How to write an estimate the client signs

Measure carefully. Price from a list you trust. Write the scope so the client can follow it. Then send it the same day if you can.

That's the whole job. The rest of this page is how to do each part without leaving money on the table or losing the job to the next guy's quote.

Start with the walk-through

The estimate is only as good as what you saw and measured. On the walk-through:

Measure everything you'll price. Floor area, wall area in the shower, linear feet of trim, the height of the ceiling. Write it down in feet and inches as you go. Don't trust yourself to remember it in the truck.

Take photos. The existing tile, the valve, the subfloor at the doorway, the electrical panel. You'll want them when you're pricing at night, and again if there's a question later.

Ask what they really want. "New shower" can mean new tile on the same walls, or tearing it down to the studs and moving the drain. Ask what bothers them about the space today. Ask about the budget. Ask when they need it done.

Look for the hidden-condition risks. Soft spots in the floor, a stain on the ceiling below a bathroom, an old house with no permit history.

You can't price what you can't see, but you can tell the client up front how you'll handle it. More on that in change orders.

Break the scope down by area and task

A client can't follow "Bathroom remodel: $18,500." They can follow this:

• Demo: remove tub, tile surround, vanity and floor tile; haul off.
• Shower: backer board and waterproofing, tile walls to ceiling, niche.
• Floor: prep, tile, grout.
• Vanity: set new vanity and top, connect plumbing.
• Paint: walls and ceiling.

Breaking it down by area does three things. It shows the client what they're paying for. It makes it easy to drop or add something without redoing the whole estimate. And it helps you catch what you forgot, because a missing line stands out.

Write down what's not included, too. "Electrical by others." "Owner supplies the mirror." Most fights at the end come from something both sides assumed.

Labor, materials, subs, and the costs people forget

For each area, price:

• Labor: your time and your crew's, by the unit (square foot, linear foot, each) or by the day.
• Materials: quantities from your measurements, plus waste, at your supplier's cost.
• Subs: the plumber, electrician or glass shop. Get their number before you send yours, or mark the line "quote to follow."

Then the costs that get left off and come out of your pocket:

• Dump fees and haul-off
• Permits
• Trip time and extra supply runs
• Floor and furniture protection
• Small stuff: blades, screws, caulk, tape
• Cleanup at the end

None of these are big. All of them together are the difference between a good job and a break-even one.

Overhead and markup: know the difference

Overhead is what it costs to run your business, job or no job: the truck, insurance, your phone, software, tools, the hours you spend estimating jobs you don't win. Every job has to carry its share.

Markup is what you add on top of your costs so the business makes money. It's not greed. It's what pays for slow months and new tools.

It's easy to mix the two up and price at cost plus a little, then wonder why there's nothing left at the end of the year.

Figure your overhead for a year, divide it across the work you expect to do, and add it to every job before you add markup.

We won't tell you what your margin should be. It depends on your area, your trade and your overhead. Know your numbers, and price from them.

Build a price book once

Pricing every job from memory is slow, and it drifts. You charge one client $9 a foot and the next $11 for the same work, and you're not sure which was right.

A price book fixes that. It's your list of rates for the work you do: labor per square foot for floor tile, per linear foot for trim, per fixture for a toilet set.

Plus materials with their coverage, so you know how many bags of thinset a floor takes.

Build it once and keep it up:

• Start from something. Published cost guides give ranges you can use as a starting point. They're not your price. They don't know your area, your speed or your overhead.
• Replace them with your own numbers as you finish jobs. Track what a job actually took, and adjust.
• Review it twice a year. Material costs move. Your speed changes.

If you set tile, our guide to pricing a tile job goes through building tile rates line by line. For tile quantities, the free layout planner counts tiles and boxes for a floor.

From estimate to proposal

An estimate is the number. A proposal is what the client signs. It should have:

• The scope, by area, with inclusions and exclusions.
• The price, total and by area.
• Options, if you're offering any, priced side by side.
• A payment schedule, with each payment tied to a milestone. See contractor payment schedules.
• Terms: how changes and hidden conditions are handled, warranty, start date and length.
• In Texas: the residential disclosure statement before they sign, and the 3-day notice of cancellation when it applies. See Texas residential construction paperwork.

The cleaner the proposal, the fewer questions before the signature.

Send it fast, follow up once

The client is most interested the day you walk the job. A proposal that arrives the same evening, or the next morning, lands while they're still picturing the new bathroom.

Then follow up once, a few days later. A short message: "Wanted to make sure you got the proposal. Happy to walk through any of it." If they open it and don't sign, that's the time to call. Don't chase every day.

Sources

• No prices or industry figures are quoted on this page. Starter price lists in BidWell name their source on each line.