CostTrak

From estimate to final margin, on one thread

CostTrak follows a job through six stages. Each one builds on data you already have to enter, and shows you something you cannot see from a spreadsheet alone.

Estimate
Purchases
Labor
Change Orders
Invoice
Final Margin
  1. Step 1 · Estimate

    Create the job and estimate

    You enter:
    Customer, job address, requested scope of work, and your quoted price.
    CostTrak shows:
    A job record with a target margin baseline to measure everything else against.
  2. Step 2 · Estimate

    Enter expected labor and materials

    You enter:
    Estimated labor hours and rate, and the materials you expect the job to need.
    CostTrak shows:
    A cost breakdown by bucket (labor, materials, travel, tools, disposal) and the projected margin before any work starts.
  3. Step 3 · Purchases & Labor

    Record actual purchases and labor

    You enter:
    Receipts, material purchases, and actual labor hours as the job runs.
    CostTrak shows:
    Running actual costs next to your original estimate, updated as you go instead of at closeout.
  4. Step 4 · Change Orders

    Match receipts, costs, and invoices to the job

    You enter:
    Change orders for extra work the customer requests, tied to the same job.
    CostTrak shows:
    Every cost and change order attributed to one job, instead of scattered across trucks, email, and bank statements.
  5. Step 5 · Invoice

    Identify when actual costs threaten the target margin

    You enter:
    Nothing extra — this runs off the costs and change orders already recorded.
    CostTrak shows:
    A margin warning when recorded costs put the job's projected profit below your target, while there's still time to adjust the invoice.
  6. Step 6 · Final Margin

    Review projected and final profit

    You enter:
    Final payment status once the invoice is sent and paid.
    CostTrak shows:
    Estimated-vs-actual variance for the finished job, so you can price the next one more accurately.

A real job, walked through

An $8,000 remodel job, from estimate to a corrected final invoice.

  1. Entered data

    Contract price entered: $8,000.

  2. Entered data

    Estimated materials entered: $2,200. Estimated labor entered: $2,000.

  3. Calculated by CostTrak

    Starting projected margin: $3,800 (47.5%).

  4. Entered data

    Additional material purchase recorded: $600, bringing actual materials to $2,800.

  5. Entered data

    Actual labor logged at $2,600 — over the $2,000 estimate.

  6. Entered data

    Customer requests extra work. A change order is recorded for $900 but has not been invoiced yet.

  7. Alert

    CostTrak flags that projected margin has fallen to $2,600 (32.5%) based on recorded costs against the original $8,000 contract price.

  8. Contractor action

    The contractor adds the $900 change order to the final invoice before sending it.

  9. Calculated by CostTrak

    Final projected margin recalculates to $3,500 (39.3% of $8,900) — corrected before the invoice went out, not after.

Figures are an illustrative walkthrough, not a live calculation. Margin-warning thresholds are configurable in pricing settings inside the app.

See it on your own jobs

The contractor beta is free and open to small crews tracking job costs today.

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