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.
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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 low-voltage and security installers
Security camera bid calculator
Price the drops, the cable, and the head end from your own wage and margin — and check the three things a camera bid gets wrong before it goes out: whether the drives hold the recording days you are quoting, whether the switch can power the cameras, and whether any run is past the Ethernet limit.
Everything stays in this browser. Nothing is uploaded, and no camera layout or price leaves your device.
What is being recorded, and for how long the customer was told it would be kept.
Motion-only share is a planning estimate. A camera facing a busy street or moving foliage will record far more of the day than one in a stockroom.
Power and cable
The two site facts that turn into a change order when they are found on install day.
Typical draw: fixed dome or turret 6 W, bullet with IR 9 W, bullet with heater 13 W, PTZ 25 W. Heaters raise the winter load on a budget that looked fine in July.
Labour
Hours per drop follows the construction type until you type your own number, which then wins.
Materials and margin
Margin is on revenue, not markup on cost. Quoting cost × 1.35 and calling it a 35% margin is a 26% margin.
The bid
Bid at target margin
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Walk-away price — below this the job costs you money
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Price per camera
Labour hours
Loaded hourly rate
Labour cost
Materials
Cable needed
Overhead
Recording per day
Storage for quoted days
Days these drives hold
PoE load
Margin on your price
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.
What this does, and what it does not
Why "days the drives hold" is a separate number from "storage needed"
The arithmetic asks for a figure like 10.4 TB. You can buy 8 TB or 12 TB, not 10.4, and once the filesystem and the recorder's overwrite headroom take their slice you keep about 90% of the label. Quoting 30 days and handing over a system that holds 11 is the most common failed handover in this trade, so both numbers are shown and the shortfall is named.
Why the PoE check matters more than it looks
A switch over its budget does not fail cleanly. It drops cameras intermittently, often months later when heaters come on, and every one of those is a callback the bid never priced. The tool flags anything over 80% of the budget, because a system at its ceiling has nothing left for the camera added next spring.
Bitrates are planning figures
Figures assume roughly 15 fps and typical scenes. H.265 is credited at half of H.264, and smart-codec modes conservatively rather than at the marketing number, because their saving only materialises on static scenes. A camera watching traffic or moving foliage will exceed these. Nothing here is a manufacturer specification or an ONVIF profile.
This is not legal advice about recording
Where cameras may point, whether audio may be recorded, signage, and how long footage may be kept are governed by law that varies by country, state, and sometimes by the room. This tool prices an install; it does not tell you whether the install is lawful.
Common questions
How much should I charge to install security cameras?
There is no flat per-camera price. Eight cameras through an accessible attic is a different job from eight through masonry with a lift. This calculator prices the drops, the cable, the head end, and the labour from your own wage, burden, overhead, and margin, and gives a walk-away price to hold when a customer asks you to match a lower bid.
How many terabytes do I need for 30 days of recording?
It depends on resolution, codec, camera count, and hours recorded per day. Eight 4 MP cameras on H.265 recording continuously use about 0.35 TB per day, so 30 days needs roughly 10.4 TB before usable-space headroom. This calculator computes it and, separately, the retention the drives you actually buy will deliver — those are different numbers, and the gap is where a handover fails.
Is this a manufacturer specification or a code ruling?
No. Outputs are arithmetic on the numbers you enter. Bitrates are typical planning figures at 15 fps, not a guarantee any camera hits them — a scene full of moving foliage will exceed them. Nothing here is an ONVIF profile, a manufacturer specification, or a building, fire, or privacy-law ruling.
How many cameras can one PoE switch power?
It depends on the switch's rated budget and what each camera actually draws, not a fixed camera count. A fixed dome or turret with no heater is a light load at about 6 W; a bullet with IR climbs to about 9 W; add a heater for winter and it is closer to 13 W; a PTZ needs PoE+ and can pull 25 W. A switch with a 120 W budget — this calculator's example default — powering eight bullet cameras with heaters is already at 104 W, 87% of budget, before the recorder or a spare port are counted. That is over the 80% planning ceiling this calculator flags, because a switch at its rated ceiling has nothing left for the camera added next spring, and running over budget does not fail cleanly — it drops cameras intermittently, often months later when the heaters come on. Standard PoE (802.3af) delivers 15.4 W at the switch port; PoE+ (802.3at) delivers 30 W, which is why a 25 W PTZ needs a PoE+ port and a PoE+-capable switch, not a standard one.
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.