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Labor and job quote calculator for contractors

Add up the crew, the materials, the drive and the dump run, set a contingency for surprises, and price it your way. Then print a clean line-item breakdown.

Free, no signupYour numbers never leave this pageOne-page printout
1 Crew

One line per rate: a lead at one cost per hour, helpers at another. Use what an hour really costs you (wage plus payroll costs), not what you bill.

2 Job costs
3 Contingency and overhead
A % added to the direct costs for the unknowns of this job: rot behind the trim, an extra trip, a part that breaks. It shows as its own line. If you don’t need it, it stays with you.
Overhead (optional)

Truck, insurance, phone, office, software: the costs of running the business that no single job pays for.

4 Your price
Pricing method
Added on top of your cost. 25% on $1,000 = $1,250.
It stays on this page and is never sent anywhere.

Selling price
$0.00

    Gross margin is the price minus the job cost (direct costs plus contingency). It is not net profit: income tax, your own pay and anything you didn't enter still come out of it.

    How the quote is built

    Every line is a cost you enter. The calculator adds them in a fixed order, so you can check each step on the printout.

    Labor people × hours each × cost per hour, for each crew line
    Crew hours people × hours each, added up
    Direct job cost labor + materials + travel + disposal + other
    Contingency direct job cost × contingency %
    Job cost direct job cost + contingency
    Overhead direct job cost × overhead % (or a flat amount)
    Selling price cost × (1 + markup) or cost ÷ (1 − margin)
    Gross profit selling price − job cost

    “Cost” in the price line is the job cost, plus overhead when you price on top of it. Prices from a target margin are rounded up to the next cent.

    Contingency, in plain words

    A contingency is money set aside, inside the price, for things you can’t see yet. Here it’s a percentage of the direct job cost, shown as its own line so you (and your customer, if you share the breakdown) can see it.

    • It is counted as a cost. The gross profit and margin shown assume you spend it. That’s the safe way to read a quote.
    • If the job goes to plan, it stays with you. The breakdown shows that number too: “If the contingency isn’t needed”.
    • It isn’t overhead. Overhead is the cost of running the business. Contingency belongs to this one job.

    How big should it be? That depends on how much of the job you can see before you start, and only you know that. Read How to price labor on a job for a worked example with every number shown.

    Quote the next job by talking through it

    TalkEstimate keeps your own prices and rates in one list and builds the estimate from them while you talk through the job. You set every price; the AI only organizes what you said.

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    Questions contractors ask

    What hourly cost should I use for my crew?

    What an hour really costs you: the wage plus the payroll costs you pay on top of it. Your payroll records have the real number. Don’t use the rate you bill, or the markup gets counted twice.

    Do I count my own hours?

    Yes. If you do the work, your hours are a cost. Leave them out and the “profit” is really your wage.

    Should travel time be labor or travel?

    Either, as long as it’s counted once. Paid drive time can go in the crew hours; fuel, tolls and parking go in Travel.

    What’s the “price per crew hour” for?

    It’s the selling price divided by the crew hours. It shows what the job really brings in per hour of work, which is handy for comparing jobs or checking a flat price.

    Where do the numbers go?

    Nowhere. The math runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent to us. On talkestimate.com we count that the calculator was used, never what you typed.

    Updated October 2026 · TalkEstimate