What this is
JobCostLab makes calculators that answer one question: what does this job actually cost me, and what should I charge? Not a market average, not what the guy down the road charges, but a number built from your crew, your equipment, your overhead and the margin you want to keep.
The free calculators on this site each do one thing on one screen. They are meant to be used on a phone, in the driveway, before you say a number to a customer.
Who it is for
Owner-operators and small crews in the trades where the owner is also the estimator: tree service and stump grinding, junk removal and cleanouts, mobile detailing, roofing repair. Businesses with one to three trucks, where a bad quote is not a rounding error but a bad week.
How the calculators work
Every tool follows the same method. Add up direct costs (labor at a loaded rate, equipment by the hour, disposal, fuel). Add an overhead allocation per billable hour. Apply a multiplier for difficulty where it applies. Then divide by one minus your target margin, because markup is not margin. The free versions use blended numbers and sensible defaults. The full spreadsheets, sold on Etsy, break every number out by role, machine and line item, save your rates, and add printable quotes and job logs.
What it is not
Every default on this site is a placeholder. Wages, insurance, comp rates, fuel, dump fees and equipment costs vary by region and by business, and you should replace them with your own before you rely on the result. Nothing here is legal, tax, insurance or accounting advice.
How it is made
The formulas, articles and spreadsheets are developed with AI assistance and checked against worked examples. If you find an error or a case the calculators get wrong, please tell us. Corrections get made.
The full spreadsheets
The paid workbooks are on Etsy under the shop name JobCostLab. They are Excel files with a Google Sheets copy link, one-time purchase, no subscription.