Ever finish a bid on the back of a napkin at lunch? A couple of quick numbers, add a little padding, and boom – you’ve got a “bid.” It feels fast. It feels easy. It also feels like you’re working for free half the time.
Here’s why those back-of-the-napkin bids are costing you money:
1. You forget stuff.
That machine you’ll need to rent for a week? The extra laborer you’ll have to bring in? They don’t fit on a coffee-stained napkin. Leave them out, and you’re eating the cost.
2. No job is ever “average.”
Contractors tell themselves, “I’ve done this kind of job before, so I know what it’ll take.” Every site has surprises – rock under the dirt, a client who wants changes, weather delays. If your bid doesn’t account for it, your profit margin disappears.
3. Hidden math errors.
Ever try doing fractions while yelling over equipment noise? One wrong digit in your scribble and you just cut your profit in half. It happens more than you think.
4. No paper trail.
When the client asks later, “Why is this so much?” you don’t want to be pointing to a napkin with barbecue sauce on it. A sloppy bid makes you look unprofessional – and makes clients less likely to trust you with bigger jobs. You also can’t track your job costs on an old napkin.
So what’s the fix?
Use a system that forces you to include every cost, double-checks your math, and leaves you with a clean, professional bid you can hand to a client without shame. That’s exactly what ProfitDig does. You build your database of materials, labor, and equipment once, and every future bid pulls from it. No more forgetting. No more scribbles. Just accurate, professional bids that actually make you money. You can even clone a bid multiple times until you get it just right.
Bottom line: napkins are for wiping your mouth, not running your business.