A request for quotation is a specification with a commercial question attached: can you price this, on these terms, for this place? If the specification is missing, the reply you get will be a list of questions you could have answered the first time. This is a field guide for that first send.
The minimum that lets someone quote
- Legal business name and the person who can clarify the spec.
- A business email and phone.
- What the product is, in concrete terms: size, material, pack, and any standard the buyer is requiring.
- Quantity, with the unit. “A lot” is not a unit.
- The ZIP where delivery would be discussed.
- Whether the timing is a preference or a constraint.
- Whether an equivalent is acceptable.
The SummitCore quote form is built around those fields. You can also send the same substance by email once the company confirms the inbox. The form is not an order.
Write the line the way a picker would read it
“Electrical supplies for the job” cannot be priced. “Two hundred 3/4-inch liquidtight fittings, straight, for a damp location, equivalent acceptable if the trade size matches” can at least be discussed. Use the electrical category and the other category pages as prompts for what to specify. Do not use the sample catalog as a cart. The samples show naming, not availability.
Attachments that help
- A spreadsheet of lines, with one item per row and a column for “substitute yes or no.”
- A cut sheet or a project spec section, if you already have one.
- A photo of the existing dispenser, fitting, or label — only if it does not show anything sensitive.
Keep the file under 4 MB, in a common format. Do not attach card numbers, bank details, or identity documents. If the list is long, the spreadsheet is more useful than a paragraph.
Say what you will accept besides the exact item
Substitutions are where time is lost. Mark each line. “Exact only” and “equivalent allowed if the performance matches” are both workable. Silence is not. If you are buying for a job with a submittal, attach the submittal requirement rather than paraphrasing it from memory.
Leave room for a no
A competent reply is sometimes “we cannot quote this line.” Build the request so that answer is possible without embarrassment. Split critical-path lines from convenience lines. Read how to evaluate a wholesale supplier for how to judge the reply when it comes back.
Contractors with a jobsite ZIP and a mixed list can also look at construction contractors. The industry page is about the shape of the request, not a claim that every job can be supplied.
A quotation, if one is issued, is a separate document. The website terms are not that document.