Contractor Estimate Template User Guide

About this guide

This guide is for the Estimate-to-Job Tracker, template edition v6.3.2, in Excel (Windows, Mac or Excel for the web) and Google Sheets. The version is in the file name, for example Contractor_Estimate_to_Job_Tracker_TEMPLATE_v6.3.2_BLANK.xlsx.

Color key, on every tab

Your two files. The SAMPLE is filled with a fictional electrical contractor, Brazos Bend Electric, with a price book, 18 jobs and their payments, so you can see every feature working. The BLANK is empty, with no labor roles or price book, ready for your business. Try things in the SAMPLE; keep your real work in the BLANK.

Need help? Message the shop on Etsy. Say which tab and row you were on, what you typed, and what you expected to see.

Sales tax rules depend on the job, contract type and location. The workbook calculates the tax you set up; confirm the right tax basis with your CPA or your state's tax office.

Getting around

The workbook has six tabs along the bottom. A job moves left to right through them: price it, quote it, track it, get paid, and see the totals.

The usual order for one job:

1. Build the estimate on Estimate.
2. Print or save the Quote as PDF and send it.
3. Add the job to Jobs as Quoted.
4. When the client accepts, change it to Scheduled, then move it through In Progress, Complete and Invoiced as the work happens.
5. Log each payment on Payments. The job's balance updates on Jobs.
6. Mark it Paid when the balance reaches zero.

On Jobs, Estimate and Payments, the header rows stay in place as you scroll.

How do I…?

The short path for each common task. The section in the last column has the full steps.

No match. Try a shorter word, or message the shop on Etsy.

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First-time setup

Set up once: your rates, markups and price book on the right side of Estimate, and your company name on Quote. Every estimate reads from them.

Open the right file

1. In Excel on Windows or Mac, open Contractor_Estimate_to_Job_Tracker_TEMPLATE_v6.3.2_BLANK.xlsx. For Google Sheets, see Google Sheets edition below.
2. If a yellow bar says Protected View, click Enable Editing so the dropdowns work.
3. Save it under your own name.

For Excel for the web, upload the file to your OneDrive first, then open it from there.

Settings (Estimate, L5 to M10)

Labor rates (Estimate, L13 to N15)

Enter up to three roles. Each has a bill rate, what the client pays per hour, and a cost rate, what the hour costs you.

Price book (Estimate, rows 19 to 43)

Add one row per item you price often, up to 25:

The category decides the markup and tax: material categories get the Material markup; Subcontractor and Equipment get the Sub & equipment markup; Fee passes through at cost, with no markup and no tax.

Your own lists (Estimate, column R)

Rename the six Job types (R5 to R10) and the nine material Item categories (R27 to R35) to fit your trade. Subcontractor, Equipment and Fee, and the status, tax basis and payment lists, are fixed because the formulas depend on them.

Quote header

On Quote, type your company name in A1 and your license number, phone and email in A2. They print at the top of every quote.

What you should see: no orange cells in the Check column (Q) beside your rates and price book.

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Build an estimate

The left side of Estimate holds one estimate at a time. Fill the header, add a line per labor role or item, and the totals and the Quote build themselves. It's marked INTERNAL - DO NOT SEND because it shows your costs.

Fill the header

Tax basis: Materials only taxes material items. Labor + materials also taxes labor, subcontractor and equipment lines. Fee items are never taxed. Confirm the basis for each job and contract type.

Add the lines (rows 13 to 32)

1. In Type (column B), pick Labor or Item.
2. In Item / role (column C), pick the role or price-book item. The list shows labor roles for Labor and your price book for Item.
3. In Qty / hrs (column D), type the hours or quantity.

What you should see: Unit, Unit cost, Ext. cost and Ext. price fill in, and the line's Check cell (column I) stays blank. Up to 20 lines fit.

Read the totals

Under the lines, the totals print on the quote. Below them, the internal lines don't. For E-2617 in the SAMPLE:

Assumptions & exclusions

Type your assumptions and exclusions in the box at the bottom (A47). They print on the quote.

Start the next estimate

Save the quote as PDF first (see Send the quote), and add the job to Jobs. Then type over the header, lines and assumptions for the new job. The workbook keeps one estimate at a time; the PDF is your record of each quote.

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Send the quote

The Quote tab is the client-facing copy of the current estimate. It shows prices, never your costs, markup or margin.

1. Open Quote and read it over.
2. Check there's no DRAFT line under the scope. If you see DRAFT - 1 item(s) need attention on the Estimate tab. Do not send., go back to Estimate and clear the orange Check cells first.
3. File → Print, or Save as PDF, and send it to your client. Keep the PDF.

What the quote shows, using E-2617 in the SAMPLE:

The Terms line also says permit fees pass through at cost and that scope changes are quoted separately before work proceeds.

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Track the job on Jobs

Add a row on Jobs the day you send a quote. The same row follows the job until it's paid, and the white columns work out cost, profit, due date and balance.

Add the job when you send the quote

1. Go to the first empty row on Jobs (rows 5 to 29).
2. Fill these columns, pasting the numbers from Estimate and Quote as values:

To paste as values in Excel: copy the cell, then Home → Paste → Paste Values. A plain paste copies the formula instead of the number.

Move the job through its statuses

Record actual costs

When bills come in, enter Actual labor, Actual material and Other costs (subs, equip., fees). When every bill is in, set Costs final? (Y) to Y. Only jobs marked Y count in the Dashboard's margin figures, so check open sub and supplier bills before you mark it.

What the white columns show

The template edition holds 25 jobs. When it's full, start a fresh copy of the BLANK (for example, one file per year), or ask about a larger edition.

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Log payments

Log every deposit, payment and refund on Payments, one row each, with its check number or transaction ID. Each one updates the job's Paid to date and Balance due on Jobs.

Log a payment

1. Make sure the job's status on Jobs is past Quoted. A payment on a Quoted or Lost job is flagged and not counted, so change the job to Scheduled when the deposit comes in.
2. Go to the first empty row on Payments (rows 5 to 1004).
3. Fill the columns:

What you should see: the row's Check cell stays blank and Counted shows the amount.

Record a refund

Enter the Amount as a negative number and set Type to Refund. A negative amount with any other type is flagged.

Duplicates

The same Job # and Reference # on two rows is treated as a duplicate, even with different spacing or capitals, and the second row isn't counted. Give each payment its real check number or transaction ID.

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Read the Dashboard

The Dashboard is the one-screen view of the business. Nothing on it is typed except the As of date; it updates from Jobs and Payments.

The five tiles

The line under the tiles lists any data issues with their dollar amounts, or says No data issues found. Below that, Pipeline by status and Completed jobs by type break the numbers down, each with a chart.

Revenue, profit and margin exclude sales tax. Margin counts only completed jobs with Costs final? (Y) set to Y.

The As of date (J2)

The As of date decides which quotes have expired and which invoices are past due. In the BLANK it's set to =TODAY(), so it always shows today; keep it that way for everyday use. The SAMPLE is fixed at Oct 21, 2026 so its figures stay the same.

The As of date only moves expiry and aging. Statuses, costs and payments are always current, so setting an earlier date doesn't give you a report as of that day.

Capacity

The last line shows Capacity used, for example Jobs 18/25, Price book 23/25, Payments 17/1,000.

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Walk through the SAMPLE

Follow one job from estimate to deposit. Use the SAMPLE file; nothing you change there touches your own work.

E-2617 is a remodel wiring job for Williams Residence. It's been estimated, quoted and added to Jobs, and the client is about to say yes.

1. Open Estimate. E-2617 has 3 labor lines and 10 price-book items, and its QUOTE TOTAL is $9,059.04 (see the screenshot under Add the lines).
2. Open Quote. It's valid until Nov 7, 2026 and asks for a 30% deposit of $2,717.71. This is the page you'd save as PDF and send.
3. Open Jobs and find J-2617 in row 21. It was added when the quote went out: Price before tax $8,904.40, Sales tax $154.64, Status Quoted.

4. The client accepts and mails a deposit check. In row 21, change Status to Scheduled and type 11/2/2026 in Start as the planned start.
5. Open Payments and go to the first empty row (row 22). Enter Date 10/20/2026, Job # J-2617, Amount 2717.71, Method Check, Type Deposit and Reference # Chk 1150.

What you should see: the row's Check cell stays blank and Counted shows $2,717.71.

6. Go back to Jobs.

What you should see: J-2617 shows Paid to date $2,717.71 and Balance due $6,341.33, the quote total less the deposit.

7. Open Dashboard.

What you should see: Open quotes (current) drops from $19,654 to $10,750, Win rate rises from 86.7% to 87.5% (14 won, 2 lost), and Work in hand rises from $42,900 to $51,804 (4 scheduled or underway). Balance due (done jobs) stays at $40,381, because it counts only Complete, Invoiced and Paid jobs.

That's the whole cycle for one job: estimate, quote, a Jobs row as Quoted, then Scheduled with a deposit on Payments. To put the SAMPLE back, close it without saving.

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When a cell turns orange

A message in a Check column means something on that row needs correcting. On Estimate, any flag keeps the Quote marked DRAFT. On Jobs and Payments, a flagged row is left out of the totals until it's fixed. Reminders on Jobs are follow-ups; the row still counts.

Estimate: header (column I)

Estimate: lines (column I)

Estimate: settings, labor rates and price book (column Q)

Jobs: Check (column Y)

Jobs: Reminders (column Z)

Payments: Check (column H)

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Google Sheets edition

The Google Sheets edition works the same as the Excel file. You get it from the PDF in your download, which saves your own private copy to Google Drive.

Make your copy

1. Open Contractor_Estimate_Template_GOOGLE_SHEETS_links.pdf from your Etsy download.
2. Sign in to your Google account in your browser.
3. Click Make my copy under BLANK workbook (or SAMPLE workbook to explore first).
4. Google asks Would you like to make a copy? Click Make a copy.

What you should see: the workbook opens in Google Sheets, named "Copy of Contractor Estimate to Job Tracker - BLANK (Google Sheets)", in your own Drive; rename it as you like. Nothing you type is shared with the shop. If a button doesn't open, the PDF also lists both addresses to paste into your browser.

Working in Sheets

• Estimate lines: pick Labor or Item in column B, then the role or price-book item in column C.
• Protected cells: formula cells are protected with a warning. If Google Sheets warns that you're editing a protected cell, click Cancel unless you really mean to change a formula. As the owner of your copy, you can remove the warning under Data → Protect sheets and ranges.
• Computer, not phone: use any web browser with a free Google account. The Google Sheets phone app is fine for viewing; build estimates on a computer.
• Paste as values: when copying the price to Jobs, use Edit → Paste special → Values only.

Time zone: go to File → Settings in your copy and pick your time zone. The As of date and the future-date checks use today's date, so the time zone needs to be yours.

Print the quote

Open Quote, then File → Print (or File → Download → PDF). Set the paper to Letter and check the preview.

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Questions and limits

How many jobs and items does it hold? The template edition holds 25 jobs (Jobs rows 5 to 29), 25 price-book items (Estimate rows 19 to 43), 3 labor roles, 20 estimate lines and 1,000 payments. Grey rows are outside the template. When it fills, start a fresh copy of the BLANK; one file per year works well. Larger editions are paid custom work; message the shop on Etsy.

Can I keep several estimates? The Estimate tab holds one at a time. Save each quote as PDF, add the job to Jobs, then type the next estimate over it.

Can I invoice in stages? Payments can be split into deposit, progress and final payments, but aging uses one invoice per job: the job's Invoice date plus its Payment terms (days). Progress invoices aren't aged separately.

Can I change the layout or a formula? In Excel, use Review → Unprotect Sheet (no password), make the change, then protect the sheet again. Changes to formulas are at your own risk.

How do I print only filled rows on Jobs? Filter the first column to hide blanks; Excel skips filtered-out rows. Jobs prints with Job # and Client repeated on each page.

Does it work on a Mac? Yes: desktop Microsoft Excel or Microsoft 365, on Windows or Mac. It also works in free Excel for the web and Google Sheets. No macros.

Is the sales tax right for my state? The workbook applies the rate and basis you choose. Tax rules differ by job, contract type and location; confirm the basis with your CPA or your state's tax office.

I opened the SAMPLE and it says Brazos Bend Electric. That's the fictional sample company. Use the BLANK for your own work.

Still stuck? Message the shop on Etsy with the tab, the row and what you expected to see.

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