Notes for owners · Industry playbooks
How fit-out contractors raise drawing queries before quoting
Why a fit-out quote that comes with a short sheet of drawing queries beats one that simply prices the bill of quantities, and how to write and send that sheet.
The GullySales team · Updated 6 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
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Read the drawings the day they arrive, list every place where the price depends on a choice nobody has made, and send those as one numbered sheet before you submit the quote. The sheet does two jobs. It gets you answers that make your rate honest, and it shows the consultant that you have read the set, which most bidders have not. The contractor who prices the bill of quantities line by line and says nothing looks cheaper for a week and pays for it during execution.
Why does the query sheet matter more than the rate?
On a corporate fit-out the project manager is comparing three or four quotes that look alike. Rates drift within a band. What separates them is how well each contractor seems to understand the job.
A good query tells him you have walked the floor in your head. A silent quote tells him nothing, and when the variations start he remembers who priced the ceiling void without asking about the chilled water pipes above it.
There is a plainer reason too. Queries raised after the award become arguments about who carries the cost. Queries raised before the quote become line items or stated assumptions, and both are far easier conversations.
What should you look for in the drawing set?
Read in this order. It is the order in which the money moves.
| Where to look | What to ask | Why it changes the price |
|---|---|---|
| Ceiling plan against the MEP drawings | Which services sit above the ceiling, and who sets out the grid | Clashes mean rework and a second visit by the sub-contractor |
| Joinery schedule and finish legend | Whether finishes named in the schedule are available in the quantity needed | A substitute late in the job is a variation on both sides |
| Partition layout | Fire rating and acoustic requirement per wall type | Board, framing and insulation change by type |
| Flooring plan | Level differences, screed, and whether the base is ready | Levelling is often missing from the BOQ |
| Existing building information | What the landlord already provides, and the building's working hours | Night work and permits are cost, not a detail |
| Scope split | Who supplies loose furniture, lights, AV and cabling | Without a line, the client assumes you included it |
Write the query against the drawing number and the room or grid reference, so nobody has to guess what you mean.
How do you write the sheet so it gets answered?
Keep it to one page where you can. Number every query. State the drawing, the doubt, and the assumption you will price on if no answer comes. That last part is what gets replies, because the consultant can reply "agreed" in one word.
For example, query 7 might read: "Drawing A-104, meeting room 3. The ceiling is shown as gypsum with a bulkhead but the lighting plan shows a linear track. Assumed bulkhead of 300 mm to carry the track. Please confirm or send the detail." It is short and specific, and it can be answered in one line.
Put the queries that change the price at the top. A consultant who stops reading at query four should already have seen the ones that matter.
What goes into the quote itself?
Three things beyond the rates. A list of inclusions, in the same order as the drawings. A list of exclusions, written plainly: what you have not priced and why. And the assumptions you made where a query is still open, each tied to its query number.
Many contractors dislike the exclusions list because it feels like weakness. It is the opposite. A client comparing two quotes with no exclusions and one with a clear list will often notice that the clear one is the only quote that describes the work.
What do you do after sending the quote?
The quote is a conversation, not a delivery. Note the date it went in, who received it, and when the client expects to decide. Then ask one useful thing: would a call to walk through the assumptions help?
Do not ring to ask whether they have seen it. Ring to say a query answer arrived that changes an item, or that a material you priced has a lead time the client should know. Our notes on following up on a quotation cover the wording. The thing to avoid is silence for three weeks, followed by a hopeful call after the job has gone to someone who answered the consultant's last email.
Record every quote in one sheet, the start of a proper sales process, with the consultant, the client, the area, the date sent, the queries raised and the outcome. After a year, that sheet will show which consultants award work and which use you to test the market.
For example, an office floor of twelve thousand square feet
Take a Pune contractor invited to quote on a software firm's second floor. The details are illustrative. The architect's drawings are good but the MEP set is a revision behind, so the ceiling layout does not match the services. The contractor lists nine queries, four of them about the ceiling, and sends them with a note on the assumptions he will price on.
Two of the other bidders submit without comment. The consultant replies to the contractor's sheet, re-issues the MEP drawings to all three and, when the quotes come in, asks the contractor to explain the inclusions first. He may not be cheapest. He is the one the consultant can describe to the client with confidence.
What to do next
Take the last three quotes you sent and check the drawings against what you priced. Note every place where you assumed something and told nobody. That list is your first query sheet, written late. Then set a rule that no quote leaves the office without a numbered sheet of queries, even if it only has two lines.
Read how to get on the list in the first place in how fit-out contractors get on tender lists, and see the rest of what we do for this trade on our page for interior fit-out contractors. If you want the quote follow-up routine built with you, the free audit is where it starts.