Framing estimating software that wins more jobs

A framing price is built from five pieces:

1. Walls and openings: linear feet of wall, plus each door and window.
2. Floors and ceilings: joists, blocking and subfloor, by the square foot.
3. Roof: trusses or rafters, and the roof sheathing.
4. Sheathing, wrap and structure: the outside skin, headers, beams and shoring.
5. Setup and cleanup: staging the lumber and cleaning up the cut-offs.

Take off the walls, then the extras

Measure each wall run, plate to plate. Count the openings separately, by size.

Note the wall height: a 9-foot wall uses longer studs and more sheathing than an 8-foot one. Exterior walls get sheathing and wrap; interior walls don't.

Then count the extras:

• blocking for cabinets and grab bars
• fire blocking
• backing at corners

Each line item carries your own hours

These are the common lines on a framing estimate and what each is measured in:

• By the linear foot: walls, plates, shoring and blocking.
• By the square foot: floor and ceiling framing, sheathing and wrap.
• By the each: openings, headers, trusses and stairs.

The hours and prices are yours to set, and every line's hours are editable to match your crew.

Openings add almost as much as the wall

Example: Here's one exterior wall for a small addition: 40 feet of 2x6 bearing wall with 9-foot plates, three windows and one door, sheathed and wrapped. Most crews sheathe over the openings and cut them out, so the sheathing and wrap cover the whole 40 by 9 foot face, 360 square feet. The hours below are example figures; say your own records show your crew needs:

Work	Your hours
Exterior wall framing, 40 feet	20
Window rough openings, 3	6
Door rough opening, 1	1.5
OSB wall sheathing, 360 square feet	7.5
House wrap, 360 square feet	3
Total	38

The openings and the skin add almost as many hours as the plain wall. That's where a per-foot or per-square-foot price for framing goes wrong on a wall full of windows.

Your labor rate covers more than the wage

A framer's wage isn't your labor rate. Your rate has to cover:

• the wage
• payroll taxes, workers' comp premiums and liability coverage
• the saws, nailers, compressors and the truck
• fall protection and staging
• rain days and the time spent bidding

Then it needs a profit.

Wage, overhead, then markup

BuildWell turns the wage into your rate in three steps:

1. Wage: the median carpenter wage for your metro.
2. Overhead: your labor overhead, which begins at 100% and so doubles the wage.
3. Markup: your labor markup, which begins at 20%.

Example: Say your framers cost you $30 an hour each. Use your real number. The 38 hours on that wall come to:

• Wages: 38 × $30 = $1,140
• With 100% overhead: $2,280
• With 20% markup: $2,736 for labor

The floor, the roof and the interior walls come on top.

Price lumber near the job; quote trusses

• Lumber and sheathing: price them near the job this week. On a big job, many framers also get a package quote from a lumberyard. Either way, add a markup for the culls, the extra sheets and the trips back. BuildWell starts material markup at 20%.
• Trusses and engineered lumber: get the supplier's quote and enter it. Trusses are made to order, so in BuildWell they're marked as needing a price until you do.
• Labor-only bids: when the builder supplies the package, mark the materials client-supplied. They stay on the estimate so the scope is clear, but aren't charged.

Size beams right and plan for inspections

• Bearing walls and beams: a beam or header that carries a load should be sized by an engineer, from the manufacturer's tables, or by your building department, not by eye. Price the shoring, the beam and the posts as separate lines.
• Permits and inspections: most structural work needs a permit, and new framing is usually inspected before it's covered. List the permit fee on the estimate; BuildWell adds your flat fee automatically when a permit is included.
• Older homes: opening walls in a house built before 1978 disturbs painted surfaces. Lead-safe work practices apply, and in BuildWell ticking a pre-1978 home adds a lead-safe setup and cleanup line.

Pay depends on the market and the bid

Wages vary between metro areas and between helpers, framers and lead carpenters. Framing follows the building cycle, so a strong year for new homes is a strong year for framers.

Owners earn the margin between their price and their cost. That's why counting openings and pricing structure carefully matters more than any wage table.

Self-employment tax is 15.3% of net earnings

As a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, you pay self-employment tax on your net earnings: 15.3% in total.

• Social Security, 12.4%: applies to net earnings up to the Social Security wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026.
• Medicare, 2.9%: applies to all of it.
• Deduction: you can deduct half of the self-employment tax on your income tax return.

You'll also owe federal and state income tax. Keep part of every draw aside for it.

Pay quarterly estimated taxes

Nobody withholds tax from your draws, so the IRS expects payments during the year on Form 1040-ES. They're usually due in mid-April, mid-June, mid-September and mid-January. Big draws in one quarter mean a bigger payment that quarter.

Track these deductions

Framing businesses commonly deduct:

• saws, nailers, compressors and hand tools
• fall protection and safety gear
• the business share of your trucks and trailer
• fuel
• insurance and license fees
• equipment rental, like a lift for setting beams
• phone and software

Keep receipts and log mileage as you go.

Send subs a 1099-NEC at $2,000

If you pay an unincorporated subcontractor for services, you'll generally need to send them a Form 1099-NEC. For payments made in 2026 and later, that applies once you've paid them $2,000 or more in a year, up from $600 before 2026.

Collect a Form W-9 before the first payment. Paying framers by the piece doesn't make them contractors; how you direct the work decides that.

Sales tax on materials depends on your state

States treat framing contractors differently. Some have you pay sales tax when you buy lumber and materials. Others have you charge it to the client, on materials or on the whole job.

Check your state's revenue department. In BuildWell, sales tax applies to materials only, not labor, at the rate you set.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. A tax professional who works with contractors can tell you what applies to your state and business.