Estimate template: free fill-in PDF with a worked example

An estimate template is a fill-in document that lists the job scope, labor and materials as separate lines, a fixed total or a range, how long the price holds and the assumptions behind it. Fill in the free template below on your phone, download the PDF and send it; the worked example prices a $388.50 bathroom faucet and shutoff job line by line.

Most free templates get the layout right and leave the hard part blank. The assumptions line, not the total, decides whether an estimate ends in a yes or an argument. A customer who read "price assumes the existing shutoff pipe is copper" before you started will accept a change when you find galvanized steel. A customer who only saw $388.50 will not.

Fill in the free estimate template

The template below works in your browser. Pick a trade preset to load starting line items, then replace them with the job in front of you. Choose a fixed estimate or a range, set the upper allowance, write your assumptions, and add a tax rate and deposit if they apply. Download the PDF, copy the text or print it.

Your entries stay in this browser tab and are not saved, so download before you close it. The total comes only from the quantities and unit prices you type.

What goes on an estimate

A complete estimate answers three questions for the customer: what work, what it should cost, and what could change that number. Everything else is identification and paperwork. Here is every field, why it is there, and a real entry from the worked example further down.

The field most owners skip is valid until. Without it, a customer can come back in March holding an October number. Thirty days is a simple default for small residential jobs; pick the window your supplier prices actually hold.

Estimate or quote: which one are you sending?

An estimate is your best calculation for a job with some unknowns. A quote is the price you commit to for a defined scope. Which one you send depends on how much you know, not on which word sounds more professional.

When the walkthrough removes the unknowns, switch to the fixed-price quote form instead. How binding either document is depends on its wording and your state's rules, so do not rely on the title alone.

How to write a job estimate

Worked example: a $388.50 faucet and shutoff job

These are example assumptions, not market rates: one handyman, an $85 hourly labor rate, a customer who wants a new bathroom faucet and two leaking angle stops replaced. Sales tax is left at zero here because the rules differ by state; enter your own rate in the template.

The 15% exists for one named reason, and the assumptions box says it: "Price assumes the existing supply pipe at both stops is copper in good condition. If it is corroded galvanized steel, replacement is priced and approved before work continues." That sentence turns a surprise into a decision the customer already expected.

Notice what is not on the estimate: overhead. Your truck, phone, insurance and software are real costs, but they belong inside the $85 rate, not on a separate line the customer will question. Materials are different. If you buy the faucet, decide whether the $120 allowance includes your markup; the markup and margin calculator shows why a 20% markup is not a 20% margin.

Price it once, then start your first quote from the driveway next time.

Fixed estimate or range? Pick by situation

A range is not a sign of weakness. It is the honest format when an assumption could fail, and it protects you from absorbing the cost of something nobody could see. Use this verdict table.

For recurring work, the per-visit math lives in the house cleaning price calculator and the per-visit mowing price math. Use their result as the labor line and keep the estimate fixed.

One-person crew

You measure, price and send, so the risk is speed, not miscommunication. Send the estimate from the driveway before you leave, while the measurements are in your hand. An estimate written that night at the kitchen table is the one with the missing line.

Crew of two to five

Whoever walks the job writes the assumptions, even if someone else sends the estimate. Price labor in worker-hours: two people for three hours is six worker-hours on the estimate, not three. Keep one price list the whole crew uses so two people never quote the same faucet swap two different ways; the handyman price list is a working starting point.

Mistakes that turn an estimate into an argument

• No valid-until date. A customer approves in spring at last fall's number, and the parts now cost more. A 30-day validity date fixes it.
• One lump sum. "$388.50, bathroom work" gives the customer nothing to agree with line by line, so they negotiate the total.
• Vague assumptions. "Conditions may vary" protects nobody. "Existing supply pipe is copper" can be checked and agreed.
• Materials at your cost. Buying the faucet, carrying the return risk and charging exactly what you paid is working for free on that line.
• Ignoring the age of the house. Paint-disturbing work in homes built before 1978 falls under the EPA lead renovation, repair and painting rule, which requires certified firms and lead-safe practices. If it applies, the extra setup and cleanup belong in the scope, not in an argument later.
• Changing the job without a revision. If the scope changes, send a revised estimate with a new number and date instead of a note the customer may never read.

Word, Excel, Google Docs or a phone: which format works?

Every format can hold the fields above. They differ in whether they do the math, whether they work from a driveway, and whether you can find the estimate again when the job turns into an invoice.

The manual method works, and the template above is the full version of it. The wall it hits is repetition: typing the same $85 rate and the same $28 angle stop on every estimate, then digging through your phone's downloads to find which version the customer approved. Driveway Desk keeps your price book, builds the estimate on your phone in the driveway, and turns the approved version into an invoice paid into your own Stripe or Square account. If you are weighing it against the bigger platforms, the Jobber vs Housecall Pro comparison lays out what those plans include.

Before you send the estimate

Read the assumptions line out loud. If the customer could not check it on site, rewrite it until they could. Then confirm the valid-until date, the deposit and the range, and send the PDF the same day.

Once the customer approves, the agreed tasks move onto a work order for the visit, and the estimate stays with the job so the final invoice can be read against it. If you are still setting up the business behind the estimates, the first-year cleaning business guide covers pricing the first homes.