line, no GST line. Every one of those turns up later as a cost.

The check is simple: put two quotes side by side and tick the lines above against each. The cheaper total is usually the shorter list.

Common questions

Sources: Queensland Building and Construction Commission, Consumer Building Guide (version 3, effective July 2023), on contract price, allowances and the Home Warranty premium; Queensland Building Regulation 2021 (mandatory inspection stages and certificates). Read 17 September 2026. This is a plain-English guide to the shape of a quote, from a builder. It contains no prices, and it is not financial or legal advice.