Ontario

Pricing construction work in Ontario

Most contractors price off a number they inherited from the last outfit they worked for. These guides work out what an hour of your time actually costs once overhead, WSIB and unbillable days are in it, what your win rate is telling you about that number, and how to write assumptions that survive the argument about extras.

9 ways to move forward

Practical guidesHow much to chargePrice one real job end to end: every cost on its own line, markup you set on purpose, Ontario HST applied for you, holdback split into what you bill now and what waits, and one list of every quote out with its status and value. Demo business, no signup.Practical guidesWhat an hour costs youThe wage is roughly half what a worker costs. Add the employer side, the truck, the tools and the insurance, divide it across the hours you can actually invoice, and get a floor under your rate before the quote goes out.Practical guidesAssumptions you can defendEvery argument about a quote is two people remembering a conversation. Two short paragraphs on the quote itself, scope and exclusions, turn that into a comparison of documents.Practical guidesCharge for the estimateSomebody wants a boiler sized or a panel schedule laid out, and what they are buying is your judgement. Put the design fee on the quote as its own line, credited against the contract, and make paying it a single tap.Practical guidesGoing independent, pricedWSIB, CPP at both halves, income tax, HST after $30,000, insurance and plates all arrive together. Add up your real monthly overhead, run it through a six-month cash forecast, and get the number that has to go on top of your rate.Practical guidesWin rate and your priceA win rate is a score, not a diagnosis. Put the size of what you lose next to the size of what you win, read the reasons you lost, and check what the wins actually made before you come down on price.Practical guidesSend your own quoteMost contractors who price well already have a spreadsheet that took years to get right. Software arrives and asks them to abandon it. Upload the file instead, have the lines read out of it, and choose whether the client opens your document or the platform version.Practical guidesWhat going out on your own costsTwo numbers decide this and only one gets discussed. The setup fees are hundreds. The gap between doing the work and being paid for it is thousands, and it is the one that closes businesses.Practical guidesReconcile quantities and quoteTrace quantities to evidence, map scope to commercial lines and check the resulting quote for omissions, conflicts and assumptions before it is sent.

Count it instead of estimating it

Hourly rate calculatorOverhead, billable days and the wage you want in. The hourly rate that pays for all three.Free, no signup.Markup and margin calculatorAdd twenty percent to your costs and you keep sixteen point seven. Enter one job and see the price, the profit, both percentages, and what the mix-up is worth in dollars.Free, no signup.
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The rest of the Ontario library

Project documents & deliveryFinding construction work in OntarioBidding and prequalification in OntarioGetting paid on Ontario constructionConstruction holdback in OntarioHST for Ontario contractorsConstruction bookkeeping in OntarioStarting a construction business in Ontario
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