A quote template for New Zealand function venues and caterers

Quote or estimate: pick deliberately

Consumer Protection, part of MBIE, explains the difference plainly. A quote is an offer to do a job for an exact price, and once it is accepted you can't charge more unless the client agrees to extra work or the scope changes. An estimate is a best guess, and as a general guide the final price should land within 10 to 15 percent of it.

Functions suit quotes. The client is committing a date and telling guests, and a price that drifts upward erodes trust. Where you genuinely can't fix a price, for example a bar tab that depends on how much people drink, quote the per-drink or per-hour rate and a cap, and label that line as an estimate. Mixing both on one document is fine as long as each line says which it is.

Quote Q-2026-221 (version 2)

Saturday wedding for 90 guests at a vineyard function venue near Christchurch, with an indoor wet-weather option

• Line prices exclude GST; the quote total is shown GST-inclusive.
• Wet-weather plan: ceremony moves to the barrel hall at no charge; decision by 10am the day before.
• Final numbers and dietaries due 14 days before the wedding.

Showing GST at 15%

Private clients think in GST-inclusive dollars, so put the inclusive total first and label it. Business clients want to see the GST content because they will claim it, so add a GST column. The Fair Trading Act prohibits misleading representations about price, and a headline per-head rate that later turns out to be plus GST, plus venue hire, plus service is the kind of thing that ends in a complaint.

If you are not registered for GST, do not show a GST line and do not include GST in your prices. Keep an eye on the NZ$60,000 threshold: a caterer doing twenty weddings a year at NZ$4,000 each is already past it.

How New Zealand functions are usually priced

Venue hire is normally a flat fee for a set number of hours. Food is sold per head as a buffet, shared platters, a plated two or three courses, or grazing stations for stand-up events. Drinks come as a package per head, a bar tab with a limit, a cash bar, or BYO with corkage per bottle. Extras include AV, a dance floor, heaters or a marquee for outdoor sites, and a late finish fee.

Give every item its own line with a quantity and a unit price. If numbers move from 90 to 80 guests, the client should be able to see the food and drink lines change and the venue hire stay the same. It prevents the 'why is it still so expensive' conversation.

If you offer packages, still break them into lines on the quote. A package price hides which parts move with numbers, and the client will ask anyway once the RSVPs come in.

• Venue hire with the hours included and the rate per extra hour
• Food per head, with children's and supplier meals priced separately
• Drinks: package per head, capped bar tab, cash bar or BYO corkage
• Outdoor extras: marquee, heaters, lighting, portable toilets
• Late finish fee and any cleaning or rubbish removal charge

What your quotation must show in New Zealand

Wet-weather plans belong in the quote

A lot of New Zealand weddings are planned for gardens, vineyards and beaches, and a lot of spring Saturdays are wet. Put the wet-weather plan in the quote: which indoor space is included, whether a marquee is on standby and what it costs if used, and who decides and by what time. A standby marquee that suddenly becomes a NZ$2,500 line on the invoice is exactly the price change an accepted quote does not allow unless it was written in.

Write the decision time down, for example 10am on the day before, so the marquee company can confirm.

Final numbers, deposits and cancellation

Set a minimum number of guests and a final numbers date, usually 10 to 14 days before. Charge for confirmed numbers even if fewer turn up. Take a deposit to secure the date, commonly 20 to 30 percent, with the balance a week or two before the event.

Remember the GST timing. The time of supply is generally the earlier of invoicing and receiving payment, and Inland Revenue's IS 10/03 explains that a deposit the supplier is entitled to from the moment of payment triggers it. Write your terms so it is clear whether the deposit is a part-payment you keep or a refundable bond you hold.

Cancellation terms should step up as the date gets closer, for example deposit retained up to 90 days out, 50 percent of the total within 60 days and 100 percent within 14 days. Keep them in proportion to what you actually lose by not being able to rebook the date.

Validity and acceptance

Give each quote a number, a version and a validity period of 14 to 30 days, and say the date is only held once the deposit is paid. Include your GST number on the quote so the client can see the tax invoice will be valid. Close with an acceptance block: client name, signature or written acceptance by email, date, and deposit amount with bank account details.

Before you send it, check that every line would make sense to someone who wasn't on the site visit. The person paying is often a parent or an office manager who never saw the room.

Send the quote as a PDF and keep the editable version on the booking. When a revision goes out, mark the old one superseded so nobody pays against it by accident.

Quotation questions from New Zealand