Auto repair estimate builder demo

This is a demo built on sample data. The four jobs below came off one written inspection. Type in your own labor rate and your own parts markup and the whole ticket re-prices against them. Nothing on this page looks up a published labor time and nothing on it quotes a live supplier price. The point is the shape of a priced ticket and the arithmetic under it.

Key takeaways

• Sample data throughout. No labor guide is queried and no supplier is quoted.
• Every line prints where its number came from.
• Each job is rounded once, so the job amounts sum to the total exactly.
• Turn a job off and the ticket re-prices without anything being re-keyed.

Estimate builder demo

Four sample jobs off one inspection. Turn any of them off, put your own rate and markup in, and watch the ticket re-price.

This runs on sample data. The hours, the part numbers and the costs below were written for this page. Nothing here looks up a published labor time and nothing here quotes a live supplier price. What it demonstrates is the arithmetic and the layout of a priced ticket, at your own rate and your own markup.

Your labor rate

$/hr

The rate you bill labor at.

Parts markup

%

One flat markup here. A real matrix slides by cost band.

Sales tax on parts

%

A placeholder. Put your own rate in; labor taxability is a state question.

The jobs off this inspection

Diagnose coolant lossShop default · 1.0 hrs$185.00

Customer reports low coolant twice in a month, no puddle on the driveway.

• Labor, 1 hrs at $185.00$185.00

Engine front cover gasket, R&RLabor guide time · 8.4 hrs$2,145.17

Coolant seep at the front cover, crusty residue down the block.

• Labor, 8.4 hrs at $185.00$1,554.00
• Front cover gasket set × 1 at $186.55 cost$186.55
• Front crankshaft seal × 1 at $38.20 cost$38.20
• Coolant, gallon × 4 at $28.90 cost$115.60
• Front cover bolts, single use × 1 at $52.75 cost$52.75
• Sealant × 1 at $14.60 cost$14.60
• Parts at 45% markup, on $407.70 of cost$591.17

Front pads and rotors, R&RYour canned job · 2.1 hrs$907.60

Front pads at 3mm, rotors scored both sides.

• Labor, 2.1 hrs at $185.00$388.50
• Front pad set × 1 at $96.40 cost$96.40
• Front rotor × 2 at $118.75 cost$237.50
• Caliper hardware kit × 1 at $24.10 cost$24.10
• Parts at 45% markup, on $358.00 of cost$519.10

Serpentine belt, R&RYour canned job · 1.2 hrs$310.89

Belt cracking across the ribs, hard to call from underneath.

• Labor, 1.2 hrs at $185.00$222.00
• Serpentine belt × 1 at $61.30 cost$61.30
• Parts at 45% markup, on $61.30 of cost$88.89

Estimate total

$3,626.61

4 of 4 sample jobs, 12.7 hrs of labor

Labor

$2,349.50

12.7 hrs at $185.00

Parts

$1,199.16

$827.00 of cost marked up

Parts gross profit

$372.16

31.0% margin on the parts

Tax on parts

$77.95

6.50% of the parts total

The arithmetic

Labor

12.7 hrs × $185.00 = $2,349.50

Parts

$827.00 × (1 + 0.45) = $1,199.16

Parts gross profit

$1,199.16 − $827.00 = $372.16

Tax

$1,199.16 × 0.065 = $77.95

Total

$2,349.50 + $1,199.16 + $77.95 = $3,626.61

Each job is rounded to the cent before the ticket adds up, which is why the four job amounts sum to the total exactly. Price the whole line list in one pass and round at the end and the printed subtotals can land a cent away from the printed total, which is the kind of thing a customer notices on the phone.

Everything above is computed in this browser. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere, and there is no field asking for your email.

What is on the demo, and what is not?

On it: four jobs off one inspection, carrying 12.7 billable hours and nine part lines between them. Every field you need to make the arithmetic match your own shop is editable. Turn any job off and watch the ticket settle.

Not on it: any connection to anything. The hours were written for this page and so were the part costs. The demo queries nothing, because there is no catalog behind it and no supplier account attached to it. A page that quietly implied otherwise would be selling a lookup it never performs, which is why this paragraph exists.

How does a ticket get built from an inspection?

Job by job, from findings. A technician records what they found. Each finding becomes a job, the job needs labor hours and a parts list, and the hours come from somewhere specific.

For work the shop does constantly, the source is its own canned job: the shop's time, the shop's wording, the shop's price. For everything else it is book time, the published labor hours for that exact year, make and engine. The demo shows both, labeled on the job, which is the same order a service writer works in. How an estimate gets priced walks the full sequence.

Why does every line carry a source?

Because the advisor has to defend it without a parts catalog open. When a customer asks why the front cover job carries 8.4 hours, a line reading "labor guide time" ends the conversation in a sentence. Take the label off and the advisor is arguing from memory.

California puts a version of this in statute. The repair dealer has to "give to the customer a written estimated price for labor and parts necessary for a specific job", and under the same section "No charge shall be made for work done or parts supplied in excess of the estimated price" without the customer's consent. New York words it differently. A shop there owes a written estimate "upon the request of any customer" and then may not charge past it without that customer's consent, so the trigger is the asking. Look up your own state's requirement before relying on anything here; this page makes no claim about it. What holds everywhere is that a number you cannot source is a number you cannot defend when somebody disputes it. The repair order is where that estimate has to end up, and every line on it should be able to name where its number came from.

What does the arithmetic look like?

At the loaded defaults, a $185 labor rate with a 45% parts markup and 6.5% tax on parts:

Two things worth reading off that table. The 45% markup produced a 31.0% parts margin, which catches people out every time, and the markup versus margin calculator exists because of it. And the parts figure came from one flat markup, where a working shop would run a parts matrix with a different markup in every cost band.

Tax sits on the parts line and nowhere near the labor, which is how California treats a repair ticket. The state's tax guide for repair garages says "Repair labor is not taxable" and tells a shop the invoice should "list separate charges for the taxable sale of parts and any nontaxable charges for installation and repair labor". Your own state may draw that line somewhere else, so check the base before you check the rate.

Rounding runs per job rather than per ticket. Each job is priced and rounded to the cent, then the jobs are added. Round once at the bottom instead and the printed job amounts can miss the printed total by a cent, which a customer will find.

What happens to a part that cannot be priced?

It gets flagged, out loud, on the line. A part with no price should never print as $0, because a zero on a customer-facing estimate reads as included and gets approved as included. The line stays on the repair order as an open question until somebody sources the number.

Same discipline applies to a job with no published time. An operation the labor guide does not cover needs a person to make a call and say they made it, and substituting a nearby operation because the number looks close is how a job gets quoted short.

What this demo does not do

It does not read your inspections, write to your repair orders, or send anything to a customer. It is a page with four sample jobs and a form.

Mechanica does the first two of those from a completed inspection, with the source printed on every line and a human approving the send. Today it writes into Tekmetric. If the ticket above is the shape you want your estimates to take, the fastest way to see it on your own repair orders is a demo.

The paper version of this exercise is the auto repair estimate template, and the other calculators are on the tools hub.