The openings
Pick a common job to start, then replace every rate with a shutter invoice and a crew you have timed. Changing scope, mount, or grade fills starting hours and material only when you have not already edited that field.
Hours and material rates
These start from the scope, mount, and grade you picked. They are ballpark crew figures, not a shutter catalog or a guarantee.
Your costs
Payroll burden covers employer taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance, and paid time off. Underestimating it is how a $250-a-window hang that looked profitable was not.
Your bid
- Openings
- Shutter SF
- Travel
- Crew hours
- Loaded labor
- Shutters, panels, mount
- Removal, mill, extras
- Travel & other
- Overhead
- Total cost
- Profit
- Price per opening
- Price per SF
- 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 openings, three scopes
| Scope | Hours | Price |
|---|
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.
Common questions
Why does “measure and install” cost so much more than a hang-only special?
A product-on-site hang assumes the shutters already exist and just get mounted; measure-and-install adds the trip to template every opening precisely, and template-and-custom mill adds custom sizing and fabrication on top of that. Use “Same openings, three scopes” to see the same job priced all three ways before you decide which scope you're actually quoting.
Does outside mount always cost more than inside mount?
Not automatically — the calculator prices mount as its own choice because outside mount skips fitting into a jamb but often needs extra framing or filler strips on trim that isn’t flat. Toggle it to see the hour difference for your openings rather than assuming one is always cheaper.
What does the “stories” input change?
Second-story and higher openings need ladder or lift work and slower, more careful handling, which this calculator adds as extra hours on top of the base install time. It does not add fall-protection compliance costs or determine what your jurisdiction requires for working at height — that's on you to price separately if it applies.
Are the panel counts and hour estimates a manufacturer spec?
No. They're common ballpark figures for typical residential openings, not a shutter manufacturer's install guide or an industry standard. Time a job or two with your own crew and replace the defaults in calc.mjs so future bids reflect how your shop actually works.
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.