Quote the job, itemise the parts
A print quotation is paper, plates, printing, lamination, binding and delivery, each with its own cost. Quoting a single figure makes every subsequent change a renegotiation, because the customer cannot see what moved. Itemised, a change in quantity or a switch of paper adjusts one line and the conversation stays short.
The specification is the protection
Size, paper GSM, colours, quantity, finishing and delivery date — recorded on the quotation and carried onto the invoice — are what settle the argument when a customer says the job is not what they ordered. Reconstructing that from a phone call two weeks later is not possible, and in printing the reprint cost falls on whoever cannot prove what was agreed.
Advances and staged jobs
Print work usually takes an advance before plates are made, because the material is committed. Recording it against the party means the balance on delivery is correct and visible rather than reconstructed. For a large job delivered in parts, one quotation can produce several bills, each linked back so the running position is clear to both sides.
The number to watch
Reprints and wastage as a share of jobs. Every reprint is your paper, your ink and your time, and the causes are few — a specification misheard, a proof not approved, a quantity misread. Recording jobs properly makes the pattern visible, and it usually points at one step in the process rather than at bad luck.