Video Overview:

I’ll start off with an example of a project to explain how this template works. Let’s say you are a residential construction company that specializes in cement patios. You go to a potential client, gather all the specs, and then need to come up with a price you are going to charge the customer or a “job bid”. What do you need to take into account in order to come up with a bid that makes sense?

First, you need to determine how much labor you need. That means calculating total man hours, their rates, any payroll taxes / over time / benefits / holiday pay / PTO or what have you for the length of the job. This template has inputs for up to 7 worker types, each with an input configuration for all the above. Once you have your estimated wage costs for the job, it is time to move on to materials / other direct costs.

Your second main cost section is for direct costs. In this example, it could be things like stone veneers, cement, pavers, stone veneer, cinder blocks, caps, and any other materials that are required for the job. The template has inputs for up to 3 multiples. The initial cost per unit, the count of units, and a 3rd multiplier if needed (for things like equipment rental where you must account for a cost per day, number of days, and possibly count of items). If you are just using 2 of the multipliers, make the 3rd a ‘1’ so it has no impact on the final cost for that line item.

You also have workers’ compensation and general liability insurance. For those items, it is based on a defined percentage of total base wages. If you have another way to estimate that costs, simply fill in the final cost amount for that row manually.

Once you know the entire estimated costs for the job, the template lets the user define their desired profit margin. Based on the profit margin, a final price will populate, which is your job bid amount.

I’ve also included an option to build your fee into the cost and charge a 0% margin by entering a percentage of labor costs and a percentage of direct costs as your fee. In that case, the profit is pre-defined and still plays a part in coming up with the final bid.

This template works great no matter if you are bidding on government jobs, private sector work, or residential. Simply adjust all the cells in light yellow to your specific situation and reuse as needed.

Includes a sensitivity table for varying target profit margin.

File Type: .xlsx

This template is also included in the following spreadsheet bundles: