We use cookies to keep you signed in and to see what's working and what breaks. No advertising cookies, nothing sold. Details in our Cookie Policy.

Texas

Pricing construction work in Texas

Texas sales tax on a job depends on whether the contract is new construction or a repair, and eating that tax is the most common way a Texas job loses the margin it was priced with. These guides cover the tax, the bid lists worth being on, and the paperwork that has to exist before you price anything at all.

Try this on a real business

Open a seeded business in your trade. Nine jobs on the pipeline, a quote sent and viewed, a deposit paid, and an invoice already overdue.

Open the demo business

No card, no form. Sign in later and everything you built stays on the same account.

11 guides on this

How to run the businessWhere work is starting in TexasAustin, Dallas and San Antonio publish every permit they issue, free and daily, with the scope, the declared valuation and the contractor of record on it. Read one like an estimator: what that job is worth to your trade, and how many weeks after the permit date your call is on time.How to run the businessTexas bid ready checklistTwelve documents stand between you and a vendor number at a Texas general contractor, and five of them cost nothing. Certificate of Formation, EIN, W-9, certificate of account status, ACORD 25 endorsements, the comp answer, city registration, bonding capacity and HUB, each with who issues it and how long it takes.How to run the businessStop eating the Texas sales taxOne line in your Texas contract decides who pays the sales tax: lump-sum makes you the consumer of the materials, separated makes you the seller. The table covers new construction, repair and remodel, residential and nonresidential, plus the five percent rule that can tax an entire $800,000 job.How to run the businessWhat an hour costs you in TexasTexas puts four lines on a payroll hour: Social Security, Medicare, FUTA after the state credit, and TWC unemployment on the first $9,000. A $30 hand costs $32.43 before workers comp, which Texas alone makes elective. Includes the billable-hour division and the 1099 crossover.How to run the businessPrice a Texas jobBuild the number from five piles of cost, take margin with the divisor rather than the multiplier, and split the contract under Tex. Tax Code s.151.056 so profit sits in the untaxed labor line. Then price the cash gap the 10 percent statutory reserve opens.How to run the businessGet on Texas GC bid listsTexas issues no GC licence, so the bid list is the gate. Here is what a Texas prequal packet asks for, from the Comptroller certificate of account status to the EMR box a non-subscriber cannot fill, plus which estimator to call and when. Houston and DFW are two different lists.How to run the businessTECL: contract under your own nameThe TECL is the Texas license that sits on the business, not the person: your company must be or employ a master electrician, carry $300k per occurrence under 16 TAC 73.40, and pay about $110 a year. Here is the filing, the startup cost table, and how to price the work so it pays for itself.How to run the businessRMP: plumb in your own nameTexas issues no plumbing company license. The Responsible Master Plumber designation attaches to you, and the only gate on top of your master license is a $300,000 general liability certificate filed with the board before you work. The filing order, the startup cost and how to price the work are all here.How to run the businessBid your own concrete work in TexasTexas licenses electricians and plumbers, not concrete. What actually gates your first bid is a folder: city registration, a certificate with completed operations on it, commercial auto, and the comp decision. Plus the yield table, the pour date cash gap and the subgrade change order that concrete crews argue most.How to run the businessThe Texas framing sub they call firstTexas licenses no framers, so you can be on site next week. What the square foot bid has to include, labor-only versus turnkey, a lumber escalation clause a builder will sign, the three-draw schedule, and the 10 percent Tex. Prop. Code s.53.101 already holds for you.How to run the businessDrywall and painting in TexasTexas does not license drywall contractors or painters, so the quote decides the money instead of a board. What gates you is the city permit desk, the insurance certificate, the comp election, and the EPA lead rule on pre-1978 homes. Then the finish level table that stops a level 4 price buying level 5 work.

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.
Every calculator

The rest of the Texas library

Texas contractor licensingBidding and prequalification in TexasGetting paid on Texas constructionTexas lien rights and deadlinesWorkers comp for Texas contractorsContractor insurance in TexasRunning a construction business in TexasStarting a construction business in Texas
Every guideThe whole Texas libraryHow to run the business