Proposed Practice: Signed Acceptance for Quotes
As a best-practice measure, we propose requiring customers to provide written or electronic signature when accepting quotes. This approach is designed to improve clarity, reduce misunderstandings, and ensure that both parties are aligned on scope, pricing, and terms before work begins.
Under U.S. contract law, a binding agreement is formed through offer, acceptance, and consideration. Acceptance does not always require a handwritten signature; however, a signed acceptance is widely recognized as the clearest and most reliable method of documenting a customer’s intent to proceed under the quoted terms. Using signatures helps establish clear evidence of agreement and supports enforceability if questions or disputes arise later.
This practice operates fully within existing federal and state law. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN Act, 15 U.S.C. § 7001) and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) confirm that electronic signatures carry the same legal validity as handwritten signatures and satisfy any legal requirement for a signature. As a result, customers can conveniently approve quotes electronically without added burden.
By implementing signed acceptance, the goal is not to impose unnecessary formalities, but to create a transparent, legally sound process that protects both the customer and the contractor while aligning with established contract law principles. Signed Acceptance on Quotes
Vincent De Marco
shared this idea
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Elaura Carter
commented
I would love to see this introduced or have the ability for it to work with an extension in the short term e.g docusign, adobe etc.
Ideally we should be able to customize the wording and fields of acceptance e.g “Execution of Fee Proposal” “Accepted on behalf of name/company” and have fields that allow clients to add account contacts, site contacts and so on.