Job price calculator
Materials, other costs, labor hours and your rate, with markup on the parts you buy. The price to put on the bid, and the deposit to ask for at signing.
Everything you spend before day one, so the job is never funded out of your pocket. Round it to something that reads clean on the bid.
Your numbers stay in this browser so the next job starts from them. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Three parts to every price
- Labor. Hours times your hourly rate. The rate should already carry your pay, your overhead, and profit. If it does not, build it first.
- Materials and other costs, marked up. What you pay, plus a markup for handling, pickup, returns, and the warranty trip. Permits and subs count here too.
- The deposit. Not a part of the price, but the part of it you collect at signing: everything you spend before the first day.
Worked example
A water heater swap. The unit, expansion tank, and fittings are $1,800. The permit is $400. Two people for a long morning is 16 hours, at $85. Labor is $1,360. Materials and the permit with 20 percent markup are $2,640. The price is $4,000. The deposit to ask for is $2,200, the material and permit money, which is 55 percent of the price. Most contractors would write $2,000 on the bid and collect it by card when the customer signs.
What the bid should say
One price. A scope that lists what the price covers, one line each, and what it does not. A timeline. The deposit and when the balance is due. Your warranty. A way to accept on the spot. The sample estimates show what that looks like for 84 common jobs.
Questions contractors ask
Should the customer see this breakdown?
No. Put one price on the bid and spell out the scope. A breakdown invites the customer to shop each line and cross things off. The scope explains the number.
Where is the profit on labor?
Inside the hourly rate. If you used the hourly rate calculator, the rate already carries your pay, your overhead, and profit. If you typed a rate from memory, make sure it does.
What goes in other costs?
Anything you pay someone else for this job: permit, dumpster, equipment rental, a sub, a crane, a porta-john. Anything that would be a receipt in a folder.
How did you get the deposit?
It is everything you spend before day one: materials and other costs. Ask for that at signing and the job never comes out of your pocket. Many contractors round it to a clean number or to 50 percent, whichever is more.
What if the number is higher than the competition?
Then you know what the competition is skipping: their overhead, their profit, or the hours they will really spend. Bid your number, spell out the scope, and let the customer compare more than a price.
The other tools
- Hourly rate calculator. What to charge per hour, from what you want to take home, your overhead, and the hours you can bill.
- Markup vs margin calculator. Enter a cost and a markup, see the price and the real margin. Or go the other way.
- Deposit calculator. Job price and the materials you buy first, out comes the deposit, the schedule, and the payment terms line for the bid.
- Invoice generator. Your business, the customer, the lines, tax, the deposit already paid. A clean PDF invoice, no account.
When the number is right, put it on an estimate the customer signs on their phone. Type the job and see it, no account needed. 30 days free, then $29 a month.