Renovation quote in Italy: what it must contain

How we produce a quote

EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. produces a quote after visiting the property and measuring the work. Before a survey we can tell you whether a job is the kind of thing we take on and how we would sequence it, but not what it costs — a figure given at that stage is invented, and an invented figure is one we would later have to take back.

What you receive is an itemised quote. Each trade carries a description, a unit of measure, a quantity and a unit rate, and the total is the sum of those lines rather than the starting point. If your technician has already drawn up a computo metrico — the Italian bill of quantities, set out item by item — we price that document line by line, so the two can be read side by side.

Beside the included items we write the excluded ones. It is the section almost nobody reads and the one that causes most of the arguments on site: if a trade does not appear, it is not in the price, and the quote says so in words rather than leaving it to be inferred.

Anatomy of the document

Six things that make a quote checkable

Six elements let the person receiving a quote check it. Take any one of them away and the document can no longer be set against a competing builder's offer.

Measured quantities: Square metres, cubic metres, linear metres, unit counts. Quantities are the bridge between the quote and the invoice: written down, they can be re-measured at the end, and the account then either reconciles or demonstrably does not.
One line per trade: Strip-out, screed, plaster, tanking, tiling: each operation gets its own line. That is the only format that lets you drop an item, add another, or push a third into a later phase without renegotiating the whole document.
Materials with the grade stated: Not “floor finish”, but the type, the format and the grade of the material — or a provisional allowance where the choice is still open. Two quotes with identical trade lines can differ entirely on the quality of what actually gets laid.
The trades that are excluded: Whatever sits outside the price is named: special disposal, the declarations of conformity issued by the licensed installers, furniture, professional fees and permit costs, and structural conditions not visible at the survey. An exclusion in writing is an argument that never has to happen.
Conditions and timing: How the phases are organised, roughly how long each runs, how progress is measured for a SAL (stato avanzamento lavori — a stage valuation certifying the work completed so far) and when each invoice is raised. Dates become binding when they enter the contract, not before.
The validity period: Every quote states how long it stands. Material prices move, and a document with no expiry date is a document somebody will have to renegotiate verbally further down the line.

One figure is not a quote

A quote that comes down to a single lump sum, with no quantities behind it, cannot be compared with any other offer and cannot be checked when the invoice arrives. This is not a comment on the firms that write them that way, it is a practical problem: if two documents each show a total and nothing else, you are not comparing two prices, you are comparing two assumptions about work that may not even be the same work. Ask for the quantities and the exclusions from anyone preparing an offer for you, ourselves included.

How we run a site

From your side

What we need in order to quote accurately

The accuracy of a quote depends on how well defined the work is. These five things move the result more than anything else does.

Send us what you have

Access to the property for a survey, including the roof, the drainage and any part of the fabric that has already been opened up or patched.
Whatever drawings you hold, the planimetria catastale (the land registry floor plan), and the design and computo metrico if a technician has produced them — an existing computo we price line by line.
The list of works you actually want done, kept separate from the ones you are still weighing up. A quote covering everything mentioned during a site visit comes back higher and helps you less.
The level of finish you are aiming at: material by material where you already have a view, and a provisional allowance where the choice is still open.
Any constraint on timing — a date by which the property has to be usable, periods when the site cannot be open, and deadlines attached to a permit application already under way.

What legitimately changes a quote

A quote changes for three legitimate reasons, and EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. handles all three the same way: they are priced in writing before the work goes any further.

The first is what is found once the fabric is opened. Behind plaster there can be masonry that has lost its bond, under a screed a floor structure that has been taking up damp for years, above a suspended ceiling a service run that cannot stay where it is. No survey sees through walls, and an honest quote states what it was unable to verify.

The second is you. You change a material, move a wall, add a bathroom. That is normal, and it is exactly why the quote is itemised — a variation is priced on the line it touches rather than by reopening the whole amount.

The third comes from outside: a condition imposed by the comune, by the Soprintendenza where the building is listed, or by the engineer testing the structure. The technical decision there belongs to your designer and to the direzione dei lavori; we price the execution of whatever has been required.

In all three cases the sequence is identical. We stop the affected trade, put the variation in writing with the new quantities and the new amount, you approve it, and only then does work resume. A variation agreed verbally on site is an argument postponed until the invoice.

Tax relief: what we can tell you and what we cannot

EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. carries out and documents the works; it does not determine what tax relief you are entitled to. Renovation work in Italy attracts deductions whose rates, ceilings and conditions are set annually and depend on the property, on the type of intervention and on your own tax position.

That is why you will find neither a percentage nor a ceiling anywhere on this site. Any figure we published today could be the wrong one by the time you sign. The person who confirms what you are entitled to is your technician, working with your accountant, against the rules in force when the payments are actually made.

Our part is the execution and the paperwork that goes with it: invoices describing the trades correctly, payments made in traceable form, and the technical data sheets and declarations of conformity for materials and installations, collected and handed over. That is the material your technician builds the filing on.

We do not advance a tax benefit in any form. The work is paid for against stages of completion, and the relief, if it applies to you, is recovered through your own tax return.

Common questions

Questions about quotes

Why is there no price list on this site?

A price list would suggest a precision that does not exist. The rate for the same operation moves with site access, the condition of the substrate, the quantity involved, the material chosen and the season the work is done in. The same bathroom refit prices differently on the ground floor of a detached house and on the third floor of a building in the centro storico, the historic core, with no lift. We would rather publish nothing than publish figures we have to withdraw at the survey.

How long does a quote take?

It depends on the size of the job and on how well defined it already is. After the survey we need time to work up the quantities, to get prices from suppliers for the materials you have specified, and to coordinate the licensed installers on the services element. When your enquiry reaches us we tell you the date the document will be with you by, and if that date moves you hear about it beforehand rather than afterwards.

Can I compare your quote with another builder's?

Yes, and that is precisely why we write it in lines. A comparison only means something if both documents carry the same quantities and the same trades. Before looking at either total, check that both include the strip-out, the disposal, the scaffolding, the temporary works and the builder's attendance on the services trades. If an item appears in one document and is missing from the other, the two totals are not comparable.

Is the total on the quote the final price?

The total is what you pay if the work stays as described. It moves if conditions appear that were not visible at the survey, if you change something, or if an authority requires something different. In all three cases the variation is priced in writing and approved by you before we proceed. An itemised quote exists exactly so that you can see which line moved and by how much.

Do you handle the design and the permits along with the quote?

No. EDIL NOZZI S.R.L. carries out the works. The design, the direzione dei lavori and the permit filings are a separate professional appointment that you hold with a qualified technician of your own choosing. If you do not have one yet, we can base a quote on the works you have described, but the quantities only become firm once a design exists. Coming to us obliges you to engage no particular professional.

Next step

It starts with a survey

Describe the property and the work you have in mind through the contact form. We reply to arrange the survey, and the itemised quote follows from it. If a design or a computo metrico already exists, say so in your message: the quote then starts from a far higher level of detail.

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