Make a job estimate you can hand over today
Type straight onto the page. Totals update as you go. When it looks right, print it or choose Save as PDF in the print box. Nothing is uploaded and there is nothing to sign up for.
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|
Before you send it: is this job worth doing?
This box never prints. Enter what the job will cost you in labor and materials.
Profit is worked out on the price after discount and before tax. Tax you collect is not income.
Retyping this for every job gets old
This page is from the team behind ScopeBid: Estimate & Invoice for iPhone. This form starts blank each time. According to its App Store listing, ScopeBid:
- Starts the next quote from a saved past job, with its rates, hours and materials
- Shows price, cost, gross profit, margin and markup before you send, and never prints them
- Makes PDF quotes with your logo and takes an on-screen signature
- Turns an approved quote into an invoice without retyping, and tracks deposits and balance
- Works with no signal, with no account and no cloud copy of your data
Estimates made on this page stay in this browser and do not transfer to the app.
What a good estimate says
Describe the result, not the hours. "Repaint two bedrooms, walls and ceilings, two coats" is something a customer can agree to. "16 hours labor" invites an argument about the sixteenth hour.
Say what is not included. Most disputes are about work nobody wrote down. One line listing what the price leaves out saves more trouble than any other line on the page.
Put an end date on the price. Material costs move. A price that is valid for 30 days protects you if the customer comes back in the spring.
Ask for the deposit in writing. State the amount and that work is booked when it is received. It also tells you who is serious.
Check your margin before you discount. Ten percent off the price takes far more than ten percent off your profit. On a job with a 30 percent margin, a 10 percent discount removes a third of the profit.
Questions
What should a job estimate include?
Your business name and contact details, the customer's name, a date and estimate number, a plain description of each piece of work with quantity and price, any discount, tax, the total, the deposit you need to start, how long the price is valid, and what is not included.
Is the discount taken off before or after tax?
This tool takes the discount off the subtotal first and then works out tax on the discounted amount, which is the usual treatment for a price reduction. Tax rules differ by place and by type of work, so check the rule where you operate.
What is the difference between margin and markup?
Both start from the same profit. Margin divides profit by the price the customer pays. Markup divides profit by your cost. A job that costs 600 and sells for 1,000 has a profit of 400, a margin of 40 percent and a markup of about 67 percent.
Is an estimate legally binding?
That depends on where you work and what the document says. In many places an estimate is an informed approximation and a quote is a fixed offer. This page is a formatting tool, not legal advice. If the difference matters for a job, ask a local professional.
Is my estimate saved?
What you type is kept in this browser only, when the browser allows it, so you can come back to it. Nothing is sent to a server. Use Start over to clear it.
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