Know your true profit on every job — before the job ends
Build line-item estimates with markup on every line. Send the client a quote that shows your price — never your costs or margin. Track actuals in real time, so you always know your true profit before the job ends.
No credit card required · Free during beta · Set up in minutes
Built for residential builders, remodelers and trade contractors
Your spreadsheet is silently eating your margin
Most contractors don't find out a job lost money until after the client has paid and the crew has moved on. By then, it's too late to fix.
Material prices swing
Lumber alone can move 15–20% in a few months. A static spreadsheet keeps your old prices — your estimate is wrong from day one.
Change orders slip away
Extra work gets done, never billed, and quietly erodes the profit you thought you'd made.
Committed costs go unseen
You close out a job, then a bill you forgot arrives. A real job costing tool tracks what's committed, not just what's spent.
One broken formula
Someone edits the wrong cell and 26 linked sheets fall apart. CostBolt keeps your data safe in a protected database.
Why contractors are leaving spreadsheets behind
Real spreadsheet-template buyers keep saying the same things: clunky, confusing, and broken.
Everything you need to track estimate vs. actual
The four cost categories every job needs — tracked in one place, in real time.
Line-item job costing
Break every job into labor, materials, equipment, and overhead. Compare each line's estimate against its actual cost while there's still time to course-correct.
Professional quotes
Turn any estimate into a client-ready PDF quote in one click — with your internal costs and markup hidden from the client.
Role-based access
Your foreman logs actual costs on-site without ever seeing your markup. Your client sees only final prices. Your margin stays yours.
Mobile-first
A responsive web app, not a cramped spreadsheet. Update costs from the truck, the site, or the kitchen table.
Profit dashboard
Work in hand, projected profit, and average margin across all jobs — updated automatically as you log costs.
Change order tracking
Log approved and pending changes against the original contract, so no extra work goes unbilled.
Three steps to predictable margins
Estimate
Build a line-item estimate with your labor rates, material costs, and markup.
Track
Log actual costs as they happen — from the site or the office — against each line.
Analyze
See your projected profit in real time and sharpen your next bid with real numbers.
I built houses for 12 years before I learned what they actually cost.
I ran a remodeling company. We did beautiful work — kitchens, bathrooms, additions. Clients loved us. Referrals kept coming.
And every year, I'd look at the bank account and wonder: where did the money go?
The answer came one spring. I'd finished a big addition — six figures. The client was thrilled. I thought I'd made a healthy margin. Then my accountant showed me the truth: the job had barely broken even.
The margin I'd planned was gone — eaten by material runs I never priced, change orders I never billed, and markup I forgot to apply on half the line items. My spreadsheet hid all of it until it was too late to fix.
That night I wrote down what I actually needed:
- Build the estimate line by line — labor, materials, equipment, overhead — with markup on every line.
- Send the client a quote that shows the price, never my costs or markup.
- Track actual costs against that estimate, live, so I see the margin while there's still time to fix it.
Nothing I tried did all three. So I built CostBolt.
Now I know my real profit before the job ends. Not after.
Help us build the tool contractors deserve
CostBolt is in public beta. We're looking for real contractors to use it, stress-test it, and tell us what to build next.
Shape the product
Your feedback directly drives what we build next — not a generic roadmap.
Free during beta
Full platform access at no cost while we're in beta.
Early-adopter pricing
Beta members keep their data and get special pricing when paid plans launch.
Free while we're in beta
A professional job costing platform, free for early adopters. We're building it with real contractors — your feedback shapes the product.
Full Platform
Regular price $49/mo — free during beta.
- Unlimited projects
- Full team access & role permissions
- Quotes, invoices & change orders
- Price book & assemblies
- Server-side protected calculations
No credit card required. Beta members keep their data and get special early-adopter pricing when paid plans launch.
Frequently asked questions
What is construction job costing?
Job costing assigns every labor, material, equipment, and overhead expense to a specific project, then compares those actual costs against your original estimate so you can see your true profit per job in real time.
How much does job costing software cost?
CostBolt is free during public beta. After beta, we'll offer a paid plan at $49/month. Beta members keep their data and get special early-adopter pricing.
What costs should I track?
Track four categories on every job: labor, materials, equipment, and overhead. Missing any one of them makes your profit numbers wrong.
Does it work from my phone?
Yes. CostBolt is a responsive web app, so you can log costs from the job site on any device.
Stop guessing. Start job costing.
Know your true profit on every job, before the job ends.
Start free today