Templates for Contractors & the Trades.
Estimating and job tools for contractors, remodelers and tradespeople — built to quote a margin you can defend. Run takeoff, materials and loaded labor, markup and overhead, and change orders from one connected file, and track the hours behind every bid.
Quote a margin you can defend
Underpricing and forgotten change orders are two common ways the trades lose money on a job. Both come down to numbers scattered across scratch sheets — a takeoff here, a markup guessed there, a "while we're here" favor that never made it onto the invoice. The tools here keep the estimate, the markup, the overhead and the change orders in one place, so the price you quote actually covers the work.
New to the markup-vs-margin math? Start free with the bid-markup & job-cost calculator — no signup — then read what bid markup is and how it differs from margin.
Working a real bid? Follow a step-by-step tutorial for a remodeling bid or a landscaping estimate, or weigh a spreadsheet vs job-costing software for the stage you're at.
Recommended tools
The estimating and job-tracking toolkit
4 templates
A connected estimating workbook for one trade, plus the time and task trackers for the labor and punch lists behind every job — in Excel and Google Sheets.
- $14.95 Spreadsheet
Contractor & Trades Estimating Workbook — Construction Job Costing, Bid Markup & Margin, Overhead & Change Orders (Excel + Google Sheets)
A contractor estimating workbook for Excel & Google Sheets — line-item job costing, bid markup vs margin, overhead, and change orders in one file.
Operator OSView details - $2.95 Excel
Time Tracker - Excel
It's Friday afternoon and you owe three clients an invoice. This excel time tracker logs hours by project, team member, and priority, then totals them for you.
Project ManagementView details - $2.95 Sheets
Time Tracker - Google Sheets
When was the last time your invoice matched what you actually worked? This google sheets time tracker logs daily hours and totals them for you.
Project ManagementView details - $2.45 Excel
Task Tracker - Excel
An excel task tracker isn't about prettier to-do lists. It's about seeing every deadline, priority, and recurring chore in one place before they slip.
Personal ProductivityView details
Where we fit
Between a blank page and rented software
Most tools force a choice between a blank spreadsheet you build from scratch and a monthly app that's overkill. Ardent Workshop is the rung in between — structure you own.
- № 01
Blank spreadsheet
Free, but you build and maintain every formula, tab and layout yourself.
- Free
- Infinite setup
- No structure
- № 02 You are here
Ardent Workshop
Owned, structured, connected workbooks — a one-time price, yours to keep.
- One-time price
- Structured & connected
- Yours to own
- № 03
Generic SaaS app
Powerful, but overkill, rented and locked-in — built for someone bigger than you.
- Monthly rent
- Overkill
- Lock-in
Running an operation that's genuinely outgrown the file? Ardent Seller isn't the generic SaaS app this ladder warns about — it's maker-first software built by the same workshop: your data stays yours, you can start free or pay as you go with no subscription required, and it's sized for your operation, not someone bigger. The platform to graduate to when a spreadsheet honestly can't keep up.