How to price a job without guessing
Start with the scope, not a round number that 'feels right'. If you cannot list the work, you cannot price it. Write what you will supply and fit, then what you will not.
The Oak Street example is a bathroom exhaust and four downlights. The quote total on that paper is 1,105 sample currency units. Treat that figure as a worked example, not a rate for your area.
Labour, then materials, then markup
Labour is hours times your rate — the rate you actually pay or charge, not a number copied from a forum. Materials are supplier prices plus wastage you will really buy. Markup is how you recover overhead and keep a margin.
- List hours for the defined scope, including a site visit if that is billable
- List materials as lines, not a lump inside labour
- Add markup you can explain, then check margin — not the other way around
Check the margin before you send it
Open the profit margin calculator with your own revenue and costs. If the margin disappears when you add a realistic hour, the quote is not ready.
Then write the quote so a variation has somewhere to land. A one-line total hides the hours. Use the how-to-write-a-quote link below for the page layout.
What not to do
Do not publish a city-by-city rate table you did not earn. Do not copy someone else's call-out fee. Do not dress an estimate up as a quote because the ceiling is still closed.
Price the job you can stand behind. If the wall is closed, send an estimate range — the Oak Street estimate on that same job is marked 900–1,400 sample currency units — and convert it when you can see the work.