Free Construction Estimate Template for Subcontractors

In this post, we share a free construction estimate template to download and use in your construction business. 

However, a static estimate template is just a document for capturing and presenting information. It’s nice to have, but a template doesn’t help much with solving the persistent challenges involved in the processes that surround construction estimating and project management.

For example:

• Creating and calculating estimates based on the most up-to-date prices from your pricebook and suppliers

• Requisitioning equipment and materials based on sold estimates

• Accurately job costing throughout a project

• Maintaining continuation sheets and creating applications for payment to facilitate progress billing

• Defending invoices when clients object to charges

Many subcontractors rely on tools like Google Sheets, Google Docs, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and various estimating software solutions to manage bidding and project management. However, these tools aren't designed to seamlessly integrate estimating and project management, leading to a lot of manual work, upkeep, and potential for errors.

So, in addition to sharing the free template below, we’ll also walk through how our construction management software, ServiceTitan, solves these challenges and more.

How to Download and Use Our Construction Estimate Template

The estimate form includes the following fields:

• Client’s name and address

• Estimate number and date 

• Project address

• Line items/scope of work (task, description, quantity, price, total)

• Estimated total cost

The printable template also includes payment terms and conditions, exclusions, and warranty information. 

Simply follow the directions inside to customize it with your company name and contact information (address, phone number, etc.). Then, for each unique job, you can create a custom cost estimate for that particular client and preserve your template.

However, as we mentioned above, a static quote template is limited when solving the process-related challenges of construction estimating. In the rest of this post, we’ll discuss how ServiceTitan’s construction software transforms the process of construction estimating, billing, and project management for contractors.

How ServiceTitan Streamlines Construction Estimating, Billing, and Project Management

To demonstrate how ServiceTitan’s cloud-based construction software can support contractors in estimating and project management, we’ll walk through some of our key features designed for specialty contractors in Mechanical/HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other trades.

Manage Projects From the Project Overview Dashboard

The first step to building a construction estimate in ServiceTitan is to create a new project, which will generate a project overview page. 

This page allows you to: 

1. View all of the basic project information (project name, contact information, customer information, etc.).

2. View and log tasks for the project. 

3. Access project financials including project job costing and expense details that update automatically throughout a project.

4. Initiate key actions such as generating an estimate, purchase order, application for payment, invoice, and more.

5. View team members involved in the project.

6. Access an audit trail including events, notes, and document management.

The data displayed in the project summary and expense tables are all based on the estimate you create at the beginning of the job. So let’s look at how that works first.

Build Detailed and Accurate Estimates

Project estimates allow you to build detailed construction estimates by adding all of the specific tasks, equipment, and materials that will be needed to do the work. Users have the option to draw from pre-built job estimate templates or build estimates from scratch. 

Tasks, materials, and equipment can all be tagged with color-coded project labels to organize the project details and make everything easy to visualize. In addition, pricing and markups for each line item are automatically calculated based on the most up-to-date prices in your pricebook. 

Once an estimate is complete, it can be printed, emailed, or exported in PDF format and sent to the client. Additional estimates can be created as needed throughout the project.

Initiate Requisition and Purchase Orders within Your Estimate

When the estimate is sold, all of the details you’ve set up in the estimate are automatically integrated into the rest of the project management workflow. For example, you can initiate a requisition of equipment and materials right from within your sold estimate.

Let’s say at the beginning of a project, you want to start ordering your permits and materials for the job — you can select those items right from your estimate, which will lead you through a workflow to create the purchase orders you’ll need. 

In the purchase order workflow, the line items are automatically populated from your estimate. You can simply select your vendors and shipping locations for each material to complete your order details. 

Then, you can save that order to create a transaction and send those purchase orders to your vendors — all within the same user interface. 

Automate Project Financials and Job Costing

As you progress through a job — creating purchase orders, logging labor hours, processing change orders, receiving progress payments, and so on — ServiceTitan automatically provides up-to-date project costs and financials.

Instead of constantly updating a series of spreadsheets every time labor costs and material costs are incurred, this is done automatically for you in real-time, based on work completed and entered into the system. 

If we continue with our example from above, and you’ve made your initial purchase order of permits and materials, your project summary table is updated to reflect those expenses:

Furthermore, you can view a more detailed breakdown of your actual costs versus your budgeted construction costs.

This will automatically update as you accumulate expenses from materials, equipment, and labor hours. It will display your margins in dollar and percent form to help you track job costs and profitability throughout your project. 

You can also access a table breaking down your expenses in further detail:

You can click on any line item and see exactly where that expense came from (which technician logged those hours, or which purchase orders and vendors a given set of materials came from), allowing you to feel confident in your data.

When it's time to send applications for payment and invoices at each stage of progress billing, this can also be easily accomplished from the project overview dashboard.

Automate Progress Billing and Invoicing

The initial estimate you created also informs and populates your continuation sheet in your application for payment.

You don't need to start from scratch for every asset in your project. When it's time to send a payment application, simply choose the billing period and specify the percentage for each line item to be billed, and the system will generate it for you effortlessly.

Then, you can generate a PDF payment application with the details automatically filled out, and send it off to your client for review. The detail of the continuation sheet makes for a bill that’s much easier to defend in the event of pushback from construction companies or general contractors. As a result, subcontractors can get paid faster and avoid cash flow issues.

When applications are accepted, it’s just as easy to generate an invoice for that progress payment. And, when payments come in, you can update your accounts receivable through our Viewpoint, Sage, QuickBooks, and CSV accounting software integrations. 

Get a Personalized Demo of ServiceTitan Construction Estimating Software

What we’ve covered above is just a sampling of the desktop features that ServiceTitan offers for streamlining the estimating process and construction project management. We also offer a mobile app (available on The App Store and Google Play) for crew members and project managers to track time, use forms and checklists from the job site, create daily reports, and more.