A quotation is the first draft of every invoice that follows.
On a fit-out or joinery job the BOQ sets out what is being bought. The quotation you send against it fixes the price, and its payment terms decide the advance, the stage bills and the retention for the rest of the job.
By Muhammad Arslan, founder of Mizarah, who kept a UAE joinery's books for thirteen years · 6 minute read · Updated 24 October 2026 · Practical guidance, not tax advice: confirm anything that matters for your business with your tax agent or the Federal Tax Authority.
Quote line by line against the BOQ, keeping its item numbers, units and quantities, so every later claim can be certified against the same lines. Show VAT separately, list what is excluded and any provisional sums, and write the payment terms in figures: the advance percentage, what each stage earns, and the retention and when it is released. Those terms become the advance tax invoice, the progress claims and the release invoice.
Price the BOQ as it is written.
Keep the main contractor's item numbers, descriptions, units and quantities, and put your rate against each line. When the first claim is certified, the quantity surveyor checks it line by line against the same BOQ: a quotation that regroups the items makes every claim harder to agree.
Where you disagree with a quantity or a description, say so on the quotation rather than quietly changing it.
| Item | Unit | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D-01 Internal door, veneer, 900 × 2100 | nos | 12 | 2,450.00 | 29,400.00 |
| K-01 Kitchen base units | lm | 8.5 | 3,200.00 | 27,200.00 |
| W-03 Wardrobe, full height | lm | 6 | 2,850.00 | 17,100.00 |
| Total before VAT | 73,700.00 | |||
| VAT (5%) | 3,685.00 | |||
| Total | 77,385.00 | |||
Say what you have not priced.
Many disputes on a fit-out job are about what was never in the price. List the exclusions plainly, and price anything still undecided as a provisional sum the client can adjust, rather than as a guess hidden inside a rate.
- Exclusions: for example civil works, MEP connections, appliances, or ceiling openings by others.
- Provisional sums: for example an ironmongery allowance, adjusted to the final selection.
- Validity: how long the rates hold, since material prices move.
- Lead time: from approved shop drawings to delivery.
Show the VAT, but a quotation is not a tax invoice.
Give the total before VAT, the VAT at 5% and the total, and put the customer's TRN on it where they have one, so the figures carry straight into the invoices.
The quotation itself declares nothing. VAT becomes due on the events the law sets as a date of supply, such as receiving the advance (Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017, Article 25), and each needs its own tax invoice within 14 days (Article 67).
Write the payment terms as figures, not as a sentence.
"30% advance, balance on progress" leaves every claim to be argued later. Set out what is paid on approval, what each stage of the work earns and what is held back, so the whole contract adds up to 100% before the first invoice is raised.
| Term | Share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Advance on approval, taken back from each claim | 30% | 22,110.00 |
| Claim 1: kitchens and wardrobes delivered | 60% of the work | 44,220.00 |
| Claim 2: doors installed, handover | 40% of the work | 29,480.00 |
| Retention withheld from the claims | 10% | 7,370.00 |
The two claims bill 100% of the work, 73,700.00. The advance is paid first and recovered from them, and the retention is released under the contract's terms, often in stages after handover.
Once approved, the quotation is what you bill against.
When the client approves, the advance can be invoiced as soon as it is received: no delivery is needed first. Every claim after that bills its share of the work, takes back its share of the advance and holds back retention, all from the figures in the quotation.
In Mizarah you can import a priced Excel or CSV sheet as a quotation and match its columns, set the payment schedule on it (the advance, what each delivery earns and what is held back), print it in English, English and Arabic, or Arabic, and record the advance on the approved quotation with its tax invoice.
Common questions.
- Should a quotation include VAT?
- Show it separately: the total before VAT, the VAT at 5% and the total. The quotation does not declare VAT; the tax invoices that follow it do.
- Is a quotation a tax invoice?
- No. The advance and each claim need their own tax invoices. Receiving the advance is a date of supply, so its tax invoice is due within 14 days of the money landing.
- What advance and retention are usual?
- Your contract decides. The examples here use a 30% advance and 10% retention; retention of 5% or 10% is common on UAE fit-out subcontracts, but always follow the contract.
- Can I import my BOQ into Mizarah?
- Yes. Save the priced BOQ as an Excel sheet (.xlsx or .xls) or a .csv file and import it as a quotation. Mizarah guesses which column is which from the headings, and you can correct any of them before the lines are created.
Read next: The advance tax invoice · Retention on UAE fit-out contracts · Joinery & fit-out
See your own contract worked out this way.
Put a contract you have already billed through the trial and check the figures against what you invoiced. No card needed, and nothing you enter is deleted when the trial ends.