Missed Estimate Cost Calculator

Built as a walkthrough of the questions a siding and exterior company should ask before claiming a number, rather than a straight formula.

What’s the expected gross profit on an average job? At a $27,000 average contract and a 34 percent margin, that’s $9,180.

What share of completed estimates actually close? This company closes 31 percent, meaning one completed estimate is worth about $2,846 in expected gross profit.

What’s the realistic chance a booked estimate would have actually run? Historically, 76 percent of this company’s booked estimates show up. That brings the expected value at the booking stage down to about $2,163.

How many estimates were genuinely missed — not just leads that went nowhere for unrelated reasons? The company identifies five qualified leads that were ready to book but fell through the cracks before scheduling. Five × $2,163 ≈ $10,815 in expected gross profit exposure.

Why the strict filter matters: it would be easy to multiply every dead lead by the average contract value and arrive at a much scarier — and much less honest — number. This calculator is deliberately narrower: it only counts opportunities that were qualified and ready, and were lost to a process failure rather than a bad fit.