Your crew hourly wage, payroll burden, overhead on direct cost and target net margin are the same on every job you bid. Save them once and every trade bid calculator here opens with your numbers instead of a stranger’s ballpark.
Kept in this browser only, on this site’s own storage. Nothing is uploaded, and clearing your browser data clears it. Forgetting them leaves the numbers already on this bid alone.
Keep this bid so it is still here when the customer calls back. Every number on this form is saved together, under a name you choose, along with the figure it gave you, and restoring one puts the whole job back exactly as you priced it. Mark each one won or lost when you hear — the ones you have not heard back on stay listed as waiting, with how long they have been out. Once a few have come back, this panel says how long yours actually take, and how many are still out past that. Once enough of them have been decided, it also says whether the bids you save here have been landing differently lately than they used to. Once a few here are decided, this panel says what the ones you won averaged against the ones you lost, so you can see where your price tips. On a lost bid you can also note what the job went for, if you heard — then it says how far off you actually were, which is the part guessing gets wrong in both directions. On a won one, note what the job came to once it was done and this panel says what those jobs actually kept, so you can see whether the ones you are winning are worth winning — and it tells you how many of your won jobs are still missing that figure, rather than going quiet about it. Restoring a bid also pins the figure it was saved at above this panel, so when the customer asks what it costs without the tear-off, the new number is shown against the one they already have — and by how much, in money and in percent.
Kept in this browser only, on this site’s own storage. Nothing is uploaded, and clearing your browser data clears it — download a backup to keep a copy or open your bids on another device. Bids are kept per tool, so these are the ones you saved here.
FOR FLOORING INSTALLERS AND SMALL SHOPS
Bid the waste and the tear-out, not the room count.
Price a flooring install the way the job actually costs: purchased material after waste, demo hours that are not the same as install hours, and stairs by the tread. You get the job price, what it works out to per installed square foot and per labor hour, and the number below which the job loses money.
One row per room or floor type. Waste is extra material you buy — it is not extra floor the customer sees. Tear-out is a different job from the install; tile demo in a kitchen is why a flat $/sq ft on the living room underbids the house.
RoomMaterialSq ftWaste %Sq ft / hourTear-out
Stairs, transitions, and prep
Stairs are not hallway square footage. Thirteen treads can take as long as the kitchen. Transitions, furniture moves, leveling, and shoe moulding are the extras a walk-through finds and a room-count quote forgets.
Your costs
Flooring cost is what you pay the supplier, applied to purchased square footage after waste. Payroll burden covers employer taxes, workers’ compensation, and paid time off — the part of a helper’s cost that never shows up on their wage.
Questions installers actually type
How much waste should I add to an LVP bid?
Straight-lay LVP commonly starts around 8%. Diagonal or herringbone often needs 12% or more. Waste is extra material you buy, not extra floor the customer sees. Change the percent on each room; the bid shows the dollars that waste costs.
Why does a price per square foot underbid a kitchen or stairs?
Tear-out is a different job from the install. Ceramic tile demo can take more hours than laying new LVP in the same room. Stairs are priced per tread, not as hallway square footage. A blended $/sq ft on the finished floor cannot see either one.
Is this a quote I can send a customer?
No. It is arithmetic on the numbers you enter — a draft to check against your own invoices, payroll, and a walk-through. Copy the bid summary, then verify every figure before you send a price.
Your bid
$—
job price
Installed square feet
Purchased square feet (with waste)
Waste material cost
Install hours
Tear-out hours
Stair + extra hours
Total labor hours
Loaded labor cost
Materials, dump, travel
Overhead
Total job cost
Job profit
Price per installed sq ft
Effective hourly rate
Walk-away price
Where the hours go
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. The starting waste and production figures are common ballpark numbers, not an industry standard, a benchmark, or a guarantee — replace them with your last few jobs.
Hand the customer a proposal
The price above is for you. This is the page you print or save as a PDF and give to the customer — your details, their details, the scope, the deposit split, and a line for them to sign. Your business details are saved on this device so you only type them once; the customer’s details are never saved.
Everything on the printed page is text you typed or a number this calculator worked out. It contains no warranty, lien, or cancellation wording — those depend on your jurisdiction and your contract, and this tool is not the place to invent them.
Common questions
How much waste should I add to an LVP flooring bid?
Straight-lay LVP commonly starts around 8% waste; diagonal or herringbone often needs 12% or more. Waste is extra material you buy, not extra floor the customer sees. This calculator applies your waste percent to purchased square footage and underlayment, then shows the dollars that waste actually costs.
Want the margin, walk-away price and overrun headroom as well, or pricing a different trade? Price this job in the Bid Price Engine, one calculator for 121 trades.