When costs keep moving: keeping quotes and supplier price lists current

The everyday problem: a price that was right last month

Any business that quotes for materials or parts has the same quiet risk when costs move. A landscaper prices pavers and plants from a supplier list. An office fit-out business quotes furniture and cabling. A builder or renovator prices timber, fixings and fittings for a bathroom or kitchen. If the list behind the quote is out of date, the margin can disappear before the job starts.

Costs are moving for most businesses in WA. In the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA's September quarter survey, 80% of WA businesses named rising costs as a barrier to growth, and CCIWA listed construction among the hardest-hit industries, at 87%.¹

The official figures show the same pressure. The ABS Producer Price Index, which tracks prices businesses pay and charge, found that input prices for house construction in Perth rose 2.0% in the June quarter 2026 and 3.9% over the year.² Electrical equipment used in house construction rose 12.1% over the year nationally.² On the consumer side, Perth's annual inflation was 4.3% in the 12 months to August 2026.³

Those increases matter because of what a quote is. WA Consumer Protection explains that a quote is a total price that becomes a binding contract once the customer accepts it, while an estimate is an approximate cost that can change.⁴ It also says tradespeople need the customer's permission before doing extra work, and cannot do the work first and ask for payment later.⁴ So if a quote goes out with last quarter's prices and the customer says yes, the business usually wears the difference.

How Quotes and Price lists in EasyDone help

Price lists & suppliers is about keeping prices useful without the busywork. You upload a supplier price list, match the columns and review the changes. AI can help map the columns in a supplier file, and some compatible suppliers can connect directly, which keeps supported catalogue information easier to maintain. Product and supplier details stay together.

Quotes & proposals is where you build the detail, choose the right products and turn the quote into a proposal that feels like your business. The customer sees the scope, the options and the price in one place. Product images and specifications, including web-sourced details, are there for your review. Options, quantities and totals are clear, so you can offer a good, better and best choice without rebuilding the document. Your branding, project photos and relevant case studies can go in too.

Used together, the habit is simple: review supplier prices when the new list arrives, and keep that review close to where you build quotes, rather than in a spreadsheet someone last updated in autumn. Talk to us about how the two would work together in your setup.

An example: a fictional Perth renovation business

This is an example, not a customer story. Picture Banksia Renovations: an owner, two carpenters, an apprentice and a part-time office manager, doing bathrooms and kitchens around the northern suburbs.

1. The new list arrives. A supplier emails an updated price file at the start of the month. The office manager uploads it and matches the columns for product code, description and cost.
2. Review the changes. The supplier has renamed one column heading, so it needs matching by hand. The office manager then reviews which prices went up.
3. Quoting the next job. Knowing which costs have risen, the owner builds a quote for a bathroom renovation, checking the product images and specifications as they go.
4. Giving the customer a choice. The proposal shows three tapware and tile options with clear totals, plus photos from a similar bathroom finished last year.
5. Saying what is included. The owner lists the scope plainly, including any call-out or site visit fee, because WA Consumer Protection says a call-out fee that is not in the quote does not have to be paid.⁴

The same pattern suits a landscaper, a fit-out business or a mobile service team that carries stock. The goods differ, but the habit is the same: update prices when the list changes, then quote from them.

How to get started

EasyDone is built in Perth, and setup and support are personal. Tell us which suppliers you buy from, what format their price files come in, and how you build quotes today. We will show you the parts of EasyDone that would fit, and be straight about the parts that would not.

If you want to talk it through, use the form below. It helps to bring one recent supplier price file and one quote you sent, so we can work from your real process.