Requesting a Legal Service Quotation Comparison: When requesting legal services in Bali, the lowest quoted amount is not automatically the lowest total cost or the best fit. Two proposals can carry different prices because they may include different work, documents, assumptions, external charges, revision limits or support after completion.
The practical solution is to make the quotations comparable before judging the numbers.
For services provided by an Advocate, Article 21 of Law No. 18 of 2003 states that an Advocate is entitled to receive honorarium for legal services provided to the client and that the amount is determined reasonably based on agreement between the parties.
Indonesia’s official legal-documentation network currently lists Law No. 18 of 2003 on Advocates as in force.
That rule relates specifically to Advocate honorarium. A broader quotation for a business or investment matter can also contain company-setup work, licensing assistance, notarial documents, property checks, tax or accounting work and potential external charges. Those elements should be separated rather than treated as one unexplained headline number.
Requesting a Legal Service Quotation Comparison: Start With the Same Scope
A useful comparison starts before the quotations arrive.
Send every provider substantially the same brief. If one provider is asked for PT PMA incorporation only while another is asked to include incorporation, NIB, OSS licensing, tax registration and post-establishment assistance, the totals do not represent competing prices for the same job.
Use a written scope that answers four questions:
- What problem needs to be solved?
- What final outcome do you expect?
- What documents or facts already exist?
- What work do you expect the provider to handle?
This creates a common baseline for the comparison.
What Information Should You Send Before Asking for a Quote?
The more clearly the matter is described, the easier it is for a provider to identify the actual work.
A quotation request can include:
- your name or company name
- whether you are an Indonesian or foreign investor where relevant
- type of service required
- short description of the transaction or business problem
- intended outcome
- location of the business, property or transaction where relevant
- existing entity or ownership structure
- documents already available
- services already completed by another provider
- known deadline or commercial target date
- whether you need only a review or also implementation and filing
- whether ongoing support is required after completion
For a company-setup matter, include the intended business activities, shareholders and proposed location. For a property matter, identify the property and the type of transaction. For a contract matter, explain the parties, transaction and purpose of the agreement.
Do not send sensitive documents to multiple providers unnecessarily before understanding how they will be used and what information is required for the initial quotation.
9 Checks for Comparing Legal Service Quotations
Once the proposals arrive, copy the relevant information into one comparison table.
| Comparison item | Quotation A | Quotation B | What to clarify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope of work | Are both providers handling the same tasks? | ||
| Final deliverables | What documents, approvals or reports will you receive? | ||
| Professional fee | What work does the professional fee cover? | ||
| External costs | Which official or third-party costs are included or excluded? | ||
| Assumptions | What facts must remain true for the quotation to apply? | ||
| Revisions | How many changes or amendments are included? | ||
| Timeline | What does the timing depend on? | ||
| Payment terms | When does each payment become due? | ||
| Post-completion support | What happens after the main deliverable is issued? |
The table does not determine the provider automatically. It reveals whether the proposals are actually comparable.
1. Exact Scope of Work
Read the description of services before looking at the total.
For example, a business-setup quotation might cover only preparation and incorporation of a company. Another proposal might also include activity review, NIB, OSS processing, licensing follow-up, tax registration or later compliance assistance.
Ask the provider to list the work as individual tasks rather than relying on descriptions such as “complete setup” or “all-inclusive” without defining what those phrases mean.
2. Final Deliverables
A quotation should make the expected output understandable.
Depending on the matter, the deliverable might be:
- a reviewed agreement
- a drafted agreement or deed
- a corporate document
- a registration or licensing output
- a property-document review
- a written legal analysis
- a tax or accounting deliverable
- a package containing several outputs
Ask what documents you will receive at the end and which items are merely assistance rather than guaranteed outputs controlled by the provider.
3. Professional Fees and External Costs
Separate the provider’s fee from costs that may be payable to another party.
Ask whether the quotation includes or excludes items such as:
- notarial work
- government or official charges where applicable
- certification costs
- sworn translation
- document legalisation
- courier or document delivery
- technical or professional third-party work
- taxes applicable to the transaction or service
This does not mean every matter requires those expenses. The objective is simply to avoid discovering an excluded cost after work has started.
4. Exclusions and Assumptions
The exclusions section can be more important than the headline fee.
Ask what the quotation assumes about:
- number of shareholders or parties
- number of documents
- number of business activities
- property status
- completeness of client documents
- language requirements
- revisions requested after work begins
- additional licensing discovered during review
- changes to the transaction structure
A cheaper quotation can remain the better option when the scope genuinely matches your needs. It becomes difficult to compare when critical work is simply absent from the proposal.
5. Revision and Amendment Boundaries
Legal and business projects can change after the initial instruction.
Ask what happens if you change:
- shareholders
- company activities
- transaction parties
- property
- contract terms
- corporate structure
- licensing scope
- instructions after a draft has already been prepared
The quotation should make clear whether minor revisions are included and when a material change requires a new scope or additional fee.
6. Timeline and Client Dependencies
A quoted timeline should be read together with its assumptions.
Ask whether the stated period begins when you accept the quotation, make the first payment, provide complete documents or satisfy another requirement.
Also distinguish work controlled by the service provider from processing that depends on government systems, third parties, document availability or client decisions.
A shorter stated timeline is only directly comparable when both providers are describing the same starting point and the same scope.
7. Payment Terms
Compare when the money becomes payable, not only the total amount.
Common commercial structures can include an initial payment followed by one or more milestones, but the appropriate arrangement depends on the engagement.
For each quotation, record:
- initial payment required
- milestone payments
- final payment trigger
- treatment of additional work
- whether external costs are paid in advance or separately
The payment structure should match the written scope so both parties can understand when a stage has been reached.
8. Completion Evidence and Handover
Before appointing a provider, define what completion means.
If the engagement is document preparation, completion might mean delivery of the agreed final document. If it concerns registration or licensing assistance, identify which output or status represents completion of the quoted scope.
Ask whether you will receive copies of final documents, registrations, receipts or other relevant handover materials.
This prevents disagreement over whether the professional assignment has ended while related business tasks remain outstanding.
9. Post-Completion Support
Some matters end when the document or registration is delivered. Others create immediate follow-up obligations.
Ask whether the quotation includes:
- clarification after handover
- correction of provider-originated administrative errors
- assistance responding to follow-up requests
- corporate-document updates
- recurring tax or accounting work
- later licensing or compliance support
Do not assume unlimited support simply because a provider assisted with the original matter. Confirm the boundary in writing.
How to Choose Between Two Different Quotations
Do not reduce the decision to one column.
A higher quotation may contain a broader scope, while a lower quotation may be appropriate when you only need one narrowly defined service. The right comparison depends on what you actually need.
Use this scenario test:
Choose the narrower scope when: you already have other advisers handling the excluded work, your requirement is clearly limited, and the quoted deliverable solves the complete problem you are assigning.
Consider the broader scope when: several connected steps must be coordinated, the exclusions in the lower quotation would require separate appointments, or you want one defined workflow covering multiple related deliverables.
Request clarification before choosing when: two quotations use different terminology, one contains unclear exclusions, official or third-party charges are not separated, or the stated timeline cannot be matched to a clear deliverable.
For company formation specifically, Bali Legal ID’s company setup cost guide for Indonesia explains why regulatory investment, paid-up capital and professional setup charges should not be treated as the same figure. For an item-by-item review of a foreign-investment proposal, use the PT PMA setup service scope.
For a broader tourism project, the tourism business setup cost and timeline guide provides an example of how company, licensing, property, construction and operating items can create different quotation scopes.
Conclusion
Requesting a legal service quotation comparison is most useful when every provider is responding to the same problem, expected outcome and scope.
Start by standardising the request. Then compare scope, deliverables, professional fees, external costs, exclusions, revisions, timing assumptions, payment terms, completion evidence and post-completion support.
The objective is not to find the highest or lowest number. It is to identify which quotation accurately covers the work you need, makes material exclusions visible and gives you a clear basis for deciding what happens next.
Request a Scope-Based Legal Service Quotation
If you need a quotation for company setup, NIB OSS registration, agreements, property-document work, tax consulting, accounting or another supported business-legal service in Bali, Bali Legal ID can review the matter and define the proposed scope before pricing is finalised.
For a more comparable quotation, provide the service required, intended outcome, available documents, relevant parties or company structure, project location and any existing quotation whose scope you want to compare.
For help scoping the documents and next steps for your business or transaction, contact Bali Legal ID about our business setup services in Bali.
Read More: Business Setup Bali for PT PMA, PT PMDN & OSS RBA Registration
FAQ requesting a legal service quotation comparison
Should I choose the cheapest legal service quotation?
Not automatically. First confirm that the quotations cover the same work, deliverables, external costs, assumptions and support. A lower quotation can be appropriate for a narrower requirement, but it should not be compared directly with a broader proposal as though both contain the same service.
What should a legal service quotation clearly identify?
For comparison purposes, ask for the scope of work, expected deliverables, professional fee, excluded or external costs, assumptions, revision boundaries, timing assumptions, payment schedule and post-completion support.
Are Advocate fees fixed by one standard price in Indonesia?
Article 21 of Law No. 18 of 2003 states that an Advocate is entitled to honorarium for legal services and that the amount is determined reasonably based on agreement between the parties. This statement concerns Advocate honorarium and should not be used to assume that every other professional, official or third-party charge follows the same rule.
How can I make two quotations easier to compare?
Send both providers the same written brief and transfer each response into the same comparison table. If one proposal contains additional work, identify that difference before comparing the headline totals.
Should government or third-party costs be separated from professional fees?
Yes, as a practical comparison method. Ask the provider to identify which costs are part of the professional fee and which potential official, notarial, translation, certification or other third-party costs are included, excluded or payable separately.
What documents should I send when requesting a quotation?
Start with documents necessary to understand the matter and prepare the scope. The exact documents depend on the service. For company setup, describe ownership and business activities; for agreements, describe the parties and transaction; for property work, identify the property and intended transaction.
References & Sources
- Law Number 18 of 2003 on Advocates — Official Statutory Text — peraturan.bpk.go.id
- Official Status Record for Law Number 18 of 2003 on Advocates — jdihn.go.id
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