The Pricing Engine

The drawing becomes the price — the material list off the model, your yard's own price sheet, the barndominium interior off the floor plan, your labour, your markup at three levels — built into every price or shown as one line, as you choose — and a saved version to go back to or compare against.

The operating system built exclusively for post-frame and barndominium builders.

Instead of: Three days to price a building, a supplier's new price list retyped line by line, two estimators landing on two different numbers, and a margin nobody can prove.

Estimates · Summary · what the customer sees
What They See · Markup line
Spread markup across
What the customer sees
Materials$44,011.58
Labor$49,655.67
Services & Add-Ons$46,671.13
4" Concrete Pad2,880 sq ft × $9.09/sq ft$26,179.20
10×10 Insulated Garage Door1 × $4,757.79 each$4,757.79
Dumpster — Pole Barn$1,189.45
3×4 White Single Hung Window8 × $311.90 each$2,495.20
+ 3 more lines
Sales tax$2,384.87
every markup built into these prices · the lines add up to the total
Customer Total$142,723.25
See exactly what the customer gets, then send it.Proposal PDF
The estimate's total card with the three choices that decide what the customer reads: Builder view or Customer view, the markup hidden inside every price or shown as one Markup line, and a section's markup built into its own section or spread across the whole project. Real screen · sample data.
Scroll — 11 steps
The short answer

What should pole barn pricing software do?

It should turn the drawing into the price: count every post, girt, purlin, truss and sheet of steel off the model, price it from your yard's current sheet, work labor from the building itself, and put your markup on a line, a section or the whole job. Good pole barn pricing software also saves versions, so you can show a customer exactly what moved between two prices.

Why it works
  • Small builders feel price swings hardest because they can't stockpile or sign long supply contracts. In NAHB's July 2026 survey the median material cost of the same house rose 6.7% in a year: 9.1% for builders with 5 or fewer starts, 1.8% for builders with 100 or more. A price sheet that updates in one drop keeps every estimate on today's costs. NAHB, 2026 ↗
  • Margins are thin, so a short count lands straight on profit. In NAHB's Cost of Doing Business study the average home builder's gross margin was 20.7% and net margin 8.7% in fiscal 2023 (residential builders, not post-frame alone). Counting the list the same way every time protects those few points. NAHB, 2025 ↗
  • People judge a number by adjusting from the first one they saw, and adjusting from an anchor produces systematic, predictable errors. When a customer's anchor is a cheaper price for a different building, a line-by-line breakdown gives him something better to adjust from. Tversky & Kahneman, 1974 ↗
  • Customers often compare quotes for different buildings. In one Pole Barn Guru case, competing quotes differed on sidewall height, roof style, siding and wind exposure; once the specs matched, the price fell from about $33K to about $21K. Hansen Pole Buildings, 2011 ↗
Where it starts

The material list falls out of the drawing

Every member the model draws is counted — posts, girts, purlins, trusses, steel, trim, fasteners — and bought in the lengths a yard actually stocks, with factory trusses kept as factory trusses. Exclusively post-frame and barndominium builders: that's why the list is counted the way a post-frame yard sells it. Same building, same list, whoever drew it. Your estimator stops counting sticks at night, and the owner can trust the number.

A list counted off a sketch by hand is a list two estimators count differently.

Materials
Framing
6x6 solid-sawn post (UC4B treated) (18′ stock)
378 LF consumed · 21×18′ · 0 LF waste · incl. 4′ embedment — UC4B ground-contact treatment is a hard spec for embedded posts
21 pcs
6x6 jamb post (UC4B treated) (18′ stock)
36 LF consumed · 2×18′ · 0 LF waste · 2 laminated 2-ply (span > 9′) — full height, header load path
2 pcs
Nailed jamb (2-ply 2x6 / 4x6) (14′ stock)
134 LF consumed · 10×14′ · 6 LF waste · 8 doubled 2x6 + 2 4x6 — bearing on the splash plank, tied to the header. No embedment, no ground-contact treatment.
10 pcs
2x6 cripple (above headers) (8′ stock)
235.5 LF consumed · 30×8′ · 4.5 LF waste
30 pcs
2x8 door jamb + head jamb (overhead doors) (14′ stock)
39.6 LF consumed · 3×14′ · 2.4 LF waste
3 pcs
2x10 spring anchor pad (SYP #2 or better — NOT SPF) (8′ stock)
2 LF consumed · 1×8′ · 6 LF waste · lagged, never nailed — 4 × 3/8″ × 4″ lags, one near each corner
1 pcs
2x6 wall girt (cut-to-stock)
1240.8 LF consumed · 38×10′ + 116×8′ · 67.2 LF waste
154 pcs
2x8 skirt board (treated) (cut-to-stock)
180.9 LF consumed · 6×10′ + 17×8′ · 15.1 LF waste
23 pcs
2x6 eave strut (cut-to-stock)
200.5 LF consumed · 8×10′ + 16×8′ · 7.5 LF waste
24 pcs
2x4 roof purlin (cut-to-stock)
1447.7 LF consumed · 72×20′ + 24×8′ · 184.3 LF waste
96 pcs
1-ply 2x8 opening header (8′ stock)
22.2 LF consumed · 5×8′ · 17.8 LF waste
5 pcs
2-ply 2x12 opening header (16′ stock)
31.7 LF consumed · 2×16′ · 0.3 LF waste
2 pcs
2x6 window sill (8′ stock)
20.4 LF consumed · 4×8′ · 11.6 LF waste
4 pcs
Truss C40P4 (40′ span, 4/12)
spec-string per SmartBuild convention (C{span}P{pitch}); 4′ o.c. — 2 gable + 14 common · double-Fink (WW) webs, plated both faces (ANSI/TPI 1)
16 pcs
2-ply SYP 2x12 truss carrier (cut-to-stock)
240 LF consumed · 12×16′ + 4×12′ · 0 LF waste · 2-ply, both sidewalls — trusses at 4′ o.c. land between posts at 8′, so they bear on a carrier rather than on the post tops
16 pcs
2x4 bottom-chord bracing (16′ stock)
336 LF consumed · 21×16′ · 0 LF waste · {floor sq ft} × 0.00875 over 2400 sq ft — shop rule, not an engineered layout
21 pcs
2x4 miscellaneous bracing (20′ stock)
378 LF consumed · 21×20′ · 42 LF waste · {floor sq ft} × 0.00875 over 2400 sq ft — shop rule
21 pcs
2x4 X-bracing (20′ stock)
162 LF consumed · 9×20′ · 18 LF waste · {floor sq ft} × 0.0035 — only fires at or above 578 sq ft, as the shop rule does
9 pcs
2x6 corner bracing (20′ stock)
400 LF consumed · 20×20′ · 0 LF waste · flat 20 pieces — the shop's standing corner-bracing allowance
20 pcs
2x6 eave sub-fascia (cut-to-stock)
123.9 LF consumed · 6×16′ + 2×14′ · 0.1 LF waste · carries the eave fascia and the soffit's outer edge
8 pcs
2x6 rake sub-fascia (cut-to-stock)
92.2 LF consumed · 4×16′ + 4×8′ · 3.8 LF waste · carries the rake fascia at the gable overhang
8 pcs
Sheathing
Ribbed steel (exposed fastener) roof panel, 22.1′ length
2 rectangle face(s) @ 36″ coverage · 2745 sq ft (MBCI MasterRib (36″ coverage, ¾″ ribs @ 9″))
42 panels
Roof underlayment / condensation barrier
2745 sq ft + 10% lap
3,020 sqft
Wall steel panel, 11′ length
1851 sq ft net of openings @ 3′ coverage
61 panels
Wall steel panel, 7.4′ length
119 sq ft net of openings @ 3′ coverage
8 panels
Wall steel panel, 7.2′ length
22 sq ft net of openings @ 3′ coverage
1 panels
Wall steel panel, 1.9′ length
27 sq ft net of openings @ 3′ coverage
5 panels
Wall steel panel, 0.6′ length
9 sq ft net of openings @ 3′ coverage
8 panels
Wainscot panel, 3′ height
553 sq ft
69 panels
Wainscot panel, 0.1′ height
1 sq ft
6 panels
Gable-end wall steel (cut to rake)
267 sq ft of gable endwall infill — not a rectangle
27 panels
House wrap — 10′ roll (wall)
2295 sq ft of wall ÷ 211 sq ft per roll (empirical coverage)
11 ea
House wrap — 10′ roll (roof)
2745 sq ft of roof ÷ 211 sq ft per roll (empirical coverage)
14 ea
Trim
Ridge cap
62.1 LF
Rake trim
92.2 LF
Eave trim
123.9 LF
Corner trim
55.9 LF
Door/window trim
127.4 LF
Eave fascia — 5½″ steel fascia/post trim
covers the sub-fascia; separate from the eave drip edge, which both exist on a finished eave
123.9 LF
Rake fascia — 5½″ steel fascia/post trim
the gable-end equivalent of the eave fascia
92.2 LF
Vented aluminium soffit (12″)
123.8 LF of eave soffit as drawn — rake soffit is not modelled yet and is NOT included
123.8 LF
Inside/outside closure strip
matches every eave run of exposed-fastener steel
123.9 LF
Doors & Windows
Garage Door 14′ × 12′
1 ea
Walk-in Door 3′ × 6′-8″
1 ea
Window 4′ × 3′
4 ea
Fasteners
Truss plate (gang-nail, 20 ga galvanized)
pressed into both faces at each truss joint — the connection, not overlapping wood
384 ea
Truss/rafter-to-post uplift tie (H2.5A-class, 18 ga galvanized)
one per truss bearing per post line — uplift path from roof to column
32 ea
1½″ HH panel screw (color-matched)
{sf}×1.8 over 5594 sq ft — platform default; calibrate per builder
10,069 ea
Foundation
Concrete, 18″ dia × 4′ post holes
23 holes — uplift anchorage required on every embedded post
6 yd3
Footing pads, 18″ dia × 6″ concrete
bear below the frost line on undisturbed soil — 2000 psf presumptive bearing; precast "cookie" or poured in the hole
23 ea
Uplift restraint — full-depth concrete collar (as drawn)
the poured backfill above is the restraint; treated blocks bolted to the embedded face are the soil-backfill alternative
23 ea

Design aid, not engineering — this is a purchase-vs-consumed takeoff from the same members the model draws. Stock lengths are yard lengths (no 60′ 2x4s). Factory trusses stay factory trusses. Not a substitute for a licensed design professional, a stamped truss package, or your local building department.

The real screen, drawn from the product’s own design system. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
Beat one

Priced from your yard, not somebody's average

Every material carries your cost and your sell price, in the unit your supplier sells it — the 2×12s, the 29-gauge steel, the C40P4 truss, freight and delivery. Change a price once and the quotes after it use it. Your reps quote with your real numbers, so the margin you planned is the margin you get.

Pricing off last year's sheet or a national average is how a job that looked good stops being profitable.

Settings · Builder prices
Settings → Builder prices: a cost and a sell price on every usage row, with each row made of a catalogue material saying which one and what else it prices. Real screen · sample data.
Beat two

The yard's new price sheet goes in without retyping

When the yard sends new prices, drop the sheet in — CSV or Excel — and check its columns once; the same supplier's next sheet maps itself. Before anything changes you see every match with its old and new cost and how far it moved, a unit that doesn't line up, the rows it couldn't match — match them or add them as new products — and the rows it left out, with why. Publish with the date the prices took effect, and every change goes in the price change log: old and new, who, when, which file. Nobody spends a Saturday typing prices, and nobody has to wonder where a number came from.

A new price list retyped by hand is where a 2×6 quietly stays at last spring's price.

Upload a price sheet — Step 3 of 3 · what this will change
Step 3 of 3 · what this will change

Upload a price sheet

6 prices matched, 3 could not be matched.

5
Price changes
1
Same price
3
Not matched
3
Left out
Effective date
Oct 1, 2026
Your sell prices
Keep my sell prices as they are
2x6 SPF 12′
Line 2 · lumber.dim.spf.2x6.12 · 2x6 SPF 12'
Cost $8.40 → $9.48
+12.9%
Sell $10.92
29ga AG panel 36″
Line 4 · panel.steel.ag.29ga.w36 · 29ga AG panel 36" (per foot)
Cost $3.89 → $4.11
+5.7%
Sell $5.06
J-channel
Line 5 · trim.j-channel · J-channel
Cost $17.90 → $18.75
+4.7%
Sell $23.27
1-1/2″ PM metal screws (250)
Line 6 · fastener.1-5-pm-metal-screws · 1.5" PM metal screws (250)
Sheet says BAG; your book prices this per Each.
Cost $39.50 → $42.00
+6.3%
Sell $51.35
Galvanized ridge vent 10'
Line 13 · Galvanized ridge vent 10' · matched by name
Cost $19.95 → $21.50
+7.8%
Sell $25.94
On your estimates
4 estimate prices change. 14 open estimates reprice; 6 sent estimates keep their prices.
2x6 SPF · 12′ · per piece
$8.40
$9.48
+12.9%
Used in 11 open estimates
29ga AG panel 36″ · per ft
$3.89
$4.11
+5.7%
Used in 14 open estimates
J-channel · per piece
$17.90
$18.75
+4.7%
Used in 9 open estimates
1-1/2″ PM metal screws (250) · per bag
$39.50
$42.00
+6.3%
Used in 14 open estimates
BackPublish 5 changes
Step 3 of the upload (what this will change), the Price changes tab: four counts, the effective date and sell-price choice, every matched material with its cost before and after, and On your estimates — the estimate prices it moves. Real screen · sample data.
Beat three

Labour figured from the building, with the exceptions written down

The labour calculator works from the building itself — base labour by the square foot, then house wrap, height over 14 feet, openings and garage doors. When a job has something the formula can't know, it goes in as its own line with its reason: a crane day at $1,850 for trusses over the tree line, $900 because the site is only reachable from the west. Already have a fixed labour quote? Manual entry replaces the calculator. Anyone can see why the number is what it is, so nobody has to defend it from memory.

A labour number that lives in the estimator's head can't be checked, repeated or handed to anyone else.

Labor flat bid

Labor Calculator

4,090
2
2
4
Labor ratesEdit
Base labor (4090 sqft × $2.75)$11,247.50
House wrap (+$0.50/sqft)$2,045.00
Height >14ft (+$0.25/sqft)$1,022.50
Garage door openings (2 × $500.00)$1,000.00
Walk door openings (2 × $150.00)$300.00
Window openings (4 × $150.00)$600.00
Crane day
Trusses over the tree line — one day of boom truck
$1,850.00
Stone wainscot install
$4.50/sq ft × 220 sq ft
$990.00
Total Labor$19,055.00

Manual Labor Entry

$

Replaces the labor calculator and any custom items. Use when you already have a fixed labor quote.

The real screen, drawn from the product’s own design system. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
Beat four

Site work from your own catalog, priced the way you sell it

Pick the concrete pad from your catalog, type 40 by 60, and the line prices itself: 2,400 square feet at $7.25, $17,400. Here the rate has been raised above the $6.95 standard, and the line says so, with a reset. The customer reads what they're getting — a 4-inch pad, 3,500 psi, fibre mesh — not a bare number. Site prep, gutters, doors and permits sit in the same catalog, priced the way you sell them. Reps stop guessing at site work, which is where margins quietly leak.

Site work priced from memory is the line that eats the margin on an otherwise good job.

Services & Add-Ons — line calculator
Concrete Pad
Per Sq Ft
Concrete
Customer sees: 4″ pad, 3,500 psi, fiber mesh with saw-cut control joints.tailored
Make optional
$17,400.00
×
Length
40'
×
Width
60'
or
Rate / sq ft
$ 7.25
above standard $6.95 — reset
Square feet
2,400
40′ × 60′ = 2,400 sq ft × $7.25 = $17,400
The real screen, drawn from the product’s own design system. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
Beat five

The barndominium interior, priced off the floor plan

Set what you charge for a finished interior once, in the units you quote — drywall by the square foot, plumbing by the bath, cabinets by the foot — and switch on what you sell. On an estimate with a floor plan drawn, the interior is priced from the plan: each assembly, how the plan counted it, then the interior subtotal. Nothing touches the estimate until you press Add interior to estimate; then it goes on as one group of lines, each tagged with its trade. The house half of a barndominium gets priced as carefully as the shell, and the customer's number covers the home they drew.

An interior guessed as one lump sum is where a barndominium's margin goes missing.

Interior from the floor plan

The rooms, doors and fixtures you drew — with the styles and upgrades picked in the 3D builder — priced at your interior prices (Settings → Estimating). Nothing here is on the estimate until you add it.

Drywall — hung, taped & finished
5,850 sq ft of board: every finished wall face and drywall ceiling, openings over 32 sq ft deducted (no waste — the rate covers it).
Labor $1.13 of $2.25 per sq ft; material $1.12.
Drywall
$13,162.50
5,850 sq ft @ $2.25
Materials $6,552.00 · Labor $6,610.50
Insulation — walls & ceiling
Living area 1,466 sq ft — the walls and ceiling of the conditioned space, priced per square foot of floor.
Labor $1 of $2 per sq ft; material $1.
Insulation
$2,932.00
1,466 sq ft @ $2.00
Materials $1,466.00 · Labor $1,466.00
Paint — walls & ceilings
5,304 sq ft of painted drywall: 3,838 walls + 1,466 ceilings.
Labor $0.88 of $1.75 per sq ft; material $0.87.
Paint
$9,282.00
5,304 sq ft @ $1.75
Materials $4,614.48 · Labor $4,667.52
Interior doors — prehung, hardware & casing
9 interior doors drawn in the plan (1 cased opening with no door not counted).
Labor $87.75 of $325 each; material $237.25.
Trim
$2,925.00
9 × @ $325.00
Materials $2,135.25 · Labor $789.75
Base trim — installed
397 LF of base trim: room perimeters less doorways, cabinets, tubs and appliances, with waste.
Labor $1.63 of $3.25 per LF; material $1.62.
Trim
$1,290.25
397 LF @ $3.25
Materials $643.14 · Labor $647.11
Closet rod & shelf
2 closets — one rod and shelf each.
Labor $47.50 of $95 each; material $47.50.
Trim
$190.00
2 × @ $95.00
Materials $95.00 · Labor $95.00
Sealed concrete floor
Shop: 750 sq ft net of cabinets, tubs and showers + 0% waste.
Labor $0.75 of $1.50 per sq ft; material $0.75.
Concrete
$1,125.00
750 sq ft @ $1.50
Materials $562.50 · Labor $562.50
Luxury vinyl plank floor
Bedroom 1, Closet 1, Bedroom 2, Closet 2, Primary bedroom, Kitchen / living / dining: 1111 sq ft net of cabinets, tubs and showers + 10% waste.
Labor $2.25 of $4.50 per sq ft; material $2.25.
Flooring
$5,499.00
1,222 sq ft @ $4.50
Materials $2,749.50 · Labor $2,749.50
Bathroom — Tile floor
Tile floors net of cabinets, tubs and showers: 300 sq ft + each room's pattern waste (straight 12%, diagonal 22%, herringbone 32%).
Labor $4.73 of $11 per sq ft; material $6.27.
Flooring
$913.00
83 sq ft @ $11.00
Materials $520.41 · Labor $392.59
Laundry — Tile floor
Tile floors net of cabinets, tubs and showers: 300 sq ft + each room's pattern waste (straight 12%, diagonal 22%, herringbone 32%).
Labor $4.73 of $11 per sq ft; material $6.27.
Flooring
$858.00
78 sq ft @ $11.00
Materials $489.06 · Labor $368.94
Primary bath — Tile floor
Tile floors net of cabinets, tubs and showers: 300 sq ft + each room's pattern waste (straight 12%, diagonal 22%, herringbone 32%).
Labor $4.73 of $11 per sq ft; material $6.27.
Flooring
$1,012.00
92 sq ft @ $11.00
Materials $576.84 · Labor $435.16
Mudroom — Tile floor
Tile floors net of cabinets, tubs and showers: 300 sq ft + each room's pattern waste (straight 12%, diagonal 22%, herringbone 32%).
Labor $4.73 of $11 per sq ft; material $6.27.
Flooring
$935.00
85 sq ft @ $11.00
Materials $532.95 · Labor $402.05
Cabinets — builder grade
16.5 LF across 6 base, tall, vanity and island cabinets (wall cabinets ride in the rate).
Labor $74.25 of $225 per LF; material $150.75.
Cabinets
$3,825.00
17 LF @ $225.00
Materials $2,562.75 · Labor $1,262.25
Countertops — butcher block
18.5 LF of countertop over 7 cabinets that carry a top.
Labor $22.75 of $65 per LF; material $42.25.
Cabinets
$1,235.00
19 LF @ $65.00
Materials $802.75 · Labor $432.25
Shower / tub insert
2 tub or showers on an insert / surround kit.
Labor $700 of $1,400 each; material $700.
Plumbing
$2,800.00
2 × @ $1,400.00
Materials $1,400.00 · Labor $1,400.00
Kitchen / living / dining — Backsplash, tiled
Full-height backsplash, counter to wall cabinets (18″) along every counter wall: 18 sq ft net + pattern waste.
Labor $10.75 of $25 per sq ft; material $14.25.
Flooring
$500.00
20 sq ft @ $25.00
Materials $285.00 · Labor $215.00
Plumbing — full bath
2 full baths (rooms labelled Bathroom).
Labor $2,250 of $4,500 each; material $2,250.
Plumbing
$9,000.00
2 × @ $4,500.00
Materials $4,500.00 · Labor $4,500.00
Plumbing — kitchen
1 kitchen.
Labor $900 of $1,800 each; material $900.
Plumbing
$1,800.00
1 × @ $1,800.00
Materials $900.00 · Labor $900.00
Plumbing — laundry
1 laundry room.
Labor $450 of $900 each; material $450.
Plumbing
$900.00
1 × @ $900.00
Materials $450.00 · Labor $450.00
Electric water heater
1 water heater placed in the plan.
Labor $800 of $1,600 each; material $800.
Plumbing
$1,600.00
1 × @ $1,600.00
Materials $800.00 · Labor $800.00
Electrical — all-electric, per sq ft
Living area 1,466 sq ft — an all-electric allowance per square foot.
Labor $2.70 of $4.50 per sq ft; material $1.80.
Electrical
$6,597.00
1,466 sq ft @ $4.50
Materials $2,638.80 · Labor $3,958.20
HVAC — heat pump, per sq ft
Living area 1,466 sq ft of conditioned space.
Labor $3 of $6 per sq ft; material $3.
HVAC
$8,796.00
1,466 sq ft @ $6.00
Materials $4,398.00 · Labor $4,398.00
Cabinets & countertops: QuartzUpgrade
Bathroom — vanity top: 4; Primary bath — vanity top: 3; Kitchen / living / dining — counter: 11.5. Per LF of top, over the Countertops assembly. Set on one cabinet, it applies to its whole run.
Upgrade over builder grade (cabinets & countertops) — product cost; the install labor is in the base line.
$962.00
18.5 LF @ $52.00
Interior subtotal$78,138.75
Materials $40,636.43 · Labor $37,502.32 1 upgrade · $962.00
Labor: installed price = materials + labor, per sq ft, per board-foot, per LF or each — set both in Settings → Estimating.
The Interior from the floor plan card on an in-house estimate, open: 23 lines — every assembly with how it was counted and how its labor is worked out, tile by room, the quartz upgrade — the subtotal split into materials and labor, and Add interior to estimate. Real screen · sample data.
Beat six

Markup on the line, the section or the whole project

Set a markup on one line, a whole section, or the project. Here: 5% across the Services & Add-Ons section and 10% on the concrete pad line, on top of the project's own. All of it is built into the prices the customer sees — every line on their copy already has its markup in it. The customer reads one honest price per line, and you keep control of your margin where it matters.

One markup line at the bottom of the page invites the question you don't want: what's that?

Estimates · Summary · Section & line markups
Section & line markupsline → section → project, each on top of the one before
Materials$33,301.50
Section markup
—
Labor$37,584.00
Section markup
—
Services & Add-Onswith line markups$35,302.00
Section markup
+$1,765.10
Customer sees it spread across
4" Concrete Pad $18,000.00
+$1,800.00
10×10 Insulated Garage Door $3,600.00
—
Dumpster — Pole Barn $900.00
—
3×4 White Single Hung Window $1,888.00
—
36" White Half Glass Fiberglass Door $1,150.00
—
Concrete Insulation $4,464.00
—
Engineered Plans For Iowa $3,500.00
—
All markup: $35,950.8834.4% of cost
The real screen, drawn from the product’s own design system. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
Beat seven

Your numbers on one side, their price on the other

Flip the summary between Builder view and Customer view. Yours shows cost and markup on each part of the job; theirs shows what they'll pay. Then choose how they meet the markup. Hide it, and it is divided into the prices themselves — across the whole project, so every line rises by the same share, or inside its own section, so the services markup stays in the services lines. Or show it as one Markup line, with every line at cost. Here: 30% on the project, 5% on the services and 10% on the pad, all inside one customer total of $142,723.25 — the same total in every view and every choice, because the same arithmetic produces all of them. You can price with confidence, knowing the customer sees exactly what you meant them to.

A builder copy and a customer copy kept in two spreadsheets is how the two totals stop matching.

Estimates · Summary · Builder view
Your numbers
Materials$33,301.50
Building subtotal$33,301.50
+ Markup (30% of $107,952.60) · on materials, labor and servicesbuilt in across the whole project+$32,385.78
+ Labor+$37,584.00
Services & Add-Ons+$33,502.00
+ 4" Concrete Pad+$1,800.00 markup+$18,000.00
+ 10×10 Insulated Garage Door+$3,600.00
+ Dumpster — Pole Barn+$900.00
+ 3×4 White Single Hung Window+$1,888.00
+ 36" White Half Glass Fiberglass Door+$1,150.00
+ Concrete Insulation+$4,464.00
+ Engineered Plans For Iowa+$3,500.00
+ Services section markup (5%)built in across the whole project+$1,765.10
+ Sales tax · from SmartBuild · its own row on their copy+$2,384.87
all markup $35,950.88 · 34.4% of cost
Where your markup lands · your cost → customer pays
Materials$33,301.50 → $44,011.58+32.2%
Labor$37,584.00 → $49,655.67+32.1%
Services & Add-Ons$33,502.00 → $46,671.13+39.3%
Sales taxits own row on their copy$2,384.87 → $2,384.87+0.0%
Whole quote$106,772.37 → $142,723.25+33.7%
  • Project markup 30% = $32,385.78, worked out on $107,952.60 and built into every line by the same percentage.
  • Services & Add-Ons section markup 5% = $1,765.10, spread across every line in the quote, not just Services & Add-Ons.
  • Line markups = $1,800.00, each kept inside its own line.
  • Sales tax $2,384.87 — from SmartBuild — is never marked up. It shows on its own row.
Customer Total$142,723.25
See exactly what the customer gets, then send it.Proposal PDF
The real screen, drawn from the product’s own design system. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
Beat eight

Every line wears its trade's colour, and each sub gets his scope

Tag a material section, a service or a labour line with its trade — cabinets, trim, electrical, plumbing — and it carries that trade's colour down its edge. Pick one trade and only its lines show, with that trade's scope before markup; the estimate's own total never moves, and a tag never changes a price. Print that trade's scope sheet or download it, with the amounts or without. Your electrician sees his part of the job and only his part, so he prices the right scope — and never sees your margin.

Handing a sub the whole estimate to find his part is how he prices the wrong scope, or reads your markup.

Cost breakdown — Show one trade

Cost breakdown

Cabinets
Showing Cabinets only — 2 lines · $5,060.00 before markup. The estimate’s total is unchanged; to see it.
Print scope sheetDownload CSV
Item
Total
Materials
Services & add-ons
Save as templateUse template+ Add service
Interior — from the floor plan23 lines · $78,138.75Remove these lines
Cabinets — builder grade
17 lin ft × $225 = $3,825
Cabinets
$3,825.00
×
%$
0
$3,825.00
Countertops — butcher block
19 lin ft × $65 = $1,235
Cabinets
$1,235.00
×
%$
0
$1,235.00
Labor
Cabinets scope
Before markup · 2 lines
—
$5,060.00
Show one trade set to Cabinets on the Cost breakdown: the banner with the scope figure and scope tools, and only the cabinet lines. Real screen · sample data.
Beat nine

A price off the book waits for a yes

When a rep types a price that isn't your catalog's — a concrete porch pad at $13.00 a square foot against the book's $10.00 — the estimate can't go out until somebody allowed to approve prices says so. They approve it at the rep's price, set their own, or decline it. Reps keep room to sell, and the owner keeps the final word on margin.

A discount a rep gave on his own shows up for the first time in your job costing.

Approve a price — or set your own
Waiting on your decision
1 line is priced off catalog · $480.00 against the book $720.00
Concrete Porch Pad
$13.00 vs $10.00 catalog · ×240
$480.00
$720.00
Set per sq ft$ 12.00= $2,880.00 ($12.00 × 240)keep $13.00
Dale Yoder asked for approval and wrote: “Customer wants the thicker pad under the porch posts.”
Reason, in your words (optional — the rep sees it)
Approve at your priceDeclineClose it out1 line repriced · now $480.00 against the book. The rep is told what you set.
The real screen, drawn from the product’s own design system. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
Beat ten

Save a version, go back to it, or compare two

Save a version when a round of changes is ready, and the building, every material line, every service and the prices are frozen as they stood — so you can go back to one, or compare two. On the Brenneman 40×60 shop, version 3 against version 1 is $28,206 more, $60,726.40 to $88,932.48. Where it moved: materials up $4,944, labour $3,360, services $16,880, markup $3,022 — a 40×12 porch on the front, a 3′ wainscot, a 4″ concrete pad and seamless gutters. Copy for the customer puts it in plain words for a text. When the customer asks what changed, you have the answer in one look.

Saving over the old number means the price the customer is holding may not be any price you can find.

Estimates · Versions — compare two
Compare in the Versions window — two versions picked, the difference in the total, where it moved, what changed in the building, the services and the materials by category, with Copy for the customer. Real screen · sample data.
Every part of it, in detail
The design becomes the estimate
The building you drew becomes a priced estimate through the same list the builder used — and every version you save is frozen, ready to send or go back to.
Material takeoff straight off the model
Every stick, panel, screw and yard of concrete measured off the same building the model draws — posts, trusses, girts, purlins and steel, counted the way a post-frame yard sells them.
Your material price book
What each material costs you and what you sell it for, in one book you edit when the yard changes its pricing.
Upload a supplier price sheet
Drop in the price sheet your yard sends — CSV or Excel — see every change, old price beside new, and publish it to your material price list and the estimates that buy from it, with a record of every price it moved.
Labour calculator
Turns the building you drew into a priced labour line — square feet under roof, doors, tall walls, wainscot, soffits, insulation and porches, every line visible and editable, and marked up without ever touching the crew's pay.
Service catalog
Your own list of priced add-ons — concrete, insulation, doors, permits, site prep — that drop onto an estimate as calculators that know their unit, and can be offered as options the customer adds themselves.
Site work, utilities and crew travel on the estimate
Dirt work, utilities and crew travel priced on the same estimate as the building — a pad measured from the 3D footprint, the septic and the well as allowances or the sub's quote, and travel worked out from the driving distance to the job.
Shell-only estimates: price the shell, set the interior aside
One switch turns a full barndo estimate into a shell price — pick the walls, keep or drop the slab, the rough-ins and spray foam — and every interior line is set aside by name, never deleted, ready to come back.
Price the barndominium interior from the floor plan
The interior you drew, priced at your own numbers — every line split into material + labor, every upgrade over builder grade priced where you pick it, tile room by room and spray foam by location — and on the estimate only when you press Add.
Markup, built into every price
Mark up a line, a section or the whole job — and the customer reads prices with the markup built in, adding up to the total to the cent, with no markup line to argue with.
Trade colours on estimate lines
Tag each estimate line with a trade — cabinets, plumbing, framing — and every line wears that trade's colour. Show one trade narrows the estimate to one sub's scope and prints it for them, with or without the money.
Estimate versions: save, go back, compare
Save each round of changes as a version, go back to any of them in one click, and compare two to show the customer exactly where the price moved.
Pricing approvals
When a rep changes a catalog price, the estimate cannot be sent until someone with the authority says yes — or sets their own number. A rep you trust with their own prices just sends.
Supplier-maintained trade catalogs
Your supplier keeps the prices — through a no-login price portal, a price sheet or their own system's API — and your estimates quote from them instantly.
Barndominium floor plans, drawn inside the building
Draw the house inside the barn — rooms, doors, kitchen, electrical, one level or two — on the building you're quoting, with a code check that flags problems while you draw.
Control what the customer sees
A switch on your side for every block, every price line and every line of the building description the customer will see — per project, changeable any time, same link, no resend.
THE SYSTEM, END TO END

Price one of your buildings
on your own numbers.

The drawing becomes the price — the material list off the model, your yard's own price sheet, the barndominium interior off the floor plan, your labour, your markup at three levels — built into every price or shown as one line, as you choose — and a saved version to go back to or compare against. Thirty minutes with Keith, on one of your real structures — and the link we build is yours to keep whether or not you go any further.

leads2build.com
Estimates · Summary · what the customer sees
What They See · Markup line
Spread markup across
What the customer sees
Materials$44,011.58
Labor$49,655.67
Services & Add-Ons$46,671.13
4" Concrete Pad2,880 sq ft × $9.09/sq ft$26,179.20
10×10 Insulated Garage Door1 × $4,757.79 each$4,757.79
Dumpster — Pole Barn$1,189.45
3×4 White Single Hung Window8 × $311.90 each$2,495.20
+ 3 more lines
Sales tax$2,384.87
every markup built into these prices · the lines add up to the total
Customer Total$142,723.25
See exactly what the customer gets, then send it.Proposal PDF