Where to Find Estimate Totals
To view estimate totals:
Open the project you want to work on.
Navigate to the Estimates module from the left-side menu.
Scroll down to the Summary section at the bottom of the estimate page.
The Summary section displays a breakdown of all costs and the final project total.
How Estimate Totals Are Calculated
Buildern calculates the total estimate based on the following:
Item Quantity – The number of units for each item
Unit Cost – The cost per unit
Markup Values – Additional percentage or fixed profit applied
Included Items – Only items marked as Calculate in total are included
Each estimate item contributes to the total depending on these values. The exact calculation also depends on whether the project's Purchase Tax is Recoverable or Non-Recoverable — see How Calculations Differ by Purchase Tax Recoverability below.
Summary Section Overview
The Summary section includes additional cost components that affect the final total.
These may include:
Builder Fixed Cost - The total cost of all estimate items
Allowances - Placeholder amounts for items not yet finalized
Overheads - Additional operational costs
Insurances - Insurance-related costs applied to the project
Markup - Profit added on top of the base costs
Tax - Applicable taxes based on your settings
Adjust - Manual adjustments made to the estimate total
All of these values are automatically calculated and combined to produce the final total.
Project Tax Settings
Each project has its own default tax rates for both Purchase Tax and Sales Tax, separate from the account-wide default taxes. These project-level defaults are used across the project's Estimates, Purchase Orders, and Client Invoices unless overridden on an individual item.
To configure the project defaults:
Open the project.
Navigate to Overview.
Click Edit.
Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Select the desired default Purchase Tax and Sales Tax rates.
👉 Learn more about How to Customize Taxes in Buildern
Overheads
The Overheads section includes additional operational costs required to complete the project.
Examples include:
Management Fee – Project management or administrative costs
Travel – Transportation-related expenses
Waste – Percentage-based cost to account for material loss
Delivery of Goods and Maintenance – Delivery and logistics costs
Miscellaneous – Any additional expenses not categorized elsewhere
You can add new overhead items by clicking Add an option and define them as either fixed amounts or percentages. You can also remove any overhead or insurance entry at any time. Each item includes a delete (×) icon on the right side.
Managing Overheads and Insurance Items
Buildern allows you to add, edit, and remove overhead and insurance costs directly from the Summary section.
Click Add an option under either Overheads or Insurances.
If no options are available, Buildern will prompt you to go to Settings to create new overhead or insurance types.
Alternatively, you can configure them manually by going to:
Settings → Finance → Overheads / Insurances → Add new option.
Insurances
The Insurances section allows you to include project-related insurance costs.
Common examples include:
Course of Construction Insurance
General Liability Insurance
Workers Compensation Insurance
Professional Liability Insurance
Insurance values can also be set as fixed amounts or percentages and are automatically included in the estimate total.
How Calculations Differ by Purchase Tax Recoverability
Whether a project's Purchase Tax is set to Recoverable or Non-Recoverable changes how the Builder Fixed Cost and each estimate line item are calculated.
👉 Learn more about How to Customize Taxes in Buildern
Recoverable Purchase Tax
Estimate Line Item Calculation:
Unit Cost Excluding Tax + Markup + Sales Tax
Builder Fixed Cost equals the sum of all Builder Cost Excluding Tax values.
Non-Recoverable Purchase Tax
Estimate Line Item Calculation:
Unit Cost Including Tax + Markup + Sales Tax
Builder Fixed Cost equals the sum of all Builder Cost Including Tax values.
Overhead and Insurance Calculation Rules
Overheads and Insurances follow different stacking rules:
Overheads are always stacked — each overhead is calculated on top of the amount that includes all previous overheads.
Insurances are never stacked, and are always calculated after Overheads.
Overheads:
A flat Overhead amount is entered as a Sales Tax excluding amount; Sales Tax is then added on top in the Project Summary.
A percentage Overhead is calculated on the Estimate's pre-Sales Tax subtotal: Builder Fixed Cost + Allowances + Markup.
The Overhead Tax Rate is determined by the weighted average Sales Tax rate of all Estimate Items.
Insurances:
A flat Insurance amount is entered as a Sales Tax including amount.
A percentage Insurance is calculated using: Builder Fixed Cost + Allowances + Overheads (Sales Tax exclusive) + Markup.
Insurance Tax is calculated using the project's default Sales Tax.
ℹ️ Note - Overhead and Insurance values shown in the Estimate Summary are always displayed as Tax Exclusive amounts.
Markup
Markup is always calculated before Sales Tax.
Tax Summary
Tax amounts from individual sections (Builder Fixed Cost, Overheads, Insurances, Markup) are included in the Summary Tax Amount.
Total Excluding Tax
Total Excluding Tax equals the sum of all Item Amount Excluding Tax values, including Markup. It's displayed at the bottom of the Estimate without needing to expand the Summary section.
Adjust
Adjust is an Including Tax amount, calculated using the project's default Sales Tax rate.
If either Redistribute Overheads or Redistribute Insurances is enabled in Current Project Settings, the Adjust amount is redistributed across the estimate. This also applies to Proposal Layout Settings — when redistribution is enabled for Overheads and Insurances, Adjust is redistributed there as well.
Total Including Tax
Total Including Tax equals:
Builder Fixed Cost + Allowances + Overheads + Insurances + Markup + Sales Tax
Buildern recalculates this total automatically whenever changes are made to items, quantities, or cost settings.
You can manually adjust the final estimate total directly from the Summary section.
At the bottom of the Summary panel, you will see the Total value. When you hover over it, a "Click to edit" option appears, allowing you to update the final amount.
ℹ️ Note: Editing the total will override the automatically calculated value. Any difference is automatically allocated to Adjust Including Tax, shown in the Adjust field in the Summary section.
Creating Purchase Orders and Bills from Estimate Items
Creating a Purchase Order or Bill from an Estimate Item does not depend on whether the project's Purchase Tax is Recoverable or Non-Recoverable — this behavior is the same either way.
When creating a Purchase Order from an Estimate Item:
The Unit Cost Excluding Tax is carried over.
The Estimate Item's Purchase Tax is applied.
👉 Learn more about How to Create a Purchase Order or Subcontract in Buildern
In the next guide, we’ll build on this and show you more ways to optimize your workflow.
Happy Building!