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Spryhand

Construction

Construction Bid Estimator

Build a bid price from materials, labor hours and markup, so estimates are consistent from job to job.

Delivery
Instant download
Purchase
One-time payment
Format
  • Google Sheets
  • Excel
Updated
August 2026
$5.90Buy on Etsy
Sample preview — illustrative data

Bid price

$28,621

Markup for a 25% margin

33.3%

ItemAmount
  • Direct cost$20,910
  • Total cost$24,255
  • Markup at 18%$4,366
  • Margin it earns15.3%

Sample data preview of the Construction Bid Estimator spreadsheet, shown for illustration only.

What this spreadsheet does

Bids built from memory or a rough gut-check often miss line items, which either loses the bid or loses margin on the job.

What you can do with it

  • Build a consistent bid price for a new job
  • Check what margin a bid at your usual markup really earns
  • Reprice a bid from a target margin instead of a habit

What's included

Sheet tabs

  • Instructions
  • Bid Summary
  • Bid Builder
  • Line Items

Features

  • A reusable price book of material cost and labour hours per unit
  • Bid lines that pull cost and hours from the price book by code, so a price rise is a one-cell fix
  • Direct cost, overhead, contingency and markup built up in order
  • Markup and the margin it actually earns shown side by side — they are never the same number
  • A converter: give it a target margin, it returns the markup you would have to add
  • Codes not found in the price book flagged and counted, never silently priced at zero

How it works

  1. 1Keep material cost and labour hours per unit on the Line Items tab
  2. 2Enter a code and a quantity per bid line; costs and hours are looked up
  3. 3Read the Bid Summary — markup and margin are separate rows on purpose

Who it's for

Contractors preparing bids for new jobs.

This spreadsheet is a bid-calculation tool and does not provide certified estimates or engineering approval.

Frequently asked questions

Does this replace a formal estimating certification?

No. This is a calculation tool for building consistent bid math, not a certified estimate or engineering document.

Can I save line items for reuse?

That is what the Line Items tab is. Bid lines hold only a code and a quantity, so when a supplier price rises you change it once and every future bid is right.

What is the difference between markup and margin?

Markup is profit over cost; margin is profit over price. An 18% markup is a 15.3% margin. Pricing at a markup and talking about it as a margin is the most common way a job that looked profitable comes in short, so the summary shows both and converts between them.

What happens if I type a code that isn't in the price book?

The line reads "Not in price book", prices at $0, and is counted in a warning under the bid. A line that silently prices at zero is how a bid quietly loses money.

Complete the setup

The rest of the tools this one was built to sit beside.