Are you creating a budget for a construction budget? Well, deciding everything in advance will make your task easy and convenient. Unfortunately, many times it happens that uncertainty like inflation and up-down in the market can become an obstacle in your project. Still, if you have already estimated everything in advance, it helps you to avoid all the issues that can come in the later stage.
So, for doing this work efficiently, having a perfect predesigned construction estimate template is necessary. Here, we’ll be discussing five such free templates that you can download and use without paying a penny.
5 Free Construction Estimate Template
Given below are the most widely used free estimate templates. These templates can make your task less complicated and more efficient.
1. Construction Estimator: By SmartSheet
As per the construction projects, contractors will be required to give an estimate of the work that they’ll be doing. For this, they’ll be needing a simple estimator template that can help them to calculate and analyze their estimated price. With the help of this construction estimator by SmartSheet, you can easily do that without any confusion as you can see that the following template is simplified into different sections that are to be filled accordingly to get the estimated price.
2. Detailed construction estimate template
The next on the list of top 5 is this detailed construction estimate template. As seen below, it gives a very comprehensive way to understand and fill in the information required. In addition, it has broken down the parts into different sections. It can be used for some internal calculations as well.
3. Itemized construction estimate template
Sometimes it is better to get a template that gives you an outline only, and all other internal parameters and details are supposed to be written by you. This is beneficial when you want to create a customized estimate template. It can also give you a clear idea of the costs that are associated with the entire project.
4. BuildingAdvisor Estimating & Budgeting Spreadsheet (free version)
This free version of the BuildingAdvisor estimating and budgeting template can be used to track the estimate of cost used in any project easily. This spreadsheet is quite user-friendly, as you can see that everything is quite clear from the first look that we take at it. It comes with a predefined checklist of items that are used for estimation. It is divided into two different sections, and both of them are quite useful. In addition, it also gives a premium version that is much more advanced than this.
5. Free Construction Estimate Template: by BuildBook
The last on the list of top templates are from BuildBook, which gives an easy-to-use template for construction estimation. It also gives proposal templates as well. The overall look of this template is quite user-friendly. It comes with a set of pre-built formulas that makes your work more easy and flexible. This also features predefined columns that are useful for estimating the construction cost. In addition, it has in-built calculators that can give you the total costs, profit margins, and many more things automatically, as there are formulas predesigned to get them.
The Importance of Using an Efficient Estimate Template
The only way to achieve a construction estimate with perfection is to use an ideal template for it. This is so because if you don’t use a template, then you might end up doing the wrong calculations, and it may be inaccurate, which can lead to a great problem for you.
If you have prepared an incorrect estimate, then you might get delayed in payment, and the chances for claims and litigations will also increase. It is true that if you end up having a wrong estimation, then it will lead to a bid that is not correct in the first place and can make it tough for you to earn the money that you deserve and desire.
In industry, if there is an honest mistake made on which money is there online, then this mistake can also be taken as dishonesty, which can lead to leaving a bad reputation of yours in the market. However, if you have an ideal template for all the steps that you have in the construction work, then you can easily achieve what you desire. Some of the important construction templates that you must use while proposing, scheduling, programming, or estimating your work are:
● Builders quote template: this is required when you are giving quotations to your clients.
● Schedule of works template: this is required when you need to plan and schedule your entire work.
● Program of works templates: this will indicate the flow of your work and how the entire program will take place.
● Construction estimate template: this, of course, lets you estimate the cost, margin, profit, etc.
So, all these templates will make sure that you are not lacking anywhere in your work, specifically in the estimation part, because that is something that is very crucial, and one innocent mistake of even a formula can lead to disasters for you.
Also, See Commercial Estimating & Uk Construction Estimating Services
What all are the things that a construction estimate template must have?
It does not matter what template you choose for doing construction estimation. However, every template that is meant to do construction estimation should have the following things in it.
Detail of the work that has to be done
There are chances that you might have some incomplete specs for the work you have to do, so it is better to first describe all the works you are supposed to do as per the agreement. In the template, if a detail section is present, it’ll make it easy for you to describe your project in the way that you want.
Time period section
Time is money, and we can all agree on this statement. So, you have to keep everything on track, and if things get delayed, then you’ll have to pay more to the laborers and supervisors. So, having a duration set will help you to save money as well.
Requirements and labors
The more accurate you know the quantity, the accurate your work will be. If you get materials more than required, you will pay for them from your pocket, and if you get them less, you have to buy them from your pocket. So, in a way, if the quantity required varies, then it’ll be taken from your money. So, you have to make sure that you get the materials in the required quantity, and that too from the one that can give you a good price as well.
If we speak of labor, then it comprises of the main crew that will be working for you and to whom you’ll be paying as per the hours they spent. So, balancing out the number of laborers, their hours, their pay, and the budget is quite essential to make sure that everything runs smoothly.
Hidden Costs
What hurts the most while estimating is the amount of money that goes into traveling and other small stuff that we usually don’t keep a count for. So, these are what hidden costs are and have to be there in the template so that every time you spend on such things, it is being noted.
Profit
Well, this is an obvious thing that has to be there in every construction estimate template. Without profit, you won’t have a penny left at the end of all this. So, you should know what you have spent and what you have earned to calculate the profit. Also, this seems to be the most important section or part of your estimation.
Finding out your profit before agreeing to any work is quite essential. So, before signing any agreement, make sure you do the estimations and find out the profit that you may be earning.
Well, apart from profit, taxes are also important. Hence, while doing the estimation, make sure you balance out all the taxes and then find your profit. Other essential features
This mainly includes the carrying cost. Carrying cost is the amount of money that goes from your pocket before receiving the payment from the client because eventually, you have to pay in advance for everything. So, of course, you also need to keep track of it.
Final words
Well, over here, we have discussed the best five construction estimate templates that you can download and use for free. However, some great paid templates are also available, but since you are getting what you need for free, there’s no need to invest. Still, there will be times when you might need some advanced features lacking in these free ones, and then obviously, you will have to go for the paid ones. Moving on, to conclude this article, we’ll say, and we hope that you must have gotten the best template that you can use for your work. Also, you need to keep those things in mind that you need to have in any construction template.
Also, See Estimating Construction Costs: Easy Tactics, Strategies, and Techniques