How to charge for remodeling jobs?
Short answerCharge for a remodel by adding direct costs, overhead and profit, then choose between a fixed bid and cost plus. A fixed bid needs a tight written scope. Cost plus needs an open ledger and an agreed percentage. Either way, every change goes through a signed change order.
The explanation
Direct costs are labor, materials, subcontractors, permits and disposal. Overhead is everything that keeps the company running whether or not a job is open: insurance, vehicles, software, office time. Profit comes after both. If you only add profit to direct costs, overhead quietly eats it, so build a real overhead number from last year's expenses.
A fixed bid suits a clear scope, like a bath with chosen fixtures. It pays you for efficiency but punishes surprises behind walls. Cost plus suits unknowns, like old houses. The customer sees invoices and pays a percentage or flat fee on top, so you need a clean paper trail.
Whichever you choose, describe the scope in plain lines, list allowances for items the customer picks later, and require a written change order before extra work starts. That one habit prevents most payment fights.
What to watch for
- Allowances set too low, so the customer picks tile that doubles the line.
- Starting extra work on a verbal yes.
- No payment schedule tied to milestones.
In general contractor
Remodels run for weeks with inspections, deliveries and subcontractors. Break the price into draws tied to milestones so cash flow follows the work instead of the final day. All general contractor scheduling questions.
How Apex does it
In progress
Part of this is built. The rest is not. Status as of 2026-10-07; the badge shows the least-built feature involved.
Apex is designed to carry a quote builder with change orders and progress billing so draws follow milestones. Change orders and progress billing are in progress and the badge shows the current status.
- ES01Estimates / quotes builder(Rolling out)
- ES19Change orders(In progress)
- ES20Progress billing / draws(In progress)
Apex Flow Scheduler is in early access. See how we label status.
Where this question comes from: owners type it, or a close variant, into search boxes. It was returned by public search suggestions (Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo) when we collected them on 2026-10-06. We do not have search volumes.