Job Estimate
Build your customer proposal
Turn the project takeoff into a customer-ready price and proposal.
1. Customer & Project
Your business details
2. Labor & pricing
Enter labor here OR as a line item below, so it is counted once. Overhead and markup apply to the complete direct cost.
3. Materials & line items
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit Cost | Total |
|---|
4. Scope & terms
5. Payment schedule
Name each milestone and enter its percentage. The schedule should total 100%. This is a billing plan; it does not collect payments.
How to build a useful job estimate
A useful estimate explains the work as well as the price. Start with measured quantities and current supplier prices, then describe what the customer is buying. This tool separates materials, labor, overhead and markup so you can check each part before printing.
Step by step
- Add the business, customer, project address and estimate reference. Set a validity date so old supplier prices are not mistaken for a current offer.
- List each material with its quantity, unit and unit cost. Enter labor hours and rate in the pricing section, or itemize labor in the table; do not count the same labor twice.
- Enter equipment and fees, then set overhead, markup, tax and any discount. Read the calculation explanation below before applying percentages.
- Describe preparation, included work, exclusions and payment milestones. Save the draft, then use Print / PDF for the customer copy.
Worked example
Illustrative repaint estimate: materials $200 plus 8 labor hours at $50 gives $600 direct cost. Overhead at 10% adds $60. Markup at 20% applies to $660 and adds $132. With zero tax and no discount, the proposal is $792. A 25% / 50% / 25% payment schedule is $198 / $396 / $198.
Understand the pricing basis
Direct cost is materials + labor + equipment + permits. Overhead is a percentage of direct cost; markup is a percentage of direct cost plus overhead. Tax is applied to that combined subtotal before the dollar discount. This is a simplified tax model: if your job has different taxable categories, calculate the applicable adjustment separately and explain it. Markup is not profit margin: a $100 cost marked up 20% sells for $120, leaving $20, or 16.67% of the selling price, before other expenses.
Where is my estimate saved?
Save Draft stores one current proposal in this browser on this device. It does not send the estimate to a customer or sync it to another device. Download draft backup makes a JSON file you can reopen here. Print / PDF makes the customer document. Clearing browser data can remove locally saved work.