Contractor Basic Estimator Helper
Know your numbers before you bid the job, not after you finish it.
$29 $14.50 50% Off
Know your numbers before you bid the job, not after you finish it.
$29 $14.50 50% Off
Most contractors set their markup based on gut feel or what the competition charges. That works until it does not. One slow month, one surprise materials cost, one job that takes longer than expected, and suddenly you are working for free or worse.
This workbook gives you a structured way to calculate your actual overhead rate, build estimates that include your real costs (not just materials and labor), and compare what you estimated against what actually happened. It is not a full estimating software platform. It is a focused, practical tool that helps you answer three questions: What does it actually cost me to run this business? Am I building that cost into my bids? And when a job is done, did it come in where I expected?
Enter your annual overhead expenses across detailed categories (insurance, vehicle costs, office expenses, tools, licensing, and more), and the workbook calculates your overhead rate as a percentage of your direct costs. The categories match the overhead section of the BalanceWise Contractor chart of accounts, so if you are using the Contractor QBO Setup Kit, the numbers line up directly. You will know exactly what percentage to add to your direct costs to cover your actual overhead.
Enter your estimated materials, labor hours, labor rates, subcontractor costs, and equipment costs for a job. The workbook applies your overhead rate and your desired profit margin to produce a total bid price. You can see exactly how much of your bid covers direct costs, how much covers overhead, and how much is profit. Adjust the profit markup and see how the total bid changes.
After you finish a job, enter the actual costs alongside your original estimates. The workbook calculates the variance for each cost category so you can see where you were accurate and where you missed. Over time, this is how you get better at estimating: by tracking where reality differs from your projections.
Plain-language instructions for using each tab, definitions of key terms, and guidance on how to think about overhead rate and profit margin for your trade.
Delivered as a 4-tab Excel workbook (.xlsx)
General contractors, trade contractors, and any builder or tradesperson who bids jobs and wants a clearer picture of whether those bids are actually covering their costs. This is especially useful if you have never formally calculated your overhead rate or if you have been using a flat markup percentage without knowing whether it covers your real expenses.
The Estimator Helper is designed as a companion to the Contractor / Trades QBO Setup Kit. The overhead categories in Tab 1 match the overhead accounts in the Contractor chart of accounts, which means you can pull your actual overhead numbers from your QBO reports and plug them directly into the calculator. You do not have to translate between two different category systems.
That said, the Estimator Helper works on its own. You do not need the Contractor Kit to use it. But if you are setting up QuickBooks Online and building a pricing strategy at the same time, the bundle gives you both tools for $66 (a $10 savings over buying them separately).
Stop guessing at your overhead and start building estimates based on real numbers.
The complete QuickBooks Online chart of accounts for contractors. 103-106 accounts with QBO-importable CSV files, setup guide, and cheat sheet.
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