What it's for
This handyman estimate template prices a visit as a list of tasks: a door that sticks, two holes in the drywall, a few loose fence boards. Each task gets a line with its materials and hours, the file adds your labor rate and a trip charge, and it works up to a bid price and a one-page quote for your client.
Its math runs in the order our guide on how to build a construction estimate sets out, with costs totaled first and overhead and margin on top. For a longer line-item estimate, see our construction estimate template. Painting and drywall jobs have their own files, the painting estimate template and the drywall estimate template.
What's inside
Takeoff. Under the HANDYMAN ESTIMATE letterhead and the job details (PROJECT, CLIENT, ESTIMATE NO., DATE, PREPARED BY) are 20 lines for tasks. Each takes a name in ITEM, a CATEGORY (Repairs, Installation, Drywall and paint, Carpentry or Other), a QTY and UNIT, the MATERIAL EACH and the LABOR HOURS EACH; MATERIAL and LABOR HOURS are worked out for you. TOTALS BY CATEGORY shows where the materials and hours fall, with "Not in a category above" for tasks you left uncategorized and the Takeoff total at the foot.
Labor and job. Your Rate per hour prices the takeoff's Labor hours and any Additional hours into the Labor total. The Trip charge and Disposal join the materials and labor in the Direct cost. From there the chain matches our other estimates: sales tax on materials, permits, bonds and contingency give the Job cost, overhead gives the Total cost, and the Bid price is "Total cost ÷ (1 − margin)".
Quote. HANDYMAN QUOTE carries the price to your client on your own letterhead, with QUOTE NO., DATE, VALID UNTIL, CLIENT, PROJECT, ADDRESS, six SCOPE OF WORK lines, the Price, and two signature lines, yours and the client's.
About this template. Three steps, a note on the example figures, the version (v2, 2026-09-24), the license and links.
Only the pale yellow cells take typing. The rest is locked, under protection with no password, and each sheet prints on one page.
How to fill it in
- Replace or clear the three example tasks. A task counts once it has a name or a figure; picking a category or typing a unit doesn't count it by itself.
- Choose one line per task or one line per visit. One line per task, as the example does it, keeps each task's materials and hours in view and splits them by category. A short visit can go on a single line instead: quantity 1, all its materials in MATERIAL EACH and all its hours in LABOR HOURS EACH. You lose the split by category, but the bid price comes out the same when the materials and hours add up the same.
- Repeated tasks take a quantity. "Example: replace fence board" is one line of 4 boards at $6.50 and 0.25 hours each, not four lines, and "Example: patch and paint drywall" is 2 patches at 1.50 hours each. Put any waste in the quantity; the sheet adds none.
- On Labor and job, enter your Rate per hour and any Additional hours the task list leaves out (blank is 0). Travel can go either way: its hours in Additional hours, priced at your rate, or a flat Trip charge like the example's $45.00.
- The Trip charge and Disposal sit in the direct cost, so overhead and margin apply to them like any other cost. Type the tax, contingency and overhead rates with the percent sign. Sales tax is on the takeoff's materials only, and the file doesn't decide what your state taxes.
- The Target margin (% of the bid price) has to stay under 100%. Replace the example's 12% overhead and 15% margin with your own.
- The Quote has six SCOPE OF WORK lines, so a long task list may need grouping there. Type the client and project on the Quote itself, since they don't copy from Takeoff, and change the Price through Labor and job, because the Quote's cell is locked. Send only the Quote, as a printout or a PDF: the workbook holds your costs and margin.
The worked example
Three small jobs make up the example, each on a line starting "Example:". The About tab calls them, the $65.00 rate and the $45.00 trip charge illustrative, not recommendations, norms or typical prices; the 12% overhead and 15% margin are the bid price calculator's worked example.
| Item | Category | Qty | Material each | Material | Hours each | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: patch and paint drywall | Drywall and paint | 2 ea | $18.00 | $36.00 | 1.50 | 3.00 |
| Example: hang interior door | Installation | 1 ea | $12.00 | $12.00 | 2.50 | 2.50 |
| Example: replace fence board | Repairs | 4 ea | $6.50 | $26.00 | 0.25 | 1.00 |
By category, Drywall and paint holds $36.00 and 3.00 hours, Installation $12.00 and 2.50 hours, and Repairs $26.00 and 1.00 hour: $74.00 in materials and 6.50 hours altogether.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Labor total, 6.50 hours at $65.00 | $422.50 |
| Trip charge | $45.00 |
| Direct cost | $541.50 |
| Job cost | $541.50 |
| Overhead, 12% of job cost | $64.98 |
| Total cost | $606.48 |
| Bid price, 15% margin | $713.51 |
| Profit | $107.03 |
| Markup on total cost for this margin | 17.65% |
| Price marked up by the margin % instead | $697.45 |
| Left on the table by marking up | $16.06 |
Disposal, tax, permits, bonds and contingency are blank, so the job cost equals the direct cost of $541.50. The Quote's Price reads $713.51. Marking the total cost up by 15% instead would leave $16.06 on the table on this visit; our guide to markup vs. margin explains the gap.
Frequently asked questions
Does it work in Google Sheets or Numbers?
Both open .xlsx files. This one has no macros, and its formulas use only IF, AND, ROUND, SUM and SUMIF.
Can I add more than 20 takeoff lines?
Yes. Unprotect the sheet (there's no password), insert rows between two lines so the totals take them in, and copy the two calculated cells and the category choice into each new row.
Can I quote a job by the hour?
Yes. Put the hours in Additional hours on Labor and job, or on one takeoff line with quantity 1. Either way your rate per hour prices them, and any materials go on takeoff lines.
Where does a tool rental go?
The file has no rental line. Typed on a takeoff line, a rental counts as material, so any sales tax rate you enter applies to it too.
Can I put my logo on it?
Yes, on the Quote: insert it where the sheet says YOUR LOGO. That row is 36 pt (half an inch) tall, so a logo sized to it fits without dragging the row taller. To remove the YOUR LOGO text, choose Review > Unprotect Sheet (there is no password), then protect the sheet again.
Is the Quote a contract?
No. It's a quote: a scope, a price and an acceptance block with signature lines. It has no contract terms, and the file doesn't decide yours.