Download the template

  • Estimate template, PDF: one Letter page to print and fill in by hand, or fill in on a tablet.
  • Estimate template, Excel: type the quantities and unit prices, and each line’s amount, the subtotal, overhead and profit, tax and total work themselves out. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers.

Both are free, with no sign-up.

What goes on an estimate

Part What to put
Estimate no., date, valid until A number to refer to it by, the day it’s written, and how long the prices hold
From Your company, address, phone and email, and license number
For The client, the property’s address, and a claim or job number if there is one
Scope of work A few lines on what the job is and where
Line items Each piece of work: what it is, the quantity, the unit (sq ft, linear ft, each), the unit price and the amount
Subtotal, overhead and profit, tax, total The lines added up, your markup, sales tax and the price the client pays
Terms The payment schedule, what’s not included, and how changes to the work are handled
Signatures The client’s and yours, with the date

Filling in the line items

Each line is one piece of work the client can picture: tear off the old roof, lay underlayment, install shingles, haul away debris. The amount is the quantity times the unit price, so the quantity comes from measuring:

  • Floors and ceilings by the square foot: the square footage calculator.
  • Walls by the square foot of wall, less the large openings.
  • Roofs by the square, 100 square feet of roof, with waste: the roofing calculator.
  • Trim, baseboard and gutters by the linear foot.

The guide to takeoffs covers measuring a job from plans, and the roof estimate guide walks through a roof line by line.

Overhead, profit and tax

The Excel sheet starts overhead and profit at 20%, the standard markup on a contractor’s estimate, and leaves the tax rate for you to set; change either to suit the job. Whether tax applies to materials only or the whole job depends on the state, so set it to how your state taxes the work.

Estimate, quote, bid or invoice

  • Estimate: the expected price for the work, before it starts.
  • Quote or bid: a price offered for the work, often to win it against others.
  • Invoice: the bill after the work, or a stage of it, is done.

The same line items carry from one to the next, so an estimate written line by line makes the invoice easy. The free contractor invoice template matches this one line for line.

When the template gets slow

A paper or spreadsheet estimate means measuring by hand, looking up each price and typing every line. BluMatrix does those steps on the phone: the rooms measured on the visit, the roof from the address, and the estimate written line by line at current prices for the ZIP code, with overhead, profit and tax, sent as a PDF the client can sign, or as an ESX file that opens in Xactimate.

Common questions

Is the estimate template free?

Yes. Both the PDF and the Excel sheet are free to download and use, with no sign-up.

Does it work in Google Sheets?

Yes. Upload the Excel file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets; the sums keep working.

How long should an estimate be valid?

It’s your call, written on the estimate as the “valid until” date. Material prices move, so a shorter window protects the price.

Should an estimate show overhead and profit?

Either works: as its own line, as this template does, or built into the unit prices. A line of its own shows the client what the work and materials cost before the markup.