How to Estimate Construction Projects as a General Contractor *Excel Spreadsheet*
Вставка
- Опубліковано 30 січ 2025
- ► GET THE EXCEL FILE HERE: www.jesselane....
How to Estimate Construction Projects as a General Contractor! Jesse Lane shares the secret to Estimating Construction Projects as a General Contractor using his custom Excel spreadsheet! How to estimate construction projects as a General Contractor is a much watch as a contractor wanting to better his skills in construction bidding! This will greatly help with Project Cost Management!!
► GET THE EXCEL FILE HERE: www.jesselane....
(you can still purchase the spreadsheet if you're on your phone, it will send you an email with the link to download it)
Check out my proposal video!! • How to create EPIC Con...
► Add me on Facebook and LinkedIn - Jesse Lane
► My company website - www.jlaneconstr...
Follow me on Instagram! ► @jesselane
i bought your whole package and this is by far the best investment I have made for my company. A ton of people don't understand the difference between net and gross profit. My dad is a contractor who has been working his whole life and thought he was making good money, thing is he never took out his overhead to see what he was really making. Once I showed him all the math on the excel it was eye opening for him and showed him just how low his prices are, compared to others in the industry. I am fortunate enough to be born in an age where information like this is readily available, your videos have been one of the most helpful resources on my journey to becoming a General Contractor.
Yesssss!!!!!!
For anyone interested:
www.jesselane.com
Nice to know this information thanks
Link doesn't work....
How does a person work for decades and not know how to subtract overhead and figure out your net? Lmao
Nice video. I’ve been a licensed GC for about five years. I need info like this. I’m good at getting the jobs but often have clients start to get upset about confusing billing, surprise change orders, etc. which leads to delays in getting paid. Or even not getting paid. I’m ready to go from being a good construction worker to a good business man. Thanks Jesse.
Yes!!!!!
That’s a great goal right there. I’m sure my prices are probably a lil low. I use homewyse to get a baseline. Then factor in my overall efficiency with specific job at hand. Like decks and fences are my specialty, but any carpentry really do I know my takeoffs are spot on and I can deliver quality at a faster pace. But say Sheetrock work my numbers are a bit higher, cause I know I’m slower in general and may need an extra coat here and there. So I make sure add some extra labor cost. If I manage to not screw the pooch where I know it’s not my strong suite, it balances out maybe a previous job where the mud work are my lunch. Not many lessons are learned as far as those that take food outta your family’s pantry. Plus I live the incentive to build up my weaker skill sets. Unfortunately these day snl you either need to be the absolute best of the bestest at one thing. Or be damn good ata lots of things. Lol.
I got the opportunity of a lifetime to become a construction estimator and your videos are definitely teaching me a lot and definitely buying the spread sheet. Great work 👍🏾
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Jesse if you have not been trained in the sales presentation business, you are a very good and natural presenter.
I’m an electrician by trade but noticed the profitability of the GC. I have now teamed up with a large GC company to learn the game completely before attempting to climb the ladder again. I’m a Jax native and love your videos! Your my source for common sense advice and direction in this new to me field. Thanks so much for your videos! I would love to buy you dinner and a beer to say thanks.
Glad YT suggested this vid. I'm a Carpenter of 30 years and am sick n tired of being on jobs that are not run properly. Going into some sort of residential contracting soon. Maybe remodels, maybe new homes. I'll figure out which one suits me better soon. I have tons of hands on experience in both. Time to hang up the hammer .
I'm gonna look into your stuff .
Thanx for an interesting vid.
👌🏼
I love watching this program over and over being a contractor myself it just helps me wit my marginal profits
Hello from St. Petersburg! I watch your videos pretty often and every time I watch, I catch something new. I've been a PM for a large developer out of Denver for about 4 years now and every bit of this aligns with our best practices. One thing I caught on my second viewing of this video was that you mentioned that you have been doing it for 6 years... it definitely seems like you've been at it for WAY longer than that. Fingers crossed that I can get to your level in the next two years!
😄😄😄
Very informative! Thank you for explaining allllll the facets and rules/regs for anyone to learn. Keep your down to earth character! My career was in medicine for years then my husband took a leap of faith and left his industrial plant job to start from scratch. Your videos are such a relief!!! Thank you and I pray God grows your company!
🙏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
I'm in a position to architect an entirely new software for this industry and your channel has been invaluable for diving in to gain scope. Thank you for the effort you've put in to make this A-grade content.
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼❤️
I just started doing Low Voltage Estimating, this channel is very interesting. I like how you went over everything and how you explain them.
My grandfather is an architect principal but also very frequently acts as the project manager on projects, and I plan on getting tutored in cost estimating this summer. Your video was helpful bro, thanks for helping me dip my toe in the water with this aspect of the construction process.
This is how the pros estimate. I own a small residential construction company and have worked at large commercial firms. This is exactly how I bid and how I was taught as a PM at larger firms.
thanks for the video bruh. only comment is do you have some sort of system in place after the project is over, like putting unit rates into a database, SF costing, what went well, what didn't blah blah blah. what doesn't get measured gets missed (or managed). nice to see there are other people in the industry that keep it simple and don't get overly fancy with a bunch of software. Excel is KING haha
Yes. We do that.
Thanks bro and never hesitate to mention how the liking and comments is positive for the channel because I didn't know for instance. Great stuff keep it up
Not for a second it felt like a lecture, even though it was way too informative! You are doing a noble job for the people like us. Thank you!
One of the best video breakdowns I’ve watched yet! Awesome job!
💪🏼😊
Hi Jesse, I am an architect and I really liked your video, I am referring it to my students, God bless!!!
Great channel!!! Exactly what I need at this point of my business life!!! Very appreciated your sharing!!! I’m definitely supporting your channel and buying spreadsheet! 🤩🤩🤩
I am training to be an estimator at work. It seems like a lot of stuff to learn. But your a good teacher and I like your spreadsheet. It seems like an awful lot for a beginner though like me
Jesse,
Love the video! Estimating tends to be a sort of hush hush that doesnt get discussed often. Everyone seems to have there own formulas and methods and they're not typically so eager to discuss them. Great information! Thanks for posting!
You’re very welcome Jon!!
Jesse you have been so helpful with all your videos. God bless you in all
Thanks! I’m so glad. 🙂
Excellent information, very useful, I will be downloading and purchasing your package in a short amount of time. Thanks for taking the time to do so.
It was quite interesting to watch. Considering the fact that I am no expertise in this field my attentiveness to the detail of the excel formatting throughout the video remained in-tacked even till the very end. Well done.
I’ve been seeing your videos for a while and I would like you to know that you’re a blessing for all you do! These videos are so helpful to new GC like me thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that!!!!
Hey, thanks Jesse. I grew up in Concrete Construction. I am now considering starting up my own family Construction Business (I'm nearly 40 and female). Your vids are really good and I love your excitement about construction, there is so much more room for creativity and pedantry and new age business development in the Building Industry. Ill download the spreadsheet if I make it that far for sure (love the simplicity of having each contractor listed simply but with their quote itemised so clearly- excellent) AND love the column for mark-up to be analysed and tallied reasonably . Thanks
🙌🏼🎉
This video is something I been wanting to see. My wife and I are in the works of starting our own business. I been in the trades for many years now and I work for a large company now. I run work for them. I have learned a lot and from watching videos like this helps fill in the gaps of info that I at times don’t get to be involved in enough. Fully enjoyed and will be buying the spreadsheet. Please keep the videos coming
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Looks exactly what I was looking for as a template to bid to a GC. your spread sheet looks that versatile . very nice !
So many people have purchased the spreadsheet and absolutely rave about it! I’m glad it was what you were looking for!
Great job Jesse! Up at 1.30am thinking about the massive remodel job I just scored and found my way to your videos. Would love to see a video on the highs and lows of scheduling a big project.... keep up the good work!
I just started my own building contracting company and I’m starting to give my clients quotes. This helped so much. Thank you so much.
I’m so glad!!!
I need a job man what’s up! Lol
@@Oh-gz2je well if you're in new Zealand then give me a shout!
Hi, If You’re too busy to Work Yourself for Quantity Takeoffs then you can Utilize my Services to get the Estimates with 99% Accuracy. I am a Civil Engineer and working as an Estimation Engineer in a USA Linked Construction Company. I have completed USA, Canada, and UK-based commercial and residential estimation projects. I do cost estimation and take-off using PlanSwift and Blue Beam Revu. Prioritizing the Client’s convenience, I follow CSI Master Format Divisions. I’m Looking Forward to Building a Trusted and Long-term Relationship with my Clients. Thank you!
I am watching this great work in 2021 from Saudi Arabia... thanks for your informative videos
Ok, you covered it... lol! I was sitting here asking in my head why you were adding a % markup vs a profit margin %. But you did address that at the end. Many contractors I know don't do it with the profit margin method.
Hello Mr Lane my name is Mark I'm the owner of Haughton Construction Corp thank you for sharing your estimating excel spreadsheet I did learn alot
😄👍🏼
Great job keep it, I learned more things that I haven't seen yet in excel. Thank you very much, Mr.Jesse Lane.
Absolutely amazing work you’re doing man. Thanks for imparting all of your knowledge!
Nice job Jesse. I put a spread sheet together for a pole barn construction project last year, and it looks a little bit like yours. It was narrowed down a bit more, because I was not dealing with all the other items you had listed. However, your spreadsheet looks very practical. Suggestion: stream line another spreadsheet with the existing one as a tab on the bottom of excel, that is maybe for a smaller construction business. It might get 2xs the traffic. Lot of little guys out there trying to make a living too, that just haven't hit the big 6 figures yet. Something simple and straight forward, like working with smaller projects for home owners. Just a suggestion. Great presentation!
Yes! Jesse, do you have any spreadsheets for small businesses? I'm very interested in spreadsheets for small remodeling projects.
I just started doing this full time about two years ago. I do struggle to estimate jobs. I was only flipping houses so while I was doing the work, it wasn't "per job" it was just renovating the house and then selling it. I've been getting so many conflicting ways to bid a job I just started telling customers how much the materials cost (or should cost) and then how much I'm charging them to do it and how long it's going to take. I haven't lost a single bid which tells my I'm probably coming in too cheap. I charged 1 dollar per square foot to put down vinyl plank, $100 per room to paint, $50 for a drywall repair patch, $100 to put in a new toilet, same for a sink and vanity. I was just trying to get to $2,000 per week for my time and that's about where I ended up so far. Then I turn around and see people getting $4,500 just to remodel a freaking bathroom. What is a fair value to put on a weeks work? Is there a way to back into that ?
Thanks!
Interesting stuff, and I was actually entertained enough not to completely fall asleep. Thank you!
Haha! Glad I could make it just a little interesting 😃
21 year old trying to start my own construction business. All your info has been soooo informative thank you so much!
I’m so glad!!!
Good day sir, if you need any help for your quantity takeoffs i can assist you with that,I do most of the trades,im a freelance estimator,and you can hire me in an affordable price, i used planswift in my takeoffs, you can email me at earlobregon@gmail.com for more details
How that go?
You did a great job with the video. We run a charitable enterprise in the U.K. and this makes things a bit easier. 😃 - thanks.
I really enjoyed watching this and appreciate your effort in making the video. I am currently a GC in NYC with little experience in estimating. The spreadsheet would definitely come in handy as a start up for my company.
As a Project Engineer for a GC, absolutely love your videos.
😊
Definitely buying this excel sheet!!! Thank you! You just got another subscriber!!
🎉🎉🎉🙌🏼
Cool video brother! Thanks for taking the time out to help us newbie GCs 😎🙌
Passed the business and law. Working on the contractor packet from qualifying board. Thanks for all the tips
😃🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🤙🏼🎉
Good day sir, if you need any help for your quantity takeoffs i can assist you with that,I do most of the trades,im a freelance estimator,and you can hire me in an affordable price, i used planswift in my takeoffs, you can email me at earlobregon@gmail.com for more details
great video!! so glad I ran accross your channel, i will buy the spreadsheet
Very informative! I really enjoyed the upbeat & entertaining way that you presented your spreadsheet. Good job!
Hey. Jesse just saw your video for every first-time interested thanks. ill be looking forward to more video.
Very well done. This is a great overview on estimating construction projects.
Great info. My problem is getting timely bids from serious subs when I don't have the job yet. They're always asking ,do you have the job yet? If not they put me on the back burner. Then, I'm shooting in the dark or working on previous averages to get a number out timely.
I am considering purchasing your spreadsheet. I have watched your videos multiple times and honestly you got me sold. I do have a question pertaining to the video vs the actual spreadsheet. Does the spreadsheet have all the items you have listed on the video. Such as concrete, widows, doors, roofing etc. or do we have to input that info ourselves.
It has everything prefilled
good for you man, lots of guys want to be in the position for you
Anyone can do it. Just put in the work.
Thanks a lot for the Spreadsheet. Very detailed information
What a nice information! Thank you I will put it in practice with my business
Great content man.. I'm new to the channel but im loving the videos. Just got license but as mentioned before when it comes to bidding and estimating everything's a secret. Been in my trade for 18 years but completely new to this
Yeah everything seems hush in my trade as well.. what do you do for work?
@@freewaydeath. Excavating and installing water lines. All types of utilities. The concrete/asphalt work as well.
As educating and fun it is to listen, I'm definitely going to be fallowing your channel, registering and hopefully get good advice to understand construction. I love the business aspect of it and specially the way you ran it through to us.
I think your awesome. Very inspirational and matter of fact. I have been a handyman for years and pulling the trigger on the GC LIC. I am going to check out some more of your videos. 👍
Nobody caught the 400LF of 11"x18" Arch Pipe. RIP site work budget.
Great video. I wish I'd found you years ago. Baptism by fire is expensive but the lessons won't be forgotten.
I just started estimating for a GC and this is good content man. Educational stuff and you’re entertaining. Hope the channel grows, keep it up man !!
Thanks bro!!
could you make an updated video with the new spreadsheet that has overhead, profit and general . i'm currently using it and would like to understand it a bit more im currently bidding a 4 plex that im doing for myself and will in the future present it to investor for future projects . btw than you for the channel has help me a lot
Yes! I will one day soon.
I love your channel, i love how you break up these so well to help any "dumb" guy like me to understand.
I have a general question, how do i get a bid from any multifamily GC say for a 50 unit apartment construction and know that s/he is not quoting too much. In general how to estimate how much it costs to build a multifamily.
This looks like a great template and I am probably going to buy it but how do you tie in change orders? If change orders take place and you want to keep track of them individually how would you tie that in to this? Or would you create a separate sheet with the same template and just use it for all the change orders?
I would just recommend getting my software. I've built all of that (and this spreadsheet) into the simple software. www.structur.com
Love your style. Right to the point, and for all-timers like me, this is manna. Where do you have a Workflow and schedule sheet? For projects 24 to 36 months time frame
I use Buildertrend for project management
i liked the spread sheet idea which "actually" shows the net profit after all the over heads, good stuff
Thank you! Glad I found your page, I will be downloading the tool kit.
💪🏼
Excellent work , I am looking forward to Watch more clips based on estimation and tricks
Great video Jesse. What was your background before doing this six years ago? Most people take years to learn this stuff.
really enjoying the video! great content i know its been a year since this video came out but i learn so much in so little time! Thanks!!
Great and informative video ! keep up the great work I will be subscribing 100%
Do you have something on topic concerning Office Manager, Job details/responsibilities & what to be expected from this position.
Attempting to separate the GC , PM , OM positions. Majority Residential work with few commercial in the mix.
Very informative. I’ll be buying this when I get serious.
This is great Im starting my own construction business as well
Nice!
Very helpful info. That spread sheet is looking like a good investment. I am WAY more comfortable in the field, and spreadsheets are such an annoyance that I tend to put them on the back burner. This one is very easy to understand.
jesse, do you have your own worker?or it was all subcontractors? for example on masonry works, do you have your own men that will do masonry works or u just find subcontractors that will do it. thanks jesse
Jesse,
Do you bid out absolutely everything and then submit your price to your clients or do you estimate everything in house and then get vendors to adjust to your pricing. I ask because sometimes you hand these plans out and the subs are already so busy you don't get your prices back in time or whatever excuse they give you. We are in Panama City coming up on our 5yr anniversary of hurricane Michael so its slowing down some.
Hey man! We just wait for our subcontractors to submit their pricing. We tell our clients that it’s going to be at least 4-6 weeks before we can get our bid turned around.
@@Jesse_Lane thank you for your prompt response. When you coming to Panama City
I have one other question for now. When you get your estimates from everyone and you have your estimated material cost. Do you do say a lets just use 15% across the board or if not how do you break down what percentage your putting on who. Like 10% on material 5% on subs and then 15% on top of all or how exactly do you like to do it. Sorry for the long question its jist eating at me to understand how much and where and who
There is a science to it. Sounds like you would benefit from my mastermind group. Text me and we can chat 904 500 2274
Lots of good information! Thanks Jesse, hope business is well.
You’re awesome man! Great content and definitely gonna download a copy of that spread sheet. Thanks for showing us your ways.. good stuff!
Yes sir!!
Good day sir, if you need any help for your quantity takeoffs i can assist you with that,I do most of the trades,im a freelance estimator,and you can hire me in an affordable price, i used planswift in my takeoffs, you can email me at earlobregon@gmail.com for more details
Nice work! Just bought it thanks Jesse!
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🎁👍🏼
Very informative! Thank you, J. Jane
The only thing I would add or keep in mind is the salary overhead section. We run multiple jobs at once and to charge 1 customer for all your salary employees per week will not land you a job because of how expensive it will be. I would recommend just keeping a separate sheet that calculates ALL of your overhead per month and try to spread it out amongst each job.
Thank you I am going to watch every video you have. You rock
Heck yeah.
You did a great job. Thank you
Awesome, spreadsheet exactly what I need, thanks Jesse...
🤩
Great Vid! Thank you for sharing, keep up the good work!!
This question may be obvious, but, if more lines of information/costs (in each section) are needed do you just press enter to add more rows? Are the formulas within the spread sheet locked?
You can add more rows! They aren't locked
Commercial carpenter here looking to eventually get into commercial contracting. Look like I'm in the right place.
Yes
Subscribed, Buying the Sheet... This was a seminar.
🙌🏼😊
What percentage would you say is typical for gross profit on the costs of the project… for example if labor and materials are $50,000, should an electrical contractor mark up 30-40% on materials and labor or just on the labor cost?
Also, what do you think is the most fair/common % to take home on a job
Excellent information. Downloading now.
To calculate the percentage of indirect overhead or office overhead ,it is good to divide the last year’s office overhead by the total projects’ value and multiply by 100.
This is the best average percentage for office overhead to be added to each project you bid for.
Thanks for the great video. This helped a lot. Im jsut wondering what the value in the final number in this video is for. Why would you need to look at gross profit + the cost of project manager & super costs? Is this a cash flow item or what is this used for?
Thanks for your time
Thanks for the excel sheet - is there a software you use to get your construction cost rates from? and how do you know how much you will need to pay in wc and gl for each?
RS Means
Loved your video. What is the percentage/% down payment do you normally get for your projects?
Typically 10-25%
Hi Jesse, how does your pay out go? Do you get money from the owner when a sub job is complete and then you Pay out to your subs? And what time interval is between those. For example, dry wall completed Monday, subs in voice Tuesday, request payment from home owner Wednesday, etc., when do you and the subs get paid?
Great question! With commercial projects, I bill once a month and once I receive the money I pay out the applicable subs. I bill on percentage of completion for each division of construction.
Learned so much from this video! Talk about specifications more.
Cool! This is based on a construction classification system called Masterformat. Nice vid!
One thing I missed was exactly what you send over to the clients? What does that look like? I’m in search of an easy form to send over to the clients after all the estimating hard work is completed that looks clean, streamlined and professional.
I have a proposal template on jesselaneconsulting.com I’m going to make a video on the actually proposal aspect coming soon :)
Good day sir, if you need any help for your quantity takeoffs i can assist you with that,I do most of the trades,im a freelance estimator,and you can hire me in an affordable price, i used planswift in my takeoffs, you can email me at earlobregon@gmail.com for more details
17:26
drywall finishing.
1 $per foot.
includes materials
includes corners
BY HAND.
1500SQ IS 7500 wall x 2 floors. estimated.
15,000ft is 15,000$.
BUT its based on SKILL .
100 PER HR skill.
you never talk about THIS MAJOR work to be simply PAINTED by some noob 3$ a foot.
do you have a video showing how to write a design bid for architectural fees, behind the scenes running around to the city, etc?