Construction estimate template.
Price every line: materials, labor, overhead, profit and contingency. The Excel version does the math for you.
Free. Excel or PDF. No email needed.
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Pick your version.
13 categories, from site work to cleanup. The Excel file adds up each line, your overhead and profit, contingency and tax.
What it looks like
An estimate, filled in.
A small bathroom remodel, to show how the sheet adds up. Made-up numbers, not a price guide.
| Category | Item | Qty | Unit | Material / unit | Labor / unit | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demolition | Tear out tub, tile and vanity | 1 | ls | $150 | $900 | $1,050 |
| Plumbing | Move drain, new shower valve | 1 | ls | $450 | $1,200 | $1,650 |
| Tile | Shower walls and floor | 120 | sq ft | $6 | $12 | $2,160 |
| Finishes | Vanity, toilet, fixtures (allowance) | 1 | ls | $1,800 | $600 | $2,400 |
| Dumpsters and cleanup | 10-yard dumpster | 1 | ea | $450 | $0 | $450 |
| Subtotal | $7,710 | |||||
| Overhead and profit (15%) | $1,157 | |||||
| Contingency (5%) | $386 | |||||
| Total | $9,252 | |||||
What to include
What goes in a construction estimate.
Miss one of these and it comes out of your profit, not the client’s pocket.
- MaterialsEverything you buy for the job, per unit. Get current supplier prices, not last year’s.
- LaborYour crew’s hours times what each hour really costs you, plus sub quotes.
- Equipment and dumpstersRentals, delivery, disposal. Easy to forget, easy to lose money on.
- Permits and feesPermit, inspection and utility fees for the job.
- OverheadYour share of truck, insurance, office and phone costs for the time this job takes.
- ProfitWhat you keep after every cost is paid. Price it in on purpose, separately from overhead.
- ContingencyA cushion for what you can’t see yet: rot behind the tile, a bad subfloor.
Step by step
How to use the template.
Then send the client a proposal: free construction proposal template →
- 1Fill in the top
Your company, the client, the job site and the date.
- 2One line per item
Under each category: what it is, how many, the unit, and your material and labor cost per unit.
- 3Cut what you don’t need
Delete categories that don’t apply. Copy a row to add more lines.
- 4Set your percentages
Overhead and profit, contingency and tax go in the green cells. The total updates on its own.
- 5Turn it into a proposal
The client gets scope, price, timeline and payment terms, not your cost math.
Straight answers
Estimate questions builders ask.
Does this work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the Excel file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. The formulas carry over.
What markup should I use?
There’s no single right number. Work out your overhead first: add up a year of costs that aren’t tied to one job and divide by a year of job revenue. Then add the profit you want on top. The template starts at 15% overhead and profit and 5% contingency so you can see how it works. Change them to yours.
Should I show the client my estimate?
Usually not. The estimate is your cost math. The client gets a proposal with the scope, the price, the timeline and the payment terms.
What’s the difference between an estimate and a bid?
An estimate is what the job will cost you. A bid is the price you offer for a job someone else has scoped, often against other builders. You build a bid from an estimate.
