Guide

Using AI to write and update a trade price list or day-rate sheet

17 October 2026Shaun, 20+ years in UK construction

How a UK trade lays out a price list or day-rate sheet, with prompts to tidy it and a way to change one line when a material price moves.

A price list is the prices you have already decided, written down so the next quote starts from the same place. A day rate is one line on that list. A chat tool can put your lines under headings and keep the sheet tidy. It does not know what your merchant charged you this morning, or what you need to earn.

Shaun, 20+ years in UK construction, keeps a sheet and changes a line when the ticket changes. We search the AI world every week so you don't have to. The quoting guide turns one job into a quote. The quote template is the Word or Google Docs file that quote lives in. This page is the list of prices you type into both.

What goes on the sheet

One page is enough. Date it. A sheet with no date is an old price sitting where a current one should be.

Who it is. Your trading name and the phone you answer.

VAT. Whether these prices include VAT, have VAT on top, or carry no VAT because you are not registered. Use the same words you use on a quote. GOV.UK's VAT rates page (opens in a new tab) lists the standard rate at 20%. GOV.UK's invoice rules (opens in a new tab) set out what a VAT invoice must show. The sheet should match the way you already invoice.

Day rate. The price for a day's labour, if you charge one. Write what the day includes: you, the van, hand tools. Write what it does not include: materials, a skip, parking, scaffold, waste, a second pair of hands.

Half day or a minimum. Only if you actually use one. If you do not, write "none", so a later draft does not invent one.

Task prices. The jobs you price the same way each time, with a unit. Per square metre, per point, per door, per radiator. Your price sits next to the unit. Leave off the jobs that always need a look first.

Materials. "On top, at cost", a short list of items you stock with your own price, or "customer supplies". Say which. A material line needs the date you last checked it.

Unusual work. One sentence: these prices are for straightforward work as described, and anything else is a separate quote. That sentence stops a day rate being read as a promise to open up a rotten floor.

Keep the sheet off a public page unless you are happy for a stranger to hold you to every line. A figure on a website is a public price. You can keep the sheet for yourself and send a quote instead. The website guide is about what a page should show.

Turn your rates into a tidy sheet

Write the numbers in a note first. Rough is fine. Then ask for headings. Do not ask for new prices.

Turn these notes into a one-page price list for a UK sole trader. UK English. Pounds.

Rules:
- Use only prices, units, and exclusions I typed. Do not suggest a rate. Do not round a number.
- If a price is missing, write [price]. Do not fill it.
- Headings: Trading name, Last checked, VAT, Day rate, What the day includes, What the day does not include, Minimum or call-out, Task prices, Materials, Unusual work.
- Put the date I type at the top.
- End with: these prices are for straightforward work as described. Anything unusual is a separate quote.

Trading name:
Phone:
Last checked:
VAT:
Day rate and what it includes:
What the day does not include:
Minimum or call-out:
Task prices (job, unit, price):
Materials:

Read every pound sign against your note. If two tasks have been merged into one price, split them back. If the draft says "all materials included" and you did not write that, delete it.

A quoting app can store the same lines. The quoting apps guide compares a few of them, with prices taken from each company's own page. A Word or Google Docs file is enough when you send quotes yourself. Keep it somewhere you can open on the phone. The list is the source. The quote template is one job.

When a material price changes

Change that line. Write the date. Leave the other lines alone.

The new price comes from the merchant, the shelf, or the invoice in your hand. You type it. A chat tool does not have your account price or your discount. Do not ask it what plaster, cable, or timber costs today. Ask it to swap the one number you have checked, and to leave the rest of the sheet as it is.

Update this price list. UK English.

Rules:
- Change only the lines I mark NEW. Copy every other price, unit, and exclusion exactly.
- Put the date I type at the top, as Last checked.
- Do not look up prices. Do not add items. Do not remove an exclusion.
- Where I give an old price and a new price, keep the new figure once.

Last checked: [date]
NEW lines:
- [item]: was £[old], now £[new]

Current list:
[paste the sheet]

Read the NEW lines, then skim the rest for a number that moved when it should have stayed. A tidy sheet that has changed your day rate on its own is worse than the old sheet.

A quote you have already sent keeps the price on it, until the validity date you wrote. The updated sheet is for the next quote. That date lives on the quote template.

How many boards or bags you need is a different job from what they cost. The measuring guide covers the quantities. The price of the bag still comes from you.

A day rate and a task price do different jobs

A day rate is time. It suits work whose end you cannot see until you open it up, provided the sheet says what the day does not include. On the quote, write the rate, what a day includes, and that a further day is a further price. "About two days", said on the doorstep and never written down, is how the argument starts.

A task price is a result. Replace a basin. Skim a room that is already flat. Change a double socket. The unit has to be something you can count. If the room is not flat, it is not the flat-room price. Put the condition on the line, in your own words.

On one quote, use the rate you meant for those hours. A day rate and a task price for the same hours is the total counted twice. The quoting guide has that check.

This filled shape shows the headings once a decision is written down. The pounds are an example of how to type your own figures. They are not a rate for your trade.

Last checked: 17 October 2026
VAT: not registered. No VAT added.
Day rate: £220 for one person, the van, and hand tools.
Does not include: materials, parking, a skip, scaffold, waste, a second person.
Half day: £110. No separate call-out.
Task: supply and fit a basin and taps where the customer already has them and the existing waste reconnects. £180.
On a quote, use the day rate or the task price for those hours, not both.
Materials: adhesive and fixings on top, at cost.
Unusual work: a separate quote.

£220, £110, and £180 are examples. Replace them. The date is an example date for the layout.

What the tool must not add

A guarantee. A line about competitive rates. A town you did not type. A waste percentage. A price "from" that you did not set. Any of those can land on a page and read like a promise.

Hand the sheet back for a check. You still read the answer.

Read this price list against my notes. Do not rewrite the list. UK English.

Notes I typed:
[paste notes]

List:
1. Any price on the sheet that is not in my notes.
2. Any inclusion or promise on the sheet that is not in my notes.
3. Whether the VAT line matches what I wrote under VAT.

Sheet:
[paste]

The UK Trades AI Prompt Pack is free when you sign up to the weekly email: prompts for quotes, chasing payment, tax admin, and customers. The signup is on the home page.

Common questions

Is a price list the same as a quote?

No. The list is your standard prices. A quote is one job, with a scope and exclusions. Unusual work still gets its own quote.

Can a chat tool look up today's material price?

Type the price from your merchant, the invoice, or the shelf. Ask the tool to change that one line and leave the others as written.

Should I put the list on my website?

Only the prices you are willing for a stranger to hold you to. You can keep the sheet private and send a quote. The website guide covers what a public page should include.

What happens to a quote I have already sent?

It keeps the price you sent, until the validity date written on it. The updated sheet is for the next quote.