This is the look-through copy — every sheet of the Trades Workbook Pack, right here in your browser, filled in with example numbers so you can see exactly how it works. When you're ready to use it, download the workbook: it's your own copy, and the print sheets take your business name and logo, not ours.
| TRADES WORKBOOK PACK | |
| By Highway 38 Solutions • Job costing, quotes, mileage & expenses — in one workbook | |
| What this is | Five working sheets for a small trades business. No software to learn, no subscription. Fill in the yellow cells — everything else calculates. |
| Start in this order | 1) Price Book — put in your real prices. 2) Job Costing — check a job makes money before you quote it. 3) Quote Builder — send the customer a Good / Better / Best quote. 4) Mileage Log — log every business drive. 5) Expense Tracker — keep receipts in one place for tax time. |
| Yellow cells | Yellow = you type here. White / grey cells are formulas — don't type over them, or that calculation will stop working. |
| Example data | Each sheet has ONE example row in italics so you can see how it works. Delete or overwrite the example before you use the sheet for real. |
| Tax note | Mileage uses the rate you enter on that sheet. Enter the current IRS standard mileage rate for the year you're logging — check irs.gov for the current rate. This workbook helps you keep records; it is not tax advice. |
| Your numbers only | Every price, rate and cost in the examples is a placeholder. Replace them with your shop's real numbers before quoting a customer. |
| The side notes | Each sheet carries a short grey note marked “With the Office:”. This workbook works by hand, start to finish — nothing here needs the Office. The notes just show what the Office does automatically at that same step, so you can see which chores it would take off your plate. |
| Blue notes | Blue highlighted lines are instructions — they walk you through each sheet. |
| Sheets: Job Costing • Quote Builder (Good–Better–Best) • Mileage Log • Expense Tracker • Price Book | |
| Printing | To print a quote or invoice with your own logo on it: fill in the Your Business sheet once, then open Print Quote or Print Invoice — they fill in from Quote Builder and print on one clean page. |
| Your Business | Your business name, contact details, payment terms and the logo spot live on the Your Business sheet. Your printed quotes and invoices carry your details and your logo — that sheet has the paste-your-logo steps. |
| JOB COSTING — Know your profit before you quote | |||||
| Yellow cells are yours to edit. Example job shown — replace it with your real job. | |||||
| Cost item | Qty / Hours | Cost each ($) | Line cost ($) | Type | Notes |
| Labor — lead tech | 12 | $45.00 | $540.00 | Labor | Example — replace |
| Labor — helper | 12 | $28.00 | $336.00 | Labor | |
| Materials — parts & supplies | 1 | $640.00 | $640.00 | Materials | |
| Subcontractor | 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 | Sub | |
| Equipment / rental | 1 | $85.00 | $85.00 | Equipment | |
| Permits & fees | 1 | $60.00 | $60.00 | Other | |
| Travel / fuel | 1 | $45.00 | $45.00 | Other | |
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| Additional cost | $0.00 | ||||
| TOTAL JOB COST | $1,706.00 | ||||
| Overhead % (your input) | 10.0% | ||||
| Overhead amount | $170.60 | ||||
| Markup % (your input) | 25.0% | ||||
| Markup amount | $469.15 | ||||
| QUOTE PRICE TO CUSTOMER | $2,345.75 | ||||
| Gross profit | $639.75 | ||||
| Gross margin | 27.3% | ||||
| Rule of thumb to check yourself: if gross margin is under 20% on labor-heavy work, re-check your hours and material costs before sending the quote. | |||||
| With the Office: the costs land on the job as they happen, so there's no adding it all up at the end. | |||||
| QUOTE — Good / Better / Best | |||||
| Customer name: | Example Customer | ||||
| Job / address: | Example job — replace with real customer & job | ||||
| Date: | 2026-01-01 | ||||
| Quote #: | |||||
| Line item | Qty | Good ($) | Better ($) | Best ($) | Notes |
| Base job — labor & standard materials | 1 | $1,200.00 | $1,450.00 | $1,750.00 | Example row |
| Upgrade — higher-grade materials | 1 | $0.00 | $250.00 | $450.00 | |
| Add-on — extra requested work | 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $300.00 | |
| Subtotal | $1,200.00 | $1,700.00 | $2,500.00 | ||
| Tax rate (your input) | 0.0% | ||||
| Tax | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | ||
| TOTAL | $1,200.00 | $1,700.00 | $2,500.00 | ||
| How to use: put a price in only the options where that line applies. Good = gets the job done. Better = the one most customers pick. Best = top materials / full scope. Quote is valid for 30 days unless you write otherwise here. | |||||
| With the Office: Hank drafts the quote from the job details and photos — you just review it and approve it before it goes out. | |||||
| YOUR BUSINESS — your details for printed quotes & invoices | |
| Fill this in once, in the yellow cells. The Print Quote and Print Invoice sheets pull everything from here automatically — you never type it twice. | |
| Business name | Example Business Name |
| Address | 123 Main Street, Your Town, MN 55744 |
| Phone | (218) 555-0100 |
| you@yourbusiness.com | |
| Website | www.yourbusiness.com |
| Quote notes / terms | Thank you for the chance to quote your job. This quote is valid for 30 days. Prices cover the labor and materials listed above; any extra work is quoted before we start it. |
| Payment terms | Due on receipt unless we agree otherwise in writing. |
| Payment instructions | Make checks payable to Example Business Name. Ask us about paying by card or bank transfer. |
| These are YOUR business details — they print on your quotes and invoices, under your logo. Nothing here goes to Highway 38 Solutions. | |
| Your logo | Pictures can't flow through formulas, so your logo is pasted straight onto each print sheet — once, and it saves with this file: 1. Open the Print Quote sheet. 2. Click Insert → Pictures → This Device… and choose your logo file. 3. Drag the picture into the bordered box in the top corner, then drag a corner handle to size it inside the box. 4. Do the same on the Print Invoice sheet. A wide, short logo fits the box best. In Google Sheets, use Insert → Image → “over cells”, then drag it into the box the same way. |
| Example Business Name | Your logo — paste it here (Insert → Pictures) | |||
| 123 Main Street, Your Town, MN 55744 | ||||
| (218) 555-0100 • you@yourbusiness.com | ||||
| www.yourbusiness.com | ||||
| QUOTE | Quote #: | |||
| Date: | ||||
| Quote for: | ||||
| Example Customer | ||||
| Example job — replace with real customer & job | ||||
| Line item | Qty | Good ($) | Better ($) | Best ($) |
| Base job — labor & standard materials | 1 | $1,200.00 | $1,450.00 | $1,750.00 |
| Upgrade — higher-grade materials | 1 | $0.00 | $250.00 | $450.00 |
| Add-on — extra requested work | 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $300.00 |
| Subtotal | $1,200.00 | $1,700.00 | $2,500.00 | |
| Tax (0.0%) | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | |
| TOTAL | $1,200.00 | $1,700.00 | $2,500.00 | |
| Notes / terms: | ||||
| Thank you for the chance to quote your job. This quote is valid for 30 days. Prices cover the labor and materials listed above; any extra work is quoted before we start it. | ||||
| Example Business Name | Your logo — paste it here (Insert → Pictures) | |||
| 123 Main Street, Your Town, MN 55744 | ||||
| (218) 555-0100 • you@yourbusiness.com | ||||
| www.yourbusiness.com | ||||
| INVOICE | Invoice #: | |||
| Invoice date: | ||||
| Due date: | ||||
| Bill to: | ||||
| Example Customer | ||||
| Example job — replace with real customer & job | ||||
| Line item | Qty | Good ($) | Better ($) | Best ($) |
| Base job — labor & standard materials | 1 | $1,200.00 | $1,450.00 | $1,750.00 |
| Upgrade — higher-grade materials | 1 | $0.00 | $250.00 | $450.00 |
| Add-on — extra requested work | 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $300.00 |
| Subtotal | $1,200.00 | $1,700.00 | $2,500.00 | |
| Tax (0.0%) | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | |
| TOTAL | $1,200.00 | $1,700.00 | $2,500.00 | |
| Amount Paid | $0.00 | |||
| BALANCE DUE | $1,200.00 | $1,700.00 | $2,500.00 | |
| Payment terms: | Due on receipt unless we agree otherwise in writing. | |||
| How to pay: | ||||
| Make checks payable to Example Business Name. Ask us about paying by card or bank transfer. | ||||
| MILEAGE LOG — Business drives | |||||||
| Rate per mile ($) — your input: | 0.70 | Enter the current IRS standard mileage rate for the year (check irs.gov). 0.70 is a placeholder example only. | |||||
| Date | From | To / Purpose | Odometer start | Odometer end | Miles | Business? (Y/N) | Deductible value ($) |
| 2026-01-05 | Shop | Customer job site | 10,000 | 10,042 | 42 | Y | $29.40 |
| 2026-01-05 | Customer job site | Supply house | 10,042 | 10,051 | 9 | Y | $6.30 |
| 2026-01-06 | Shop | Personal errand | 10,051 | 10,058 | 7 | N | $0.00 |
| TOTALS | 58 | Business miles: | $35.70 | ||||
| Total miles (all drives) are in F58. Deductible value in H58 counts only rows marked Y. Keep this log through tax filing for the year. | |||||||
| With the Office: your phone records each drive on its own — there's no log to keep by hand. | |||||||
| EXPENSE TRACKER | |||||
| Type one expense per line — what you bought, its category and the amount. Example expenses shown — replace them with your real ones. | |||||
| Date | What you bought | Category | Amount ($) | Job (optional) | Receipt? (Y/N) |
| 2026-01-05 | Pipe, fittings — supply house | Materials | $184.50 | Example job | Y |
| 2026-01-06 | Fuel — work truck | Fuel | $62.00 | Y | |
| TOTAL EXPENSES | $246.50 | ||||
| Totals by category | |||||
| Materials | $184.50 | ||||
| Fuel | $62.00 | ||||
| Tools | $0.00 | ||||
| Vehicle | $0.00 | ||||
| Insurance | $0.00 | ||||
| Licenses & fees | $0.00 | ||||
| Office / phone | $0.00 | ||||
| Subcontractor | $0.00 | ||||
| Other | $0.00 | ||||
| With the Office: snap a photo of the receipt and it's filed — no typing it in. | |||||
| PRICE BOOK — Your standard prices | ||||
| Replace every example price with your real price. Add your trade's jobs — delete rows that aren't yours. | ||||
| Service / job | Unit | Your price ($) | Est. cost ($) | Margin |
| Service call / diagnostic | per visit | $89.00 | $35.00 | 60.7% |
| Labor — standard | per hour | $95.00 | $48.00 | 49.5% |
| Labor — after-hours / emergency | per hour | $145.00 | $62.00 | 57.2% |
| Water heater install (standard) | each | $1,450.00 | $820.00 | 43.4% |
| Drain clearing | each | $225.00 | $70.00 | 68.9% |
| Outlet / switch replacement | each | $165.00 | $45.00 | 72.7% |
| Panel / breaker work | each | $650.00 | $280.00 | 56.9% |
| Furnace tune-up | each | $129.00 | $40.00 | 69.0% |
| AC tune-up | each | $129.00 | $40.00 | 69.0% |
| General handyman / punch list | per hour | $85.00 | $42.00 | 50.6% |
| Margin = (Price − Cost) ÷ Price. If a line's margin is thin or negative, that price needs a second look before it goes on a quote. Examples cover plumbing, electrical and HVAC on purpose — keep your trade, delete the rest. | ||||
| With the Office: your prices live in the Office and fill your quotes in automatically — no copying them over by hand. | ||||
The download is the full Excel workbook — the same sheets you just read, ready for your prices, your jobs, and your logo on the printed quote and invoice. By hand here; in the Office, this same paperwork drafts itself from the job and waits for your approval.