Cost & Budgeting

Contractor Quote Comparison & Should-Cost Calculator

Contractor Quote Comparison & Should-Cost Calculator takes the labour hours and rate you believe the job needs, parts, access and equipment cost, the margin you expect a contractor to make, and up to three quotes and returns what the job should cost from first principles, how each quote compares against that, and which bid to take. Should-Cost = (labour hours × the rate you set) + parts + equipment and access, grossed up by the contractor margin percentage you consider fair. Each quote is compared against that baseline in dollars and percent, the lowest costed quote is named, and the verdict is taken against a decision margin you set. Nothing is pre-filled with an outside figure — no market rate, no contractor margin norm, no cost database, no price index. Every value on every sheet is one you entered or one computed from what you entered, against the As-of date you set on 1. Setup, never today's date.