Describe the job and get a draft budget from a library built for your area. Your crew’s hours land on the right job already costed, from their phones. So you find out a job is going wrong in week three — not at closeout.
Vacation and sick days are kept off the job — paid, but never billed to a client.
costslate.com
BudgetExpensesPerformanceInvoicesClient documents
Relocate basement stair
Framing, drywall and rail — agreed on site 28 Aug
$6,480.00
Awaiting the clientApproved by Daniel R. Whitcomb
Original contract$284,627.25
Approved changes+$6,480.00
UPDATED TOTAL$284,627.25
costslate.com
BudgetExpensesPerformanceInvoicesClient documents
Windows — client selectionnot chosen$34,138.50
Kitchen cabinetrynot chosen$28,000.00
Tile — baths and mudroomchosen · $8,965.00$9,400.00
Contingency set aside
$12,000
Drawn so far
$3,400
Left, billed only if used
$8,600
costslate.com
BudgetExpensesPerformanceInvoicesClient documents
Contract total
$291,107
Cost to date
$96,204
Invoiced
$112,430
Margin
24.1%
Cost burned against your own budget44%
Billed to the client39%
Framing is running $2,140 over its line. Everything else is inside.
costslate.com
BudgetExpensesPerformanceInvoicesClient documents
This invoice isDrawn from the depositBilled separately
Work billed this invoice$12,000.00
Less deposit applied−$9,000.00
Card processing fee (2%) — only if paid by card+$60.00
AMOUNT DUE$12,000.00
Paid from deposit$6,000.00 left on the client’s deposit
costslate.com
Full PacketProposalBudget DetailChange OrdersInvoices
Your deposit has been recorded
Work is invoiced as it is done and taken from it, so there is nothing further to pay until it runs out.
YOUR DEPOSIT
Received
$15,000.00
Applied to invoices
$9,000.00
Remaining on account
$6,000.00
1 Sept 2026 · Deposit on signingReceived with thanks · $15,000.00
costslate.com
Invoiced
$272,080
Labor
$92,100
Material
$101,900
Profit
$78,080
Money in
$249,400
Month
Invoiced
Labor
Material
Profit
June
$68,400
$22,100
$26,800
$19,500
July
$91,250
$31,400
$33,900
$25,950
August
$112,430
$38,600
$41,200
$32,630
Every job in one figure — and one press to a CSV your accountant can open.
01
Price the job line by line
Describe the work and it drafts the takeoff from your own library — or build it by hand. The arithmetic is already done either way.
01
Describe the job, get a draft takeoff
Tell it what the work is in your own words and it drafts the budget from your own cost library — quantities worked out, client selections already marked as allowances, and the questions a good estimator would have asked. An interpretation to correct, not a price to send.
02
Price it on what things cost
Build the budget line by line against a 283-item library priced for your area, across 40 categories. Markup, general conditions and contingency roll up as you type — so the number you send is one you can defend.
03
Show the client, not your costs
Proposal, budget detail, allowance schedule and change orders on your letterhead — set out so a client can follow them without a phone call. Print them, send a PDF, or share a private link.
04
Invoice and get paid
Bill the whole contract or a percentage of it, tracked against what is still to invoice. Add a payment link and your client pays online from the same page they read the budget on.
05
The hours find their own way onto the job
Your crew fill in the week from a link on their phone — no app store, no password, and it works with no signal. Every hour lands on the right job at what it actually costs you, so labour stops being the number you guess at until payroll.
06
Know it in week three, not at closeout
Cost to date against the contract, updating as receipts and hours land. And once a few jobs are finished, what your work actually costs — per square foot, and trade by trade — which is what prices the next one.
Your first job, before the kettle boils
No spreadsheet to build, no formulas to wire up, nothing to import. Three steps, and only one of them is work.
01About a minute
Describe the job
Type what the work is the way you would tell a sub. A draft budget comes back priced from a library made for your area, with the client selections already flagged as allowances.
02Ten minutes, and it is yours
Correct what you disagree with
Change the quantities, add what it missed, delete what it invented. This is the part only you can do, and it is the part you are being paid for.
03One press
Send it
A proposal on your letterhead, printed or sent as a PDF — or a private link your client opens on their phone and signs. Your costs and your markup never leave the app.
After that it keeps itself up to date. Receipts photographed at the counter, your crew’s hours from their phones, change orders your client signs — all landing against the same budget, so the margin on the screen is the margin on the job.
The contract total never moves on its own
Entering real costs changes your projected profit, never what the client owes. Only an approved change order does that. It is the difference between a budget you trust and a spreadsheet you have to re-check.
Named for the slate. The board the tally was always kept on, and the one you showed your work on. Both still apply.
Cost-library figures are ballpark planning estimates for guidance only — always verify against local subcontractor and supplier quotes.