← Change Order Margin Calculator
This calculator vs. Buildertrend
Two different shapes: Buildertrend is an account-based platform for running a whole construction project. This page is a free, private, no-account worksheet for one number — whether a single change order's proposed price actually clears your cost floor and target margin.
What each tool is for
Buildertrend is a construction project-management platform founded in 2006 by Dan Houghton and Jeff and Steve Dugger, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. It is built around running a job end to end — scheduling, budgets, purchase orders, client communication, daily logs, and change orders, all tied to one project record that a builder, remodeler, or specialty contractor and their client both log into over the life of the job. It is an account-based platform: you sign up and use it as an ongoing service across projects, not a one-off calculator. Buildertrend's own site is not reachable from this session to confirm today's specific feature list, plan names, or pricing, so only its well-documented identity and category are stated here: nothing about it is invented, and no dollar figure for it appears on this page.
This calculator does none of that. It does not schedule a job, track a budget across trades, or manage a client portal. It takes one change order's added labor hours, loaded wage, materials, subcontractor cost, schedule delay, overhead, target margin, and contract markup cap, and turns that into a walk-away cost floor, a target price, and — if you have one — a check of whether your proposed price clears both, plus a plain-text approval summary. It runs free in any browser, keeps no account, and uploads nothing you type.
| Question | Where to answer it |
|---|---|
| I need to schedule this job, track its budget across trades, and give my client a portal to watch progress. | Buildertrend, or a comparable project-management platform — running a whole job is not something this calculator does. |
| Does this one change order's proposed price clear my cost floor and target margin, once labor burden, overhead, and any schedule delay are counted? | This calculator — free, instant, private, no account. |
| My contract caps change-order markup. Am I actually earning anything after my own overhead? | This calculator's markup-cap check — it flags a cap at or below your overhead rate before you even enter a proposed price. |
| I manage change orders, purchase orders, and client sign-off across many active projects, over time. | Buildertrend — built as an ongoing, account-based platform for exactly that job. |
| How do I price a change order in the first place, step by step? | This calculator's own pricing walkthrough. |
| Do I need to create an account or sign up to use the tool? | This calculator: no. Buildertrend's tools are used through an account. |
Most contractors pricing change orders get different value from each: Buildertrend (or a comparable platform) for running the whole job — schedule, budget, client communication — as an ongoing account, and a private calculator like this one for an instant, no-login check on whether one change order's price actually clears cost and margin before it is sent for approval. This page's own figures are a pricing model, not a project record, a contract, or a claim about what a client owes.
This tool needs no account and no sign-in: it is a static page, the arithmetic runs in your browser, and once it has loaded it keeps working with the connection off.
Common questions
Should I use this calculator or Buildertrend?
They do different jobs. Buildertrend is a construction project-management platform, founded in 2006 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, used by home builders, remodelers, and specialty contractors to run a job end to end: scheduling, budgets, purchase orders, client communication, daily logs, and change orders, all tied to one project record across the life of the job. It is an account-based platform you sign up for and use on an ongoing basis. This calculator does none of that. It takes one change order's added labor, materials, subcontractor cost, schedule delay, overhead, and target margin, and turns that into a walk-away cost floor, a target price, and a check against your contract's markup cap, instantly, in the browser, with no account and nothing uploaded. A contractor who needs to run an entire job's schedule, budget, and client portal in one place is better served by Buildertrend or a comparable platform; a contractor who wants an instant, private read on whether one change order's proposed price actually clears cost and margin, plus an approval summary to send, is in the right place here.
Is this page affiliated with Buildertrend?
No. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Buildertrend Solutions, LLC. Buildertrend is a trademark of its owner, named here only to describe what this calculator is and is not.
Open the Change Order Margin Calculator to price your own change order.