MARGINCANVAS
HomeTools → Construction Job Cost & Profit Tracker
Construction Job Cost & Profit Tracker

The crew is on the next job already, and you still don't know whether the last one made money.

Compare what a job was estimated at against what it actually cost, find where the margin went, and track cumulative profit across every job.

$59 USD · one-time
Buy on Etsy · $59Gumroad coming soon
Instant download · Excel & Google Sheets · works on Mac and Windows · on Etsy today, Gumroad soon
Construction Job Cost & Profit Tracker dashboard
Who it's for

Made for the way you actually work.

  • General contractors who close a job and move straight to the next one
  • Remodelers who are busy all year and can't see where it went
  • Builders whose labor overruns quietly, job after job
  • Anyone who finds out what a job made when their accountant does
What's included

Everything in one file.

  • Dashboard: True margin, variance and cumulative profit. Read-only.
  • Start Here: Five steps from opening the file to a real number on screen.
  • Job Costing: Where you close out one job. The main working sheet.
  • Job Log: Every job you have closed, and cumulative profit across them.
  • Settings: Your target margin and the cost categories you track.
  • Instructions: What each sheet does, and what to do if a number looks off.
  • About: Version, license and support.
  • PDF Quick-Start Guide: two pages, first result in five minutes
How it works

Three steps to a number you trust.

  1. Open Settings. Set the margin a job is supposed to earn, and edit the cost categories to match how you break a job down.
  2. Open Job Costing. Name the job, enter the contract value, excluding tax, and the date you completed it.
  3. Enter your estimate for each category. These come off the bid you won, before the work started.
A look inside

The screens you'll be working in.

List of the eight sheets in the construction job costing spreadsheetJob Costing sheet comparing estimated and actual costs by category with variance flagsJob Log sheet listing closed jobs with gross profit and a running cumulative totalSettings sheet with target margin and editable cost categoriesThree steps to the true margin: enter the job, fill in the costs, read the resultCompatibility list showing Excel, Google Sheets, Mac and Windows support
Questions

Good to know.

Does this work in Excel and Google Sheets?
Both, and each has its own file in your download. The EXCEL- file opens directly in Excel 365, no macros, no add-ons, nothing to install, and it works offline. For Google Sheets, open the GOOGLESHEETS- PDF and click the link inside: it takes you to a native Sheets template with the charts, their dollar figures and the protections already in place. Make a copy and it's yours. Everything you type and every number the workbook calculates is identical in the two.
Is this the same as the Bid Estimator?
No, and deliberately so. The estimator answers what you should charge before the job. This answers what you actually made after it. They are different questions asked on different days.
Should I measure margin against the estimate or the actual?
Always the actual. Measuring against the estimate tells you how good your forecast was, which is useful, but it is not profit. This workbook shows both: variance is your forecast quality, true margin is your money.
How many jobs can the log hold?
30 as shipped. Copy the sheet or extend the rows for more, the cumulative column is a running sum and will follow.
I'm not confident with spreadsheets. Will I manage?
Yes. The white cells are the only ones you touch. The Quick-Start Guide has your first real number on screen in about five minutes, and if you get stuck, message me.

One mispriced job costs more than this.

$59 once, and it's yours to keep. It pays for itself the first time it stops you underpricing a job or leaving margin on the table. No subscription, no login, just a file that does the maths.

Buy on Etsy · $59Gumroad coming soon
Related tools

Owners like you also use.