VoltaELECTRICAL ESTIMATING
Free template · no email required

Free electrical bid template (Canada, 2026)

A clean, working .xlsx: takeoff with per-line labour factors, material waste and markup, overhead, contingency, GST/HST and BC PST — the whole totals waterfall, formulas live, yellow cells for your inputs. Download it, replace the example rows, bid.

Download the template (.xlsx)

Works in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice · 3 sheets · example values are illustrative, sources linked inside

What's inside

  • Inputs — the seven numbers that run your shop: billed and cost labour rates, material markup and waste, a NECA-style labour factor, overhead, contingency, plus GST/HST and BC PST. Yellow cells, blue text: edit those, nothing else.
  • Takeoff — items by section (lighting, power, systems, distribution, wire) with one worked example row each. Every line computes effective hours (qty × unit hours × factor), material with waste and PST, and a sell price with your markup and billed rate.
  • Bid Summary — the waterfall an estimator actually needs: material → labour → directs → overhead → total cost → revenue → contingency → bid → GST → client total, with gross profit and live margin (not markup) at the bottom.

The honest limitation

A template automates the arithmetic, not the takeoff. You still count every device and type every quantity — which is where bid evenings actually go, and where mistakes actually happen. If that's the part you want back, the template's big sibling drafts the takeoff from your PDF drawings for you to review, then runs this exact waterfall with sliders: that's VOLTA, $9.99 CAD/month after a 30-day free trial. Or skip the template entirely — generate a priced bid directly from the drawings.

Frequently asked

Is this electrical bid template really free?
Yes — direct download, no email gate, no watermark. It's a working .xlsx with the formulas live, published by VOLTA as a genuinely useful freebie. If you outgrow it, our software is the upsell; the template doesn't nag you about it.
What's included in the template?
Three sheets: Inputs (rates, markup, waste, labour factor, overhead, contingency, GST/HST, BC PST — edit the yellow cells), Takeoff (items by section with per-line effective hours, material and sell formulas, one worked example row per section), and Bid Summary (the full totals waterfall from cost to tax-included client total, with live margin).
Does it handle Canadian tax?
Yes — GST/HST as a percentage on the bid and optional PST on materials for BC real-property contracts, both set on the Inputs sheet. Verify current rules on the BC government and CRA pages; the template links both.
Does it use NECA labour units?
It applies a labour factor (structure × conditions, NECA-style) to every line's hours, with the NECA Manual of Labor Units cited as the reference for unit values. You supply the per-item hours — that's the part a template can't know for you.
Can I use it for any province or outside Canada?
Yes — every rate and percentage is an input. Set PST to zero outside BC, set GST/HST to your combined rate (or your local tax), and the arithmetic is universal.
When does a template stop being enough?
When the takeoff typing becomes the bottleneck. The template still makes you count and type every quantity; estimating software drafts the takeoff from the PDF for you to review. That jump — not fancier formulas — is the real upgrade.

Template for tonight, software for Friday's tender. Both are free to start.

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Pairs with: how to estimate electrical work in Canada · switching from Excel · the glossary