BidWalk
Estimating, priced honestly
Straight answers on pricing jobs, writing estimates and getting them accepted - written by the team building BidWalk, with the numbers we actually have.
How do you estimate demolition and tear-out on a remodel?
Price demo by what is coming out and what it weighs, not as a flat day. Plaster, tile and a hidden second floor layer are where the money leaks.
October 7, 2026
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7 min read
What should you charge to finish a basement?
$30-50 a square foot for the open floor, then egress, bathroom rough-in, ejector pump, radon and headroom as fixed lines. Never fold them into the rate.
October 7, 2026
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7 min read
What should you charge to hang an interior door?
Price doors per opening. A prehung swap is 1 to 2 hours, a slab fitted to an old jamb nearly 3. Published labor runs $120 to $420 a door plus adders.
October 6, 2026
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7 min read
What should you charge to install kitchen cabinets?
Price cabinets per box, not per foot. Published labor runs $55 to $220 a box and 2 to 3 hours each. Uppers are where the per-foot rate loses you money.
October 6, 2026
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8 min read
What should you charge for a retaining wall?
Block walls run $20 to $35 a face square foot, timber $15 to $30, poured $20 to $45. The dig, the stone and the drain behind the wall are separate lines.
October 5, 2026
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7 min read
What should you charge to install baseboard and trim?
Baseboard labor runs $3 to $8 a linear foot and casing $100 to $200 a door. On one room the per-foot price lands under a $150 to $300 minimum.
October 5, 2026
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7 min read
What should you charge to tile a shower?
Shower tile labor runs $7 to $19 a square foot against $4 to $8 for a floor. Price the pan, the membrane and the flood test as their own lines.
October 3, 2026
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7 min read
How do you price a fence job per linear foot?
Price the straight fence per foot, then price everything that isn't a foot - posts, gates, tear-out, rock and slope - as its own line.
October 2, 2026
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6 min read
How do you bid a roofing job by the square?
Measure roof area, not footprint: pitch factor, then waste, then labor per square from your crew's real daily output, with tear-off priced per layer.
October 1, 2026
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6 min read
How do you set allowances in a remodel estimate?
Price each open selection at retail for the level the homeowner described, materials only, with a written overage clause and a selection date.
October 1, 2026
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7 min read
What should a contractor's minimum charge be for a small job?
Half a day of burdened labor, the truck and the estimate visit, divided by your cost ratio: about $510 for one person in 2026. The arithmetic.
October 1, 2026
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6 min read
Cost-plus vs fixed price: which contract should a remodeler use?
Fixed price for scope you can see and have built before, cost-plus for open walls and unpicked finishes. Fixed pays more only if your number holds.
September 30, 2026
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6 min read
How much contingency should a contractor build into an estimate?
5% on scoped work, 10% on a typical remodel, 15% opening walls in a pre-1978 house. Size it from risks you can name; put the big ones on the page.
September 29, 2026
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6 min read
How much should a general contractor mark up subcontractors?
20% is the right default on residential remodels, never under 15%, and 30% or more on small sub tickets. What the markup pays for and how to defend it.
September 29, 2026
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6 min read
How much should a contractor mark up materials?
15-20% on stock materials, about 10% on big-ticket items a homeowner can look up. What the markup has to cover, and why it can't carry your overhead.
September 28, 2026
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6 min read
What payment terms should a contractor use?
Draws tied to milestones, not dates. Due on receipt, not net-30. And why your state's prompt payment act probably does not cover residential work.
September 18, 2026
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7 min read
How do you price a job from a walkthrough?
Five steps in order: quantities, hours, rate, allowances, margin. The arithmetic worked end to end on one job, and where each step usually goes wrong.
September 17, 2026
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7 min read
What should you exclude from a contractor estimate?
Eight exclusions with the wording to use, the pre-1978 paint rule, and the alarms a permit adds to a job you already priced.
September 17, 2026
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7 min read
Estimate template vs estimating software: when is a spreadsheet enough?
A spreadsheet is enough while your scope repeats. Auditors found wrong numbers in 86% of working spreadsheets - here is where estimate files break.
September 16, 2026
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7 min read
Flat rate pricing vs job estimating: which should a contractor use?
Flat rate wins when the variance is in your hours, estimating when it is in the scope. Materials rose 10.1% in a year. What that does to a price book.
September 16, 2026
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6 min read
How do you estimate from a walkthrough instead of plans?
No drawings means you capture the same things in the same order every job. Here is the list, room by room, and what it costs you to miss each one.
September 16, 2026
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6 min read
Is estimating software worth it for a one-person contracting business?
Only if it wins you a job or stops you giving away scope. At $588 a year, one $2,000 job covers it — here is the arithmetic and when the answer is no.
September 15, 2026
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6 min read
Why does square-foot pricing lose money on small jobs?
A square-foot rate is an average that only holds at one job size. Below it you pay the difference — here is where the break-even actually sits.
September 15, 2026
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7 min read
How is bidding a commercial job different from residential?
Four things change: you get paid in arrears, 5-10% is held back, somebody wants a bond, and the paperwork is billable time. Price the carry.
September 12, 2026
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7 min read
How do you stop underestimating jobs?
Job-cost your last five finished jobs against what you actually spent. Two hours tells you which line you're short on, and it's rarely the one you'd guess.
September 12, 2026
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7 min read
Why did I lose the bid?
Usually not price. Speed, a scope nobody could compare, and doubt you'd finish come first. Here's the order, and how to find out which one it was.
September 12, 2026
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7 min read
What should you charge for a 200-amp panel upgrade?
The panel is the cheap part. Price the day - the disconnect, the inspection that gates the reconnect, and the code items a replacement triggers.
September 10, 2026
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6 min read
How do you estimate a drywall repair job?
Price drywall repair by the number of trips, not the size of the hole. Setting-type compound buys two of those trips back.
September 9, 2026
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7 min read
How do you price flooring installation per square foot?
Price the covering per square foot, then price the subfloor as its own line. Flatness specs beat a builder's slab, and that gap is your profit.
September 9, 2026
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7 min read
How do you write a painting estimate?
Measure the surfaces, count the units, price prep by the hour. Quoting a room instead of its parts is how painters give away the trim for free.
September 8, 2026
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6 min read
How much should you charge per square foot for concrete?
Plain slab runs $6.50 to $10.50 a square foot. But you buy cubic yards, and one inch of thickness moves the yardage 25%. Price the volume first.
September 8, 2026
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6 min read
How do you handle change orders without losing the customer?
Raise it the hour you find it, get it signed before the work starts, and price it at your normal margin plus a minimum. The invoice loses customers.
September 7, 2026
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6 min read
How much deposit should a contractor take upfront?
One-third is the usual ceiling. California and Nevada cap it at $1,000 or 10%, whichever is less - and both statutes contain the legal way around it.
September 4, 2026
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6 min read
How much should I charge for a kitchen remodel in 2026?
$15,000 to $50,000 for a full kitchen, or $150 to $250 a foot. The labor line is where kitchen bids die - two 2026 databases disagree on it by 3x.
September 4, 2026
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6 min read
What is a good close rate on contractor estimates?
30-50% on estimates you present. Above 70% on non-referral work you are underpriced. At a 29.9% gross margin, a 10% discount needs 50% more jobs.
September 3, 2026
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6 min read
How do you follow up on an estimate without being annoying?
Four touches over two weeks, by phone, each carrying a fact. 56% of homeowners want a call while 90% of contractors send email.
September 3, 2026
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7 min read
What does a contractor's overhead actually cost per hour?
Overhead runs $18-$30 per field hour in a small shop. NAHB puts remodelers' operating expenses at 23.6% of revenue against a 6.3% net. The arithmetic.
September 2, 2026
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6 min read
How do I price labor as a contractor?
The wage is about half your labor cost. BLS puts construction benefits at 44% on top of wages, and workers' comp swings tenfold by state. The arithmetic.
September 2, 2026
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6 min read
How long should a contractor's estimate stay valid?
Thirty days is habit, not a rule. Set the window from the material that carries the job, and never past your supplier's own price hold.
September 1, 2026
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6 min read
Should contractors charge for estimates?
Free is right for a replacement you can price on site. Once pre-construction turns into design, the arithmetic flips. The break-even, worked out.
September 1, 2026
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7 min read
Estimate vs quote vs bid: which one should you send?
A quote holds you to the number. An estimate does not - until the wording says it does. What each document commits you to, and the lines to put on each.
August 31, 2026
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6 min read
What should be included in a contractor's estimate?
Ten elements. The four most often left off - exclusions, an expiry date, change-order terms, payment schedule - are the four that cause disputes.
August 31, 2026
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6 min read
How much should I charge for a bathroom remodel in 2026?
$8,800 to $17,500 for a full remodel of a standard 5x8 bath. Per-square-foot pricing is what loses money on bathrooms - here is the arithmetic.
August 30, 2026
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5 min read
Markup vs margin: the arithmetic error that costs contractors their profit
Markup is a share of your cost. Margin is a share of your price. Confusing them at 25% costs $833 per $10,000 of job cost. Here is the conversion table.
August 29, 2026
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4 min read
What should you charge to build a deck in 2026?
$25-$40 per square foot installed for pressure-treated, $35-$55 for composite. But that prices the deck surface - and the money goes on the footings under it.
August 29, 2026
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4 min read
When do homeowners actually start looking for a contractor?
They price the job in February and sign in June. Improvement spending ran $25.7B in February 2026 and $34.8B in June. Your spring is decided in January.
August 29, 2026
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6 min read
Which trades actually need estimating software?
Not all of them. If your scope repeats, a flat-rate price book beats any estimating app. The tools only earn their place when every job is different.
August 29, 2026
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4 min read
Why don't clients respond to your estimate?
Usually because nobody followed up. 48% of salespeople never send a second one, and most sales need five contacts. Here is what to send, and when.
August 29, 2026
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5 min read
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