A profitable quote can become an unprofitable contract.
ConeQuotes helps cleaning contractors price the job correctly, lock in the original scope, and catch labour, cost, and scope changes before they destroy the margin.
No credit card required.
THE PROBLEM
You bid it. You do it. You lose money on it.
A job can look profitable when you quote it and become unprofitable by week 3.
Labour runs over your estimate.
Scope creeps without price adjustments.
Extra work gets absorbed for free.
Small cost overruns compound month-to-month.
FROM QUOTE TO CONTRACT PROFITABILITY
Start with what you expected to make. Then compare it with what actually happened.
1. Quote
Set your expected price, labour, costs, and target margin.
2. Contract
Preserve the original scope and financial assumptions as your baseline.
3. Track
Compare actual labour against what you estimated.
One visit loses $524. Repeated margin leaks can cost $157,200 a year.
Here's what happens on a single visit when labour, supplies, travel, and overhead all run a little over the original quote.
Original Quote
Revenue per visit$2,700
Labour20 hours
Labour cost$660
Supplies and products$100
Travel and equipment$0
Overhead/admin$150
Total costs$910
Profit$1,790
Margin66%
What Actually Happened
Revenue per visit$2,700
Labour28 hours
Labour cost$924
Supplies and products$185
Travel and equipment$125
Overhead/admin$200
Total costs$1,434
Profit$1,266
Margin47%
Four margin leaks compounded on one visit.
Labour increased by 8 hours, adding $264. Supplies added $85. Travel and equipment added $125. Overhead added $50. The combined impact was $524 less profit on one visit.
If this pattern repeats across 25 similar visits per month
Monthly Impact
$13,100 less profit / month
Annualized Impact
$157,200 / year
Illustrative example based on 25 similar visits per month. Actual results depend on your pricing, costs, and contract volume.
See what your price, costs, and target margin look like.
Build a profitable bid
Estimate your quote, labour cost, operating costs, and expected margin before you bid.
Employee wage assumption. Adjust to your actual local wage.
Auto-calculated: (Base Wage × (1 + Payroll Burden)) + Overhead, grossed up for Target Margin. Cannot be set below break-even, so it can never show a negative margin.
Planning benchmark. Adjust after a walkthrough or historical job review.
Payroll taxes, vacation pay, insurance, and other labour on-costs.
Total Annual Overhead ÷ Total Billable Labor Hours. (Typical benchmark: $3.00–$8.00/hr)
Recommended Price per Visit
—
planning benchmark, not guaranteed
Monthly Revenue
—
4.33 weeks
Worker-Hours per Visit
—
total across crew
Crew Duration per Visit
—
elapsed time on site
Fully Loaded Labour
—
per visit
Estimated Margin
—
target
——
Cost Breakdown per Visit
Revenue—
Base Wages—
Payroll Burden—
Fully Loaded Labour—
Supplies—
Travel—
Equipment—
Overhead—
Total Cost (modeled break-even cost)—
Your Profit (revenue − modeled cost)—
Profit Margin:— Includes base wages, payroll burden, supplies, travel, equipment, and overhead
⚠️ Risk Scenarios
Labour runs 20% over plan
Margin: —
Profit: —
Supplies rise to 6%
Margin: —
Profit: —
Both occur together
Margin: —
Profit: — vs. baseline: —
Planning benchmarks used
ConeQuotes uses editable planning benchmarks to estimate labour,
productivity, supplies, overhead, and pricing. These are starting points,
not guaranteed market prices. Confirm assumptions through a walkthrough and
your own historical job data.
Production rates:
public ISSA-style planning methodology. Confirm actual productivity
through walkthroughs and completed-job history.
Supplies and overhead:
editable planning assumptions that should be replaced with the
contractor's own accounting data.
Create Professional Proposal
Build a comprehensive scope document and proposal that becomes your contract baseline.
Step 1: Client & Facility Information
Enter a square footage above to calculate pricing.
Step 2: Scope of Work
Your selected scope becomes the baseline for this contract. Later, you can identify additional work and margin changes.
Click each room to expand and select tasks.
Site Walkthrough & Scope Evidence
Upload photos from the walkthrough to document site conditions, access requirements, special areas, and exclusions. Link each photo to a room or scope area so the original proposal has visual context.
This walkthrough item may affect labour, equipment, travel, or scope assumptions. Review the quote before sending.
Photos are compressed and stored locally in this prototype. They are not backed up or synchronized between devices.
Step 3: Service Assumptions
Define labour estimates, access, supplies, and responsibilities.
Total labour required across the whole crew, not per person.
Elapsed time on site with this crew size.
Access & Security Requirements
Client Responsibilities
Step 4: Frequency Matrix
Clarify what's recurring vs. periodic work.
Step 5: Out of Scope / Change Order Triggers
Identify work that requires additional approval.
Step 6: Service Frequency & Pricing
Auto-calculated live from the assumptions above. Updates instantly -- no recalculate button needed.
Step 7: Terms & Conditions
Proposal Preview
Downloads a CSV file that opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.
Your Contracts
View contract baselines and track performance.
Your data is stored locally.
Export your contracts regularly to keep a backup. All exports are available in the Margin Guardian tab.
Portfolio Overview
Total Contracts
0
Healthy
0
Watch List
0
At Risk
0
Margin Guardian Dashboard
Track logged labour and expenses against each contract's original baseline.
Export Data
All files download as CSV and open in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.