Create an Estimate in Contractor Estimate Pro: Customer, Markups and Bid Due Date

Building a bid, step 1 of 4 · All Contractor Estimate Pro guides

Your company header, libraries and crews are set up. Now it's time to bid a job. An estimate is one bid: who it's for, when it's due, and the markups you want on it. Set those once on the estimate's General Information screen, and every pay item you add uses them.

In this guide we start the bid for our running example, a sitework job with silt fence, excavation and subbase. Our first pay item will be 750 LF of silt fence.

What you'll need

• Contractor Estimate Pro with your libraries and crews set up (Build your libraries, Make crew templates)

• The customer's name and contact info

• The date the bid is due

• The sales tax rate you pay on materials for this job

• Your overhead, profit and bond percentages

About the numbers in this guide: every rate and percent below is an example number for our sitework job. Use your own.

Do I need a subscription for this?

Yes. Creating and editing estimates is the one part of the app that needs the Pro subscription. It starts with a 30-day free trial through the App Store or Google Play. Start it from Settings → Subscription. If you try to create an estimate without one, the app shows Subscription Required with a way to open the Subscription screen.

Everything you set up in the Start here guides (Settings, Libraries and Crew Templates) is free.

Step 1: Start a new estimate

Tap + New on the Home screen or the Estimates screen. Both work. Use the tabs at the bottom of the screen to get to either one.

The new estimate opens straight to its General Information screen. That's where you'll do everything in this guide.

Step 2: Give it a name and an estimate number

At the top of General Information, type the estimate's name and number. Give it a name you'll know at a glance. The name and estimate number show at the top of the customer PDF, under your company header. The estimate number is optional, but it helps if you number your bids.

For our example: Main Street Sidewalk Replacement, estimate number 2501.

Step 3: Check the status

Below the name and number are five status buttons: DRAFT, OPEN, CLOSED, WON and LOST. Every new estimate starts as DRAFT, so there's nothing to change yet.

You'll change the status as the bid moves along, for example to WON or LOST once you hear back. Statuses feed the dashboard on Home. That's covered in Track bids with statuses, the dashboard, win rate and revisions (guide coming soon).

Step 4: Add the customer

Under Customer Information:

• Customer: type the customer's name.

• Choose from previous customers: tap this blue link to pick someone you've bid for before. Customers carry over between estimates, so you don't retype them.

• Contact Information: a box with room for several lines. Add the contact person, phone, email or address.

For the example, a made-up customer: Northside Development Group.

Step 5: Set the bid due date

Tap Bid Due Date and pick the date the bid is due. For our example: Oct 22, 2026. The field counts down for you, like Due in 2 days.

The note under it explains the reminder: "You'll get a reminder the day before while the estimate is Draft or Open." Tap the reminder and it can take you to that estimate.

The due date is optional. To remove it, tap the × at the right of the field.

Step 6: Enter the Material Sales Tax (%)

Enter the sales tax you pay on materials for this job in Material Sales Tax (%). Our example uses 6.

You set tax per estimate, not in the library. Your material prices in Materials stay before tax, and each estimate adds its own rate. On our silt fence:

Step — Math — Result

Base — 750 FT × $1.25 — $937.50

Tax — 6% of $937.50 — $56.25

Material total — $937.50 + $56.25 — $993.75

Step 7: Set your Bid Markup (%)

Bid Markup (%) has three boxes: Overhead, Profit and Bond. They're your markups on cost for this estimate.

For our example: Overhead 10, Profit 10, Bond 0.

Step 8: Use separate markups for subs and materials (optional)

You might not want the same markup on a sub's price or a load of material that you put on your own crew's work. Turn on Apply Separate Markup to Subs and Materials and two more rows open:

Row — Overhead (example) — Profit (example)

Subs/Misc Markup (%) — 5 — 0

Materials Markup (%) — 10 — 0

These have their own Overhead and Profit, separate from the Bid Markup. There's no separate bond. As the screen notes, "Bond uses the base Bond % above for all components."

With the switch off, the Bid Markup applies to everything.

Step 9: Tap Save

Tap Save on General Information to keep your settings.

Need to change something later? Open the estimate and use the drop-down menu at the top of the estimate screen to get back to General Information.

Step 10: Add your first pay item

Now add pay items: the lines of the bid. On the estimate's pay item list, tap the blue + button at the bottom right to add one. Our first is Silt Fence, 750 LF.

Each pay item card shows its costs, then the markups this estimate put on it. On Silt Fence:

• TOTAL COST: $2,093.75 (crew $1,100.00 + materials $993.75)

• OH: $209.38

• PROFIT: $110.00. The 10% bid profit is on the crew, and the materials profit is 0%.

• BOND: $0.00

• UNIT PRICE: $3.22 and TOTAL PRICE: $2,415.00

The bid total for the whole estimate shows in the blue bar at the top.

Building pay items is covered in Add pay items: crews, materials, subs and misc lines (guide coming soon). The full markup math is in How markups work: profit, overhead, bond, and separate sub and material markups (guide coming soon).

Tips

• Set markups before you add pay items. Then every line prices out right as you go. If you change them later, the pay items recalculate right away.

• Reuse customers. Use Choose from previous customers instead of retyping, so the name matches across your bids.

• Always set a due date. The reminder comes the day before, as long as the estimate is Draft or Open. Make sure notifications are allowed for the app on your device.

• Check the tax rate on every job. Material Sales Tax is per estimate, so a job in another area can use a different rate.

• Bid the same kind of job often? Save an estimate as a job template, markups included, and start the next one from it. See Save time with pay item and job templates (guide coming soon).

FAQ

Do I need a subscription to create an estimate? Yes. Creating and editing estimates needs the Pro subscription, which starts with a 30-day free trial. Libraries and Settings are free.

Can I change the markups or tax after I've added pay items? Yes. Open General Information from the drop-down menu at the top of the estimate screen, change the markups or Material Sales Tax (%), and tap Save. The pay items recalculate right away.

Where does material tax come from? From Material Sales Tax (%) on each estimate's General Information screen. Prices in your Materials library stay before tax.

I changed a rate in my library. Does this estimate change? No. An existing estimate keeps the rates it was built with. It uses the new library or crew rates only if you choose to update it, with a separate button.

Next guide: Add pay items: crews, materials, subs and misc lines (guide coming soon) · Back to all Contractor Estimate Pro guides →