Small Contractor Job Costing & Estimate Tracker

A job-costing and estimate workbook for small contractors who bid work, buy materials, and want to see whether a job is still on budget — without a monthly software fee.

What's inside

• Clients tab (up to 40) and a Jobs tab (up to 60) with status, dates, quoted price, and deposit

• Estimate Lines: quantity × unit cost × optional markup, rolled up to each job

• Cost Log: 1,500 rows for labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment, permits, travel, and other actual costs

• Change Orders: only rows marked Approved = Yes add to the contract total

• Jobs tab fills in contract total (quoted + approved change orders), estimate total, actual cost, gross profit, and margin. Actual cost is highlighted when it exceeds the estimate.

• Dashboard: pipeline (open estimates), active contract total, year-to-date costs, profit on active jobs, counts by status, and costs by month

• Works in Excel 2010+ / Microsoft 365, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice. Formulas stay compatible with all three (no Excel Tables, no dynamic arrays).

You get two working copies: a blank file to start from, and a sample file already filled with fictional jobs so you can see how the formulas behave. Sample rows are labeled SAMPLE. Start Here has step-by-step instructions, including how to clear the sample data.

Statuses are Estimate, Won, In progress, Complete, Lost, and On hold. Pipeline is the quoted amount of jobs still in Estimate. Profit is quoted price plus approved change orders minus actual costs, for Won, In progress, and Complete jobs.

This is a job-costing spreadsheet for your own records. It is not accounting, tax, legal, or licensing advice, and it is not