Lead Time
Lead time is how long a material takes to arrive once you order it. A long one belongs in the quote’s start date, not something you discover once the job’s already booked.
What it means
Some materials sit on a shelf. Others get made or shipped to order, and the gap between ordering and delivery is the lead time. Ignore it and you either book a start date you can’t keep, or sit on a job waiting for a part while the client wonders what’s taking so long.
The fix is naming it early. Check the lead time before you quote a start date, tell the client if it’s more than a few days, and order as soon as the job is confirmed rather than the week you meant to start.
A custom-sized window is quoted with a four-week lead time. You tell the client the start date depends on the window arriving, order it the day the deposit clears, and the job starts on schedule instead of stalling on a part nobody ordered yet.
Quoting a start date before checking whether the material is even in stock, then pushing it back once you find out it’s weeks away — after the client has already planned around the date you gave them.
See also
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