A contractor bid template that shows your math without giving away your margin.
A bid form with the quantities, units, and unit prices a customer can check, and the overhead and profit lines kept where they belong: in your copy, not theirs.
Get the contractor bid template
A working spreadsheet, not a picture of one. The totals, overhead, and margin are live formulas. We email it over, so no download to lose track of.
One email with the template attached. We will not pass your address on.
A bid is the version of your estimate that leaves the building. Everything in it should be something you are willing to defend to the customer, and nothing in it should be something you would rather they did not see. Most contractor bid templates fail that test in one direction or the other: either they expose your overhead and profit as line items, or they hide the quantities so the customer cannot tell a careful bid from a round number.
This template keeps two sheets. The bid form is the customer's copy: line items, quantities, units, unit prices, totals. The internal sheet is yours: the same lines with burdened labor, overhead recovery, and a profit margin as formulas, so you can see what the bid is actually worth before you sign it.
The bid form
| Block | Fields | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Bidder, license, bid to, project, bid number, date, valid for (days) | Thirty days is common; shorter in a volatile materials market |
| Base bid | Line item, quantity, unit, unit price, extended total, by section | Unit prices on every line a customer could check with a tape measure |
| Alternates | Add or deduct alternates, each with its own price | Lets the customer flex scope without a new bid |
| Unit prices for unknowns | Per-sheet decking, per-foot rot repair, per-yard rock excavation | Turns the surprise into something already agreed |
| Inclusions and exclusions | Short lists | Read by the customer in the order you least expect |
| Terms | Payment schedule, start window, change-order procedure | The bid is an offer; these are its conditions |
| Signature | Bidder signature; acceptance block for the customer | An accepted bid becomes the contract, so make it signable |
The internal sheet
Same lines, three more columns. Labor at a burdened rate rather than the wage, which on most crews adds thirty to sixty percent before you account for unbillable hours. An overhead recovery line at your own annual rate. Profit entered as a margin on price, which the sheet converts into the markup it actually takes. The customer never sees this sheet; you never bid without it.
Sample bid lines
| Line item | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tear-off, one layer architectural shingle | 24 | Squares | $85.00 | $2,040.00 |
| Synthetic underlayment | 24 | Squares | $42.00 | $1,008.00 |
| Ice and water shield, eaves and valleys | 180 | Linear feet | $3.25 | $585.00 |
| Architectural shingle, installed | 26 | Squares | $385.00 | $10,010.00 |
| Ridge vent | 42 | Linear feet | $14.00 | $588.00 |
| Decking replacement, if required | as needed | Per sheet | $95.00 | unit price |
| Disposal | 1 | Container | $650.00 | $650.00 |
| Base bid | $14,881.00 |
The numbers are illustrative, not a price list. Yours come from your market, your crew, and your books, which is the point of having a cost book at all.
Filling it in
Quantities first, prices second, and keep them in separate columns so a bad total can be traced to one or the other. Our takeoff guide covers the quantity side. Put a unit price on every unknown you can name, because a unit price agreed in advance is a change order you do not have to negotiate. Check the bid win rate article before deciding your number is too high: a very high win rate is usually a pricing problem, not a sales success.
When a template stops being enough
A bid template cannot stop two people on your team bidding the same job at two different unit prices, and it cannot show the customer three options without you building three sheets. FlyQuote's bidding software prices every bid from one set of cost codes, markups, and minimums, presents tiers or a range, and sends it as a branded proposal the customer signs on the page.