Estimating Guide
467 scoped tasks across 15 trades. Log what a job really took, in under a minute, and build the pricing data no rate book can give you.
Free · No sign-up with us · Your data stays in your own account
A ready-made job log, built as a form linked to a spreadsheet. You make your own private copy, then fill it in after each task: the trade, the task, the difficulty, the quantity, what you estimated, what it actually took, how many people were on it, and a note explaining any difference.
Every submission lands in your own spreadsheet as a new row. After ten jobs that is mildly interesting. After a hundred it is the most valuable pricing asset your business owns, and no competitor has a copy of it.
- Click the button above to open the master form.
- Choose "Make a copy" from the menu in the top right. This is the step that matters: it creates a brand new form and spreadsheet inside your own account.
- Rename it to whatever you will recognise in your own drive.
- Add it to your phone’s home screen so logging a job is one tap between jobs — no URL to type, no bookmark to lose.
- Log your next job as soon as you finish it, while the details are fresh.
Your Data Is Yours
The copy you make lives entirely in your own account. Nobody else can open it — not other readers, not Trade Skills Hub Academy. There is no account to create with us and nothing is sent anywhere.
There is a separate, entirely optional form for contributing entries anonymously to a shared dataset, used only to refine the starter figures in future editions. It is opt-in, it is anonymous, and it never touches your own log.
What You Log
| Field | What it captures |
| Trade | The 15 trades covered, plus an option for anything outside the list |
| Task | The specific task, chosen from that trade’s list |
| Difficulty | Easy, average or difficult conditions |
| Quantity | For tasks priced by unit — square metres, linear metres, number of items |
| Estimated hours | What you allowed for when you quoted |
| Actual hours | What it genuinely took |
| Operatives | How many people worked on it, so one-person and two-person figures stay apart |
| Notes | The reason behind any difference — where the real value lives |
Reading Your Own Data
Sort the sheet by task name and compare the estimated and actual columns. That alone starts showing patterns within a few weeks. As the log grows, a simple average-by-task formula turns dozens of entries into one genuinely evidence-based figure for your own use.
Want the Full Method Behind It?
The database works on its own. The Complete Guide to Estimating for Tradespeople is the book it was built for: 52 chapters covering charge-out rates, material take-offs, mark-up versus margin, overheads, risk and contingency, and 15 complete worked estimates.
Start Pricing From Real Numbers
The book gets you to a defensible number quickly. Your own database is what makes it right.
