Your crew hourly wage, payroll burden, overhead on direct cost and target net margin are the same on every job you bid. Save them once and every trade bid calculator here opens with your numbers instead of a stranger’s ballpark.
Kept in this browser only, on this site’s own storage. Nothing is uploaded, and clearing your browser data clears it. Forgetting them leaves the numbers already on this bid alone.
Keep this bid so it is still here when the customer calls back. Every number on this form is saved together, under a name you choose, along with the figure it gave you, and restoring one puts the whole job back exactly as you priced it. Mark each one won or lost when you hear — the ones you have not heard back on stay listed as waiting, with how long they have been out. Once a few have come back, this panel says how long yours actually take, and how many are still out past that. Once enough of them have been decided, it also says whether the bids you save here have been landing differently lately than they used to. Once a few here are decided, this panel says what the ones you won averaged against the ones you lost, so you can see where your price tips. On a lost bid you can also note what the job went for, if you heard — then it says how far off you actually were, which is the part guessing gets wrong in both directions. On a won one, note what the job came to once it was done and this panel says what those jobs actually kept, so you can see whether the ones you are winning are worth winning — and it tells you how many of your won jobs are still missing that figure, rather than going quiet about it. Restoring a bid also pins the figure it was saved at above this panel, so when the customer asks what it costs without the tear-off, the new number is shown against the one they already have — and by how much, in money and in percent.
Kept in this browser only, on this site’s own storage. Nothing is uploaded, and clearing your browser data clears it — download a backup to keep a copy or open your bids on another device. Bids are kept per tool, so these are the ones you saved here.
FOR LOCAL MOVING COMPANIES
Bid the walk, not the bedroom count.
Price a local move from the hours the crew will actually spend: inventory on a first-floor short carry, then the extra trips stairs and a long carry create, then packing and drive time. You get the job price, what it works out to per hour and per cubic foot, and the number below which the Saturday loses money.
One row per room or specialty item. Clock hours are first-floor, short-carry load and unload for the whole crew. Pick a type to start from a common figure, then replace it with a time from your own crew.
Room or itemCubic feetClock hours
Access, packing, and drive
Stairs and a long carry add hours from cubic feet — more cubes, more trips. Elevator wait is flat: the crew sits through it together. Minutes per 200 cu ft are starting points; time your own crew and replace them.
Your costs
Payroll burden covers employer taxes, workers’ compensation, and paid time off — the part of a mover’s cost that never shows up on their pay rate. Matching a cheap “3-bedroom for $800” quote without seeing stairs is the most common way a Saturday loses money.
Questions movers actually type
Why can’t I bid by bedroom count?
Two 3-bedroom houses can be a first-floor short carry or a third-floor walk-up with an 80-foot carry. Bedroom count cannot see the extra trips. That is how a Saturday that looked like $900 becomes a loss.
How much extra should stairs add?
Stairs add trips, so the extra hours should scale with how much you are moving, not a flat surcharge. Start from minutes per flight per 200 cubic feet, then replace it with a time from your own crew.
Is this the price I should charge?
No. The output is arithmetic on the numbers you entered. It is not a recommended price, a tariff, or a guarantee. Verify every figure against your payroll, insurance, and times before sending a bid.
Your bid
$—
job price
Clock hours
Person-hours
Loaded labor
Truck, fuel, materials
Overhead
Total job cost
Job profit
Price per cu ft
Effective rate per mover
Walk-away price
A bid link carries your whole job — inventory, access, and your rates — so the page reopens exactly as you left it. Send it to yourself or your crew.
Where the day goes
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. The starting hours and access minutes are common ballpark figures, not an industry standard, a tariff, 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
How do movers price a local job?
From clock hours: load and unload time for the inventory, plus extra hours for stairs and a long carry that scale with cubic feet, plus packing and drive time. Hours times crew size times loaded wage, then truck, fuel, materials, overhead, and margin.
Why can't I bid a move by bedroom count?
Two 3-bedroom houses can be a first-floor short carry or a third-floor walk-up with an 80-foot carry. Bedroom count cannot see the extra trips. That is how a Saturday that looked like $900 becomes a loss.
How much extra should stairs add to a moving quote?
Stairs add trips, so the extra hours should scale with how much you are moving, not a flat surcharge. This tool starts from minutes per flight per 200 cubic feet and lets you replace that with a time from your own crew.
Is this the price I should charge?
No. The output is arithmetic on the numbers you entered. It is not a recommended price, a tariff, or a guarantee. Verify every figure against your own payroll, insurance, and times before sending a bid.
Want the margin, walk-away price and overrun headroom as well, or pricing a different trade? Price this job in the Bid Price Engine, one calculator for 121 trades.