Overview
Formwork is the cost of the concrete that hasn't been poured yet
Formwork is one of the trades where the customer doesn't see the work. By the time they walk on site, the forms have been struck and the slab or wall is finished. The cost is in the setup: marking out, plumb checks, propping, sheeting, releasing agents, and stripping when the concrete is up to strength. A formwork quote that just gives a per-square-metre rate for 'shutter' hides the strike, the cleaning, the reuse cycles, and the labour split between erection and stripping. The contractor ends up doing a job for the rental cost of their own panels.
QuoteGenio gives formwork contractors room to put it on the page. Erection by square metre of vertical face or linear metre of edge, releasing agent and prop hire as their own lines, strike labour separately, sheeting reuse priced honestly, and labour by day. Send the quote via WhatsApp from the slab, take a deposit on acceptance, raise progress invoices as each pour goes off, and the final invoice when the last panel is cleaned and stacked. Customers comparing three formwork quotes choose the one whose number they can follow.
Who it is for
Who uses QuoteGenio
Built for every type of formwork and shuttering business.
The problem
The quoting problems every formwork contractor knows
Formwork quotes are all about square metres, set-and-strike cycles, and plant hire. Get one wrong and your margin disappears by the second pour.
Take-offs from drawings take hours
Measuring slab edges, column counts, and soffit areas off a set of drawings before you can even price the job is a full evening of admin.
Shutter cycles are easy to underprice
Most contractors forget that a shutter earns its money over three to five re-uses. Price it as a single-use item and you've underbid the job.
Main contractors compare by the metre
If your quote isn't clearly priced per square metre of contact area, the QS strips it out and compares it to someone else's cleaner rate.
The fix
QuoteGenio makes it simple
A faster, cleaner quoting workflow built around how formwork crews actually price work, by contact area, cycle, and plant.
The payoff
What you get with QuoteGenio
The everyday wins that add up across a year of quoting and invoicing.
Built for formwork
Line items for set, strike, prop, cycle, and plant hire. Everything a formwork quote needs, with nothing it doesn't.
Price by contact area
Quote slabs and walls by square metre of formed face, exactly the way the QS wants to see it on the bill of quantities.
Works from the site office
Put together a take-off on your tablet in the site cabin and send it to the main contractor before you leave the gate.
Stage claims and retention
Convert your quote into monthly progress invoices and track retention releases without running a separate spreadsheet.
Built for your trade
Quoting calibrated to how formwork contractors actually work
Pick your trade in Settings and the entire quote flow switches to fit. Line item presets, compliance fields, on-the-quote calculators, and per-m² / after-hours pricing all change to match your industry.
Trade-specific line items
Quick add picker pre-fills the common items your trade quotes. Skip the blank rows.
Brand-specific catalogues
Pylontech, Hikvision, Canadian Solar, Sunsynk and others pre-named. Pick the brand, the description writes itself.
Compliance fields built in
IOPSA, ECASA, PIRB, PSIRA, NHBRC, SAQCC. Set once. Every quote prints them under FROM.
Registration expiry alerts
Dashboard notification 60 days before your PSIRA, CoC or any dated registration lapses.
Per-m² / hour / day billing
Unit selector on every line item: m², hr, linear m, days. Stop doing the maths externally.
After-hours and emergency
1.5× and 2× multipliers as a one-tap toggle. Customer sees the breakdown on the quote.
Quote-flow calculators
Solar size, battery backup, cable run cost. Compute on the spot, drop straight onto the quote.
Staged payments
Deposit on acceptance + balance on completion as two separate amounts on the quote PDF.
Scope-of-work checklist
Structured Included / Not included lists. Client acceptance = signing the scope.
Site-survey mode
Log a location per line item: camera positions, fixtures by room, sensors by zone.
Regional rate hints
Pricing ranges per item per currency shown as you quote.
Free on every plan
All of the above included on the free plan. Premium is for capacity, not the trade tooling.
Why QuoteGenio
Why Formwork Contractors choose QuoteGenio
The tools that matter most when you are quoting on-site, under pressure, and between jobs.
Quote from your phone
Most Formwork Contractors build and send quotes directly from the job site. No laptop, no office, no delays.
Win more jobs, faster
The first professional quote a client receives usually wins. Respond in minutes, not hours.
Quote to invoice in one click
When the job is accepted, convert to an invoice instantly. No retyping, no double entry.
Pricing guide
Typical Formwork Contractors job pricing
A rough guide to what formwork contractors charge on typical jobs. Pricing shifts with cycle count, shutter type, slab thickness, and access. Use these ranges as a sanity check when building your own rate card, not as fixed numbers.
| Job | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Suspended slab formwork (per sq m contact) | R364 - R628 / sq m |
| Column formwork (per sq m contact) | R463 - R859 / sq m |
| Wall formwork, both faces (per sq m) | R529 - R959 / sq m |
| Beam soffit and sides (per sq m contact) | R496 - R909 / sq m |
| Staircase formwork (per flight) | R19,832 - R46,276 |
| Prop and shore hire (per prop per week) | R132 - R297 |
| Retention (held to practical completion) | 5% - 10% of contract |
Pricing converted from USD to ZAR at indicative rates. Rates vary significantly by country, region, currency, and market.
Call-out fees
Formwork is priced on contact area, the square metres of face your shutter touches, not on the volume of concrete poured. Always state in your quote that the rate assumes a minimum re-use cycle (typically three to five uses). If the main contractor reduces cycles, your rate has to go up, and that needs to be in writing from day one.
Hourly vs fixed pricing
Use fixed rates per square metre for standard slabs, columns, and walls where the drawings are clear. Use day rates (typically R2,975 to R4,628 per man per day) for remedial, strike-only, or small repair work where scope is uncertain. Be explicit on the quote about which rate covers which portion of the job.
See it in action
Example quote breakdown
Here's what a clean, itemised formwork quote looks like for a suspended slab. Notice how the set, strike, prop hire, and crane lift are all priced separately. That transparency is what a QS needs to sign off without stripping lines out.
Try it yourself
Job size
Region
Sample quote
Suspended slab, 180 sq m, two re-use cycles
Slab soffit formwork (set and strike)
Edge shuttering and stop ends
Acrow prop hire (80 props, 3 weeks)
Release agent and fixings
Crane assist for panel lifts (half day)
Strike, clean, and stack for re-use
Site clean and off-hire collection
| Description | Qty | Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slab soffit formwork (set and strike) | 180 | R463 / sq m | R83,296 |
| Edge shuttering and stop ends | 1 | R10,247 | R10,247 |
| Acrow prop hire (80 props, 3 weeks) | 240 | R165 | R39,665 |
| Release agent and fixings | 1 | R5,289 | R5,289 |
| Crane assist for panel lifts (half day) | 1 | R14,048 | R14,048 |
| Strike, clean, and stack for re-use | 180 | R99 / sq m | R17,849 |
| Site clean and off-hire collection | 1 | R4,628 | R4,628 |
| Subtotal | R175,021 | ||
| Tax (10%) | R17,502 | ||
| Total incl. tax | R192,523 | ||
Totals recalculate as you change the controls above. Tax rate inferred from the sample quote.
Items often forgotten
Release agent, stop ends, prop hire duration, crane or telehandler lifts, strike and clean labour, off-hire collection, and an allowance for damaged ply. Put these on your template once and you'll never absorb them into your labour rate again.
Peer snapshot
How Formwork Contractors actually use QuoteGenio
Indicative activity for Formwork Contractors on the platform. Use it as a benchmark for how often to quote and how fast to respond.
16
Quotes sent per month
48%
Average quote acceptance
4 min
Median time to send quote
R192,523
Typical quote value
Figures are indicative platform averages for this trade segment.
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Avoid these
Common quoting mistakes
We talk to a lot of formwork contractors. The same traps come up again and again: underpricing cycles, forgetting prop hire, and letting the QS strip out soft lines. Fix these and your margin per pour improves immediately.
Mistake: Pricing by concrete volume instead of contact area
Better: Concrete volume is the ready-mix supplier's problem, not yours. Price your formwork per square metre of shuttered face. That's what the QS compares and what your shutter hire actually costs you.
Mistake: No re-use cycle clause
Better: State on every quote that the rate assumes a minimum number of re-uses (three, four, or five). If the programme changes and the cycles drop, your rate goes up. Get that agreed in writing before the first pour.
Mistake: Forgetting prop hire duration
Better: Props stay on site long after the slab is struck. A 3 week backprop period on an 80 prop job is real money. Itemise prop hire by prop per week, not as a single lump.
Mistake: Ignoring crane and telehandler time
Better: Lifting panels, props, and timber onto upper floors needs a crane or telehandler. If the main contractor isn't providing free lifts, price them in by the half day.
Mistake: Bundling strike labour into the set rate
Better: Striking and cleaning shutters for re-use is a separate activity. List it as its own line, either per square metre or as a percentage of the set rate, so nobody argues about it on day 90.
Mistake: No allowance for damaged ply
Better: Ply and timber get chewed up on every cycle. Add a 3 to 5 percent allowance for damaged formwork, or list replacement ply as a day-work item the main contractor pays for.
Mistake: Quoting without a payment schedule
Better: Formwork jobs run over weeks. State the payment stages clearly: mobilisation, monthly progress claims, practical completion, retention release. Otherwise you're funding the main contractor's project.
Mistake: No follow-up after sending the quote
Better: Most quotes that don't close, don't close because nobody followed up. Send a polite check-in 48 hours after the quote lands, and a second nudge at day 7. Two of every three accepted quotes get there because someone followed up.
Step by step
How to quote formwork jobs
Start with the drawings, not the site. Take off slab contact area in square metres of soffit, column contact area face by face, wall formwork on both faces including ties, beam soffits and sides by linear metre, and every staircase as a separate flight. Walk the site to check crane availability, telehandler access for panel lifts, ground conditions for props, and the programme because re-use cycles are decided by the main contractor's pour sequence. Ask the site agent to confirm the minimum cycle count you can assume (three, four, or five uses) because a three-cycle job at a five-cycle rate leaves you losing money from the second pour onwards. Photograph stop ends, edge conditions, and any awkward corbels or upstands that push labour hours up.
Itemise set-and-strike per square metre of contact area, edge shuttering and stop ends as a lump or per metre, Acrow prop hire by prop per week, release agent and fixings, crane or telehandler lifts by the half-day, and a separate strike-clean-and-stack rate per square metre for re-use. Price formwork on contact area, not on concrete volume, because that is what ties to your actual ply and prop cost and what the QS uses to compare bids. State the re-use cycle count explicitly in the description: 'rate assumes minimum three re-uses; cycles below this trigger a rate revision in writing'. Include a 3 to 5 percent allowance for damaged ply and timber, or quote replacement ply as a day-work item the main contractor orders, so you never swallow consumables into labour.
Formwork jobs run over weeks and months, so payment terms matter more than validity. State a payment schedule on every quote: mobilisation deposit, monthly progress claims tied to completed pours, practical completion, and retention release. Quote retention of 5 to 10 percent held to practical completion with half released on snag sign-off and half at the end of the defects period, so the final invoice timing is never a surprise. Price backprop periods (7 to 14 days before first strike plus 21 to 28 days of backpropping) by the prop per week so the engineer extending the backprop period bills automatically as a variation rather than eating your yard stock. Add a day-works rate of $ 180 to $ 280 per man per day for remedial, strike-only, or repair work.
Send the quote to the QS the same day as the drawings land. Main contractors running tight programmes compare formwork bids on clarity of the contact-area rate and the cycle clause, and the contractor whose itemised PDF arrives first usually gets the job because it can be loaded into the cost plan without further work. Build the take-off on your tablet in the site cabin, share the PDF as a WhatsApp link to the QS, and follow up after a day or two. When the main contractor shortens the programme and your cycles drop, issue a clean variation inside QuoteGenio with the revised rate so the rate change is agreed in writing before the first panel lift.
FAQ
Common questions from formwork contractors
Everything you need to know before getting started.
Yes. QuoteGenio supports unlimited line items. Add set rates, strike rates, prop hire, crane lifts, and any other charge. Each line item has its own description, quantity, and price.
Yes. As you add line items and quantities, totals update instantly. VAT, subtotals, and grand totals are all calculated for you. No spreadsheet needed.
Yes. Every quote can be downloaded as a professional branded PDF or shared as a secure link via WhatsApp, email, or any other channel.
Yes. You can edit and resend a quote at any time. When scope changes, update the line items and send the revised version for the QS to sign off.
Yes. QuoteGenio shows you the status of all your invoices (outstanding, paid, or overdue) so you always know where you stand on progress claims.
Yes. The free plan gives you 5 quotes and 2 invoices per month with no credit card required. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited quotes, invoices, statements, and reports.
Always per square metre of contact area, the shuttered face your formwork touches. Concrete volume is the ready-mix supplier's metric. Contact area is what ties your price to your actual cost of ply, props, and labour, and it's what the QS uses to compare competing bids.
State in your quote that the rate assumes a minimum number of re-use cycles, typically three to five. Divide your shutter cost by the cycle count to get a realistic per-use rate, then add labour to set, strike, and clean. If the main contractor shortens the programme and drops your cycles, your rate has to go up, and that clause needs to be in writing.
Standard backprop periods are 7 to 14 days before first strike and a further 21 to 28 days of backpropping depending on the engineer's instruction. Quote prop hire by the prop per week so your price tracks the actual duration on site. If the engineer extends the backprop period, you bill the extra weeks as a variation.
Retention of 5 to 10 percent is standard on commercial contracts, held until practical completion or snag sign-off. State it clearly on your quote and on every progress claim so the final invoice timing is never a surprise. Release is typically half on practical completion and half at the end of the defects period.
Still have questions? We would rather answer them now than after you have signed up.
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Guides
Guides for Formwork Contractors
Practical advice to help you quote better, get paid faster, and grow your business.
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