Pricing a construction job is three steps in a fixed order, and firms that lose money usually skip the middle one. Work out the direct cost of the work, add a recovery for the overhead the business carries whether or not this job happens, then add the margin that is your profit. Collapsing the last two into a single markup is the most common reason a busy year produces no money: the overhead gets paid out of what was supposed to be profit.
Direct cost first, honestly
Materials at what you actually pay, labour at the burdened rate rather than the wage, plant and subcontract at their real cost. Travel time pay for construction workers belongs here where it is paid, and it is part of the cost of the job rather than an overhead if it is driven for that job.
Then recover the overhead: what an overhead calculator does
An overhead calculator does one thing: spreads the cost of running the business, the yard, the van, the insurance, the office, over the work you expect to do, usually as a percentage of direct cost. Get the denominator wrong, by assuming more work than you win, and every job is underpriced by the same amount.
Then apply margin in the bidding calculator, and check the price against the market
Margin is a share of the final price, not a percentage of cost, and confusing the two underprices consistently. A bidding calculator is useful here only if it applies markup and margin explicitly. Finally, compare the answer to what the work sells for: a price nobody pays is not a price, it is a reason to decline the job.
Questions people ask about how to price a construction job
What should a trade call fee cover?
The cost of turning up: travel, a stated period of attendance and the administration of the visit. State it at booking. Charging it is normal; discovering it on an invoice is not.
Is travel time pay for construction workers part of the price?
Where it is worked time it is paid, and the rules differ by jurisdiction, particularly for travel between jobs against commuting. Whatever the rule, price it into the job rather than hoping the margin absorbs it.
How do I know my overhead percentage?
Total your annual overhead and divide by the direct cost of the work you realistically expect to do. Review it yearly; a figure set when the business was half the size is wrong in a way that is invisible until the accounts arrive.