Construction Estimate Template
Price a job in sections and print an estimate with a date on it.
Your business
Prepared for
Project
Totals
Markup applies to the estimate subtotal; tax applies after it, to the marked-up price.
- Subtotal
- $0.00
- Estimate total
- $0.00
Terms
With no window set, the estimate prints no expiry date.
Acceptance
The document prints a signature and date line for each side. A signed estimate is what the work is measured against later.
Live preview
Your Business Name
ESTIMATE
EST-1001
—
Prepared for
Client Name
Project
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|
This estimate covers the scope described above at the prices shown. Work outside that scope is priced as a change order before it is done.
Prepared by
Date
Accepted by
Date
Both open your browser’s print dialog — choose “Save as PDF” as the destination to download, then send it to your client.
How it works
An estimate is a scope and a price with a date on it. What separates one that holds up from a number on the back of a card is everything around the number: what the price includes and what it does not, the work broken out so the client can see where the money goes, how long the price stands before materials or the schedule move it, and a line for the client to accept it. This template builds that document — sections for labor, materials, subcontractors, and whatever else the job carries, each subtotalled, with markup and tax over the whole estimate, a validity window, and an acceptance block.
Enter your business and the client
Add your business details and an optional logo, then the client the estimate is for. Give the estimate a number and a date — the date is what the validity window counts from.
Write the scope
Describe the work, and where it matters, what is not included. This is the paragraph a disagreement gets settled against, so it is worth more care than the price is: allowances, assumptions, who pulls permits, what happens if the ground is worse than it looks.
Price the work in sections
The estimate opens with Labor, Materials, Subcontractors, and Other. Rename them, add your own, and list each line with a quantity and a rate; every section subtotals on the page so a client can read the estimate one section at a time.
Set markup, tax, and how long it stands
Markup applies to the estimate subtotal and tax is figured after it. Set the number of days the price is good for and the document prints the expiry date, then add payment terms and exclusions and print or save a PDF.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between an estimate, a quote, and a bid?
- An estimate is an informed projection of what the work will cost, and it can move if the scope or the conditions move. A quote is a fixed price for a defined scope, good for as long as it says. A bid is a price submitted in competition, usually against a scope somebody else wrote. The three words get used loosely in practice, which is exactly why the document should say which one it is and how long the number is good for.
- What should a construction estimate include?
- Your business and contact details, the client's, a number and a date, the project and its address, a scope that says what is included and what is not, the work priced so a client can follow it, any markup and tax, the total, how long the price is valid, payment terms, and a line for the client to accept it.
- Should I show markup as its own line?
- Both ways are in use and neither is wrong. A separate markup line makes the estimate auditable — the client sees the cost of the work and what you charge over it — and it is how cost-plus work is written, because there the markup is a contract term. Folding markup into your unit prices shows one price per line, which is how most fixed-price work reads. The thing to avoid is a client discovering markup they believed was not there. The template does either: enter a percentage and it prints as its own line, or leave it at zero and price it into your rates.
- How long should an estimate be valid?
- Long enough to be useful to the client, short enough that you can still buy at the prices you quoted. The window is yours to set and it follows how volatile your materials and your schedule are; when it expires the price is re-quoted rather than honored out of habit. Enter the days and the document prints the expiry date so nobody has to work it out.
- What if the scope changes after the estimate is accepted?
- That is a change order, not a re-issued estimate. The accepted estimate stays as the record of what was agreed, and the change is written on its own paper — scope, price, effect on the schedule, both signatures — before the work is done. The free change order template at /tools/change-order-template prints one.
- How does ScribeLine build estimates?
- ScribeLine assembles an estimate from what the job already has — a site visit's notes and photos, and the material list priced from supplier quotes — so the document starts from the real scope instead of a blank page.