The business side of building · US contractors · 2026

Know your numbers before you bid.

Free calculators, state-by-state rules and honest software prices for people who run a construction business. Every figure is sourced and dated.

  • No signup, no email gate
  • Every number cites its source
  • Calculators run in your browser
Calculators

Tools that show their math

Each one states its formula, cites every default, and lets you print or share the result. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

All calculators →
01Live

Bid Price Calculator

Free bid price calculator for contractors. Enter job costs, overhead and your target margin to get the right bid and the markup it takes, with the math shown.

In: Direct costs, overhead %, target margin
Out: Bid price, markup, profit and what a lower number costs you
Open →
02Live

Change Order Calculator

Free change order calculator for contractors. Enter labor, materials, subs and overhead to price a change order by markup or margin, with the math shown.

In: Labor hours and rate, burden %, materials, subs, equipment, overhead %, markup or margin
Out: Change order price, wages, burden, overhead and profit, priced like a small bid
Open →
03Live

Surety Bond Cost Calculator for Contractor License Bonds

Free surety bond cost calculator for contractor license bonds: enter the bond amount and credit tier to see the yearly premium range surety agencies publish.

In: State, bond amount and credit tier; the state fills the amount only where every licensee needs a bond
Out: Annual premium range, low to high, with every published source behind it
Open →
04Live

Labor Burden Calculator

Free labor burden calculator with 2026 state unemployment rates built in. Turn an hourly wage into the true cost of a productive hour, with the math shown.

In: State, hourly wage, hours, PTO, SUTA/FUTA, workers' comp, GL and benefits
Out: True cost per productive hour, total burden, and the minimum rate to bill
Open →
05Live

Markup vs Margin Calculator

Free markup vs margin calculator for contractors. Enter either number to convert instantly, price a job from cost, and see the exact formula and worked math.

In: Markup % or margin % (whichever you know), plus an optional job cost
Out: The other percentage, converted, plus the price and profit it prices out to
Open →
06Live

Retainage Calculator

Free retainage calculator for contractors. Enter your contract sum and work completed to get the payment due, with the pay-app math shown.

In: Contract sum, work completed, stored materials, retainage %, prior payments
Out: Payment due this application, retainage held, and percent complete
Open →
Your state

What the law says where you build

Contractor license bond amounts and retainage caps, state by state, from the statute or the licensing agency. A verified row carries the date it was verified; a state not yet verified says so.

California · License bondVerified 2026-09-22
Bond amount$25,000
Licensing agencyContractors State License Board (CSLB)
StatuteCal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 7071.6(a)
Guides

Plain answers, then the statute

Short, sourced explanations of the questions that cost contractors money. Each one cites its sources, is fact-checked and dated, and links to the calculator that does the math.

All guides →
Payroll

Certified Payroll and Form WH-347: What to File Weekly

Certified payroll is a weekly payroll submission plus a signed Statement of Compliance. What Form WH-347 asks for, line by line, and who has to file it.

Fact-checked September 23, 2026 · 5 sources
Estimating

Change Orders That Get Paid: Notice, Pricing, Signatures

A change order is a signed modification to the contract. See the notice clock, how to price the change like a small bid, and how it reaches the pay application.

Fact-checked September 23, 2026 · 4 sources
Bonds

Contractor Bond vs Insurance: Who Gets Paid, Who Repays

A bond and a liability policy pay different people and end in different places. See the three-party structure, what each covers, and where a state needs both.

Fact-checked September 23, 2026 · 5 sources
Bonds

Contractor License Bonds: State Requirements, Cost and Claims (2026)

Which states require a contractor license bond, what one costs at published surety rates, who a claim pays, and who repays the surety afterward.

Fact-checked October 11, 2026 · 9 sources
Insurance

General Liability Insurance for Contractors: What CGL Covers

What a commercial general liability policy answers for, the two sub-lines that matter on a jobsite, and why this page publishes no premium figure.

Fact-checked September 23, 2026 · 5 sources
Estimating

How to Build a Construction Estimate, Line by Line

An estimate is what the work costs you, not what you charge. Takeoff, MasterFormat structure, five cost buckets, contingency and the step to a bid price.

Fact-checked September 23, 2026 · 4 sources
Software

What it really costs, verified on a date

List prices from each vendor’s own pricing page, confirmed on the live page on the date shown, with the per-user fees and card-processing rates a headline price leaves out.

Price history + changelog →
4 of the 5 vendors with published prices, listed alphabetically.
SoftwareBest forEntry plan / mo (annual billing)Per extra userCard processingVerified
Contractor ForemanConstruction management$49/moBasicNot published2.9% + $0.30
Housecall ProField service management$59/moBasic$35/mo on Maxfrom 2.59%
JobberJob scheduling, quotes and invoicing$29/moCoreNot publishedNot published
JobTreadJob management with customer and vendor portals$159/mo$20/mo on monthly billingNot published

Not published: the vendor’s pricing page does not give this figure, or it could not be confirmed there on 2026-09-22. We show a figure only once it has been confirmed on the vendor’s own page.

All vendors, including those without a public price →

We have no affiliate relationship with any vendor on this page. If that changes, affected links will carry rel="sponsored" and this line will say so. How we make money →

Numbers right now

The figures a bid lives on

Social Security wage base
$184,500
2026 taxable maximum
Social Security Administration · retrieved 2026-09-22
Employer FICA
7.65%
6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare
Internal Revenue Service · retrieved 2026-09-22
FUTA net rate
0.6%
on the first $7,000 · after the 5.4% credit
U.S. Department of Labor, ETA · retrieved 2026-09-22
Markup for a 20% margin
25%
markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin)
Who is behind the numbers

Built to be checked

OC
Sami Chicha, EditorResponsible for every published figure. Reviewer credits appear on each page; if a page has not been reviewed by a licensed professional, it says so.

Published by Harmony For Humanity LLC · 1309 Coffeen Avenue STE 1200, Sheridan, Wyoming 82801 · [email protected]

1Primary sources only. Statutes, agency rate filings, IRS and DOL publications, vendor pricing pages. Retrieval date on every figure.
2Show the math. Every calculator prints its formula and a worked example you can check by hand.
3Say what we don't know. No estimates dressed as data. Unverified figures are not published.
4Corrections in public. A dated changelog per dataset; report an error from any page.