A vague quote is the number-one cause of building disputes: every grey area at signature turns into a disagreement — then a bill — along the way. Here are the seven lines to scrutinise, and how PontBat locks them down for you.
General, indicative advice: every project deserves a tailored reading of its quotes.
A serious quote reads like a contract: anything not written down will be negotiated later — from a position of weakness. These seven lines are your reading grid.
Exact company name, address, tax registration (the Tunisian patente), name and role of the signatory: an anonymous or approximate quote binds no one. On the platform, every professional is verified in 5 steps before they can even submit an offer.
“Miscellaneous works” or “full renovation” mean nothing. Every item must be precisely named: earthworks, footing concrete, partitions, rendering… What is not described is not owed — and will resurface as an extra.
Square metres, linear metres, units: every item must carry a quantity you can measure on site. Without quantities, there is no way to verify the work actually done — or to compare two quotes with each other.
Unit price times quantity gives the item total; the sum of items gives the quote total. If the arithmetic does not add up, demand a correction before any discussion. It is also what lets you price any addition or removal calmly.
A start date, an execution time and priced penalties in case of delay. A quote silent on time is a promise without a clock: the build will last as long as the company pleases.
Every payment must match observable progress: foundations poured, slab finished, roof on. That is the principle of the Villa Yasmine reference build: 450 000 TND paid in 8 verified milestones, with structural work at about 45% of the budget. Never a payment schedule disconnected from reality.
Professional liability and ten-year warranty currently valid, certificates attached, plus a written validity period for the offer. Without verifiable insurance, the best price in the world is worth nothing.
Comparing quotes is not comparing totals: it is comparing the same project, described the same way, across several professionals.
On the platform, the call for tenders runs on a single bill: same items, same quantities, same units for every candidate in the network. Offers come back comparable line by line — vagueness has nowhere to hide.
A living build generates changes. Every change order is approved in the app, priced before execution and traced in the audit log: nothing lands on the bill that was not accepted in writing.
Four wordings that should set off an immediate alarm. Each has its antidote on the platform.
A single “all-inclusive” amount, with no items and no quantities: nothing can be verified, and every disagreement turns into word against word. PontBat antidote: the standardised bill of quantities enforces item-by-item detail before any signature.
A big advance “to secure the schedule” or “buy materials”, before any work: your leverage vanishes with the first transfer. Antidote: on PontBat, the money waits in escrow and only leaves after the work is verified, milestone by milestone.
No date, no duration, no penalty: the build can drag on forever with nothing to hold against anyone. Antidote: on PontBat, deadlines and penalties are written into the contract; if things stall, the dispute procedure provides an independent expert's report within 72 h.
No liability certificate, no ten-year warranty, unverifiable references: the risk sits entirely on you. Antidote: on PontBat, every professional is verified in 5 steps — insurance included — and displays a Bronze, Silver or Gold badge, like the SOTUBAT company (Gold badge) from our demos.
On PontBat, the seven lines of this article are checked by default: standardised bill of quantities, vetted professionals, escrowed payments released milestone by milestone.