The opening
Pick a common job to start, then replace every rate with a window invoice and a crew you have timed. Changing scope, sash, or well fills starting hours and material only when you have not already edited that field.
Hours and material rates
These start from the scope, sash, and well you picked. They are ballpark crew figures, not a window catalog or a guarantee.
Your costs
Payroll burden covers employer taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, and paid time off. Underestimating it is how an $1,800 retrofit that looked profitable was not.
Your bid
- Windows
- Travel
- Crew hours
- Loaded labor
- Sash and well
- Cut, drain, extras
- Travel & other
- Overhead
- Total cost
- Profit
- Price per window
- Effective hourly rate
- Walk-away price
A bid link carries your own rates — wage, burden, overhead, and target margin — so the page reopens exactly as you left it. Send it to yourself or your crew. The numbers ride after the #, which is never sent to a server, so copying a link uploads nothing. The customer should get the price, not the link.
Same opening, four cuts
| Scope | Hours | Price |
|---|
Same opening, four sashes
The upgrade a homeowner is asking for when they say “can we do a casement instead?” — same opening, same cut, starting sash kits. Matching the hopper special on a casement job is the losing bid.
| Sash | Hours | Price | vs hopper |
|---|
Same opening, who bought the sash
The $1,800 “just cut and set what I bought at the store” special. Zeroing the sash and well invoices is not a free install — the cut still costs money, and a hopper that will not pass is a second trip. Should I install a customer-supplied egress window?
| Who supplies | Hours | Your bid | At their number |
|---|
Same opening, when you can work
The “can you start Saturday? We need the legal bedroom before the listing” special. A weekday they leave is the bid you already have. They-stay-in-the-basement is the same wage on a slower cut. After-hours is time-and-a-half plus a second trip because you cannot leave an open foundation hole overnight. Should I cut an egress window on Saturday?
| When | Hours | Your bid | At their number |
|---|
Where the hours go
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. The starting hours and material rates are common ballpark figures, not an industry standard, a benchmark, or a guarantee — time your own crews and replace them.
Hand the customer a proposal
The price above is for you. This is the page you print or save as a PDF and give to the customer — your details, their details, the scope, the deposit split, and a line for them to sign. Your business details are saved on this device so you only type them once; the customer’s details are never saved.
Everything on the printed page is text you typed or a number this calculator worked out. It contains no warranty, lien, or cancellation wording — those depend on your jurisdiction and your contract, and this tool is not the place to invent them.
Common questions
Why can a competitor advertise “$1,800 egress window installed”?
Usually because the special is written around one specific job, and that job is a preset here: a vinyl hopper retrofit into an existing opening with a plastic well, no cover, ladder, drain, or haul-away. It really does price low. What the flat number cannot see is scope, window type, well material, and every extra. Price your actual basement beside the special and the gap becomes a list of line items instead of an argument about who is honest.
Why does cutting a new opening in poured concrete cost so much more than a wood-framed wall?
Because the wall material decides how the opening gets made. Retrofitting an existing opening is the cheapest scope — no new cut at all. A wood-framed wall needs a header and flashing. CMU or block needs a lintel and a saw. Poured concrete needs a concrete saw, coring, and a structural lintel, which is the slowest and most equipment-heavy of the four scopes. Each scope has its own starting hours and material because sawing block and sawing poured concrete are not the same job with a different name.
Is this the same as a window replacement?
No. Window replacement swaps glass into an existing wall opening with no excavation. An egress window can require cutting a brand-new opening in the foundation wall and always adds a window well outside — excavation, drainage, and backfill that a straightforward replacement never touches. This tool is also distinct from basement finishing (framing a rec room), a skylight (a roof cut), basement waterproofing (an interior drain and sump pit), and foundation repair (piers).
Why does the well material matter if the code depth is the same?
Because plastic, steel, and stone wells are different install jobs, not just different looks. A plastic well is the cheap-special assumption. A steel well projects further from the wall and needs more backfill. A stone or masonry well is built in place, course by course, on site. On top of the well itself, a cover, a ladder, and a drain are each optional add-ons priced separately — code may require some of them depending on well depth, which this calculator does not determine.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No account and no network requests — the calculator runs entirely in your browser. Your bid is saved in this browser’s local storage so it is still here next visit, and the optional usage counter records only which features were used and the day, never your job details, wages, or prices.
What’s the difference between the bid price and the walk-away price?
The bid price already includes your target margin on top of labor, materials, and overhead. The walk-away price is the total cost underneath it — the cut, the window, the well, and every extra — the point below which the job stops being profitable at all. Typing a price you are considering shows you the margin or the loss before you send it.