The ceiling
Pick a common job to start, then replace every rate with a finish ticket and a crew you have timed. Changing scope, height, or texture fills starting hours and material only when you have not already edited that field.
Hours and material rates
These start from the scope, height, and texture you picked. They are ballpark crew figures, not a finish catalog or a guarantee.
Your costs
Payroll burden covers employer taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, and paid time off. Underestimating it is how a $1.50 / sq ft scrape that looked profitable was not.
Your bid
- Ceiling area
- Dump bags
- Travel
- Crew hours
- Loaded labor
- Mud, primer, paint
- Height, texture, extras
- Travel & other
- Overhead
- Total cost
- Profit
- Price per sq ft
- Effective hourly rate
- Walk-away price
A bid link carries your own rates — wage, burden, overhead, and target margin — so the page reopens exactly as you left it. Send it to yourself or your crew. The numbers ride after the #, which is never sent to a server, so copying a link uploads nothing. The customer should get the price, not the link.
Same ceiling, three scopes
| Scope | Hours | Price |
|---|
Where the hours go
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. The starting hours and material rates are common ballpark figures, not an industry standard, a benchmark, or a guarantee — time your own crews and replace them.
Common questions
Does checking “asbestos test” mean this tool clears the ceiling as safe?
No. It only adds a placeholder invoice line and hours for taking a sample — it is not a lab result, an abatement, or a compliance determination. Ceilings textured before the 1980s may contain asbestos; if the test comes back positive, abatement is a separately licensed activity this calculator does not price or perform.
Why is a painted-over ceiling priced higher than the same square footage unpainted?
A paint film seals the texture and makes it grab the scraper instead of coming off wet and soft, which slows the scrape meaningfully. The texture dropdown (light / heavy / painted-over) changes the hours-per-square-foot rate rather than treating every popcorn ceiling as the same scrape.
Why does a vaulted or two-story ceiling cost so much more than a flat 8-foot room?
Height changes the access method, not just the reach: a vaulted ceiling needs a lift and a two-story stairwell needs scaffolding, both of which add setup hours and equipment cost the flat-ceiling special never carries. Pick the height that matches how your crew will actually reach the surface, not just the room's square footage.
What isn't included in the price this shows?
The result is scrape, skim, prime, and the extras you toggle on — it is not a drywall specification, a lead-paint determination, a building-code opinion, or a finish guarantee, and the starting hours are common ballpark figures your own crew should confirm. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is uploaded.
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.