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The quote-ready file checklist
Twenty checks that stand between an incoming file and a price you will not regret, grouped in the order you actually do them.
Almost every unprofitable translation job can be traced to something nobody asked about before the price was sent. Nobody asked whether the PDF was scanned. Nobody asked whether the deadline was the client review date or the filing date. Nobody asked whether the certificate needed a signature, or whether the target locale was Mexico or Spain. The work itself was fine. The quote was written from an assumption.
This checklist is the fix, and it is short on purpose so you will actually run it. Four stages, five checks each, in the order a job moves through your hands: scope, count, price, send. Run it once and it takes ten minutes. Run it for a month and most of it becomes automatic, which is the point, because the checks you internalize are the ones that survive a busy Friday.
Stage one, scope the job before you price it
Stage two, get a word count you can defend
Stage three, price it against your rate card
Stage four, send the quote so it holds
How to use it
Use the checklist in two ways. First as a live script during the intake conversation, since almost every item on stage one is a question and asking them together sounds professional rather than fussy. Second as a gate before the quote goes out, where stages two and four take a couple of minutes and catch the scanned PDF or the missing certification requirement while it is still cheap to catch.
Small language companies get more out of it as a shared document. When two people quote, the checklist is what keeps the second quote consistent with the first, and it means the partner who is deep in a file can hand off an incoming request without a long handover conversation. Keep your minimum fee and rush tier written at the top so nobody has to remember them.
Send me the editable copy
Send your email and we will send back the editable copy so you can add your own minimum fee, rush tiers and specialty specific checks.
Questions about this document
Does this work for agency clients as well as direct clients?
Yes, though stage one shortens with agencies because their purchase orders usually carry the locale, format and deadline already. Stages two and three matter more with agency work, since the file often arrives with an analysis that suits their grid rather than yours. Check both before you accept.
What changes for a certified translation?
Stage one gains weight and stage three changes shape. You need to know the receiving body and whether a signed statement of competence is required, and the price usually comes from a per document minimum rather than a per word rate. Build the certificate wording once and reuse it.
Do I need WordRate to use the checklist?
No. It works on paper or in a shared document, and plenty of translators run it that way. WordRate simply automates stage three, since the rate card, the minimum fee and the rush tier are already stored against the client and get applied to the quote without you looking anything up.
Stage three without the lookup
The checklist tells you to apply this client rate card rather than your list rate, hold the total against your minimum fee and show the rush tier openly. Those are the three checks that get skipped first on a busy Friday, because each one means opening a different file. A demo shows the same stage running from stored rates, with the term list already on the job.