How to estimate a remodeling job
A remodeling estimate you can stand behind is built in five passes. List the scope. Measure the quantities. Price each line from current cost data for the area. Check every line that is unpriced or uncertain. Then set your markup and read the final number before you quote. Each pass catches a different kind of mistake.
Step 1: How do you build the scope list?
Walk the job and write down work items, not rooms. "Kitchen" is not a scope line. "Remove existing tile backsplash", "install 120 square feet of ceramic tile" and "move two outlets" are. Listing the work one item at a time is the first defense against forgotten scope, which sinks more bids than any pricing mistake.
Step 2: What does a good takeoff look like?
A takeoff is the list of quantities for the job. In a good one, every quantity has a source: square feet of drywall from measured walls, feet of baseboard from the floor plan, outlet counts from the walkthrough. A wrong quantity moves the total more than a wrong price does, so every quantity should trace back to a measurement.
Step 3: How do you price each line?
From a current, dated cost reference for the area, not from memory. Memory prices last year's job. Each line gets a price per unit from the cost data, and quantity times price gives the line total. Where no clean reference exists, carry the line as a lump sum and mark it, so you remember it is a judgment call.
Step 4: Why check the estimate line by line?
Because unpriced lines hide. In a long estimate a line with no price looks the same as a line with one, and its true cost comes out of your profit. Mark every line as priced, judged or still open, and do not call the estimate finished while any line is open.
Step 5: How do you choose the final number?
Start from the cost of material and labor, then add your markup for overhead and profit as a separate step. Keep the cost and the price side by side so you see what the job pays you. Wylie Estimates works this way: it prices every line, shows where each number came from, and you set your markup and approve every line before your client sees it.
Frequently asked questions
- How long should estimating a remodel take?
- With a scope list, a current cost reference and a repeatable process, a mid-size remodel estimate takes hours, not days. The speed comes from the cost data and the process, not from skipping the review.
- What is the most common estimating mistake?
- Forgotten scope, followed by pricing from memory. Both are process mistakes, not math mistakes. The fix is a line by line estimate where every open line stays marked.
Price your next job from the same cost data these figures come from, adjusted for where the job is. You set your markup and approve every line before you bid.
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