Obra for Flooring and tile contractors

Job costing for flooring and tile contractors: material by the box, labor by the foot, margin by the job

Expense tracking for flooring and tile contractors: material overage and returns, subfloor surprises as change orders, setter labor per job, and a margin that survives.

Flooring is bought by the box and sold by the foot, and the difference between the two is where a flooring contractor's margin lives. Ten percent overage that comes back as a credit is fine; ten percent that sits in the garage is not. Add the subfloor nobody saw until the old floor was gone, and a pattern the client chose after the material was ordered, and a well-bid job can finish thin.

Obra records each job's material as it's bought, its returns as credits when they come back, its labor by phase at the burdened rate, and every surprise as a change order the day it's found. The distributor's invoice for three jobs is split when it's confirmed. The page shows the job's expected margin before the last row is laid.

Boxes in, credits back

Record the full delivery on the job, with the invoice attached. When the leftover boxes go back, record the credit against the same code with the return slip. The job's material cost is right at every point, and at year end the material code across jobs shows whether your overage habit is costing you money.

The subfloor change order

The old floor is out and the subfloor is rotten around the sliding door. The morning it's found: photograph it, quote the repair, write the change order, get it signed, record the repair materials and hours on the job. The change order guide is built for exactly this morning. The alternative is a repair the client never saw and a margin they never paid for.

Labor by the foot, costed by the hour

Setters and installers are the largest line on most flooring jobs, and their cost is not their wage. The labor burden calculator finds the burdened rate; Obra records install and tile labor separately on the job, so a pattern upgrade that doubled the setting hours shows exactly where it landed.

What Obra isn't for a flooring contractor

Not a takeoff tool, not an estimator, not a scheduler. Obra is the money on each job, from the receipts and hours the crew sends, in English and Spanish, exported cleanly to the accountant.

Sample budget

LVP throughout and tiled entry, 1,600 sq ft, Riverside

Line item Budget
LVP flooring (material) $5,200
Porcelain tile, entry (material) $900
Underlayment, thinset, grout, trim $1,300
Subfloor repair materials $450
Demolition and disposal $1,100
Crew labor, install $5,400
Crew labor, tile setting $1,200
Direct cost budget $15,550
Contract value $21,400
Gross margin budgeted $5,850

Illustrative figures in US dollars for a fictional project; use them to see the shape of the budget, not to price a job.

The cost codes this trade actually uses

  • 01 Flooring materials
  • 02 Tile and stone materials
  • 03 Setting materials and trim
  • 04 Subfloor and prep
  • 05 Demolition and disposal
  • 06 Crew labor, install
  • 07 Crew labor, tile
  • 08 Equipment and blades
  • 09 Deliveries and returns

The change orders that eat the margin

The subfloor under the old floor
Rot, an uneven slab, a squeak that needs screws every foot. Nobody priced it, and it's found when the old floor is already in the dumpster. Written up that morning it's billable; fixed quietly it's yours.
The material the client changed after delivery
A restocking fee, a return trip, a reorder with a longer lead time. Three costs and a schedule hit, each a line on a change order or each an invisible cost.
Pattern upgrades on site
Herringbone instead of straight lay, a border in the entry, stairs the walkthrough didn't include. Labor doubles on a pattern; it only gets billed if the change order goes out before the first row.

Questions people ask

How do I track material overage and returns?
Record the full material receipt on the job, then the return credit as a negative cost when it arrives, with the return slip attached. The job's cost reads true at every point in between.
We buy for several jobs from one distributor invoice. Can Obra split it?
Yes. Confirm the draft as several entries, one per job, each with its cost code, all sharing the same attached invoice.
Does Obra do takeoffs or square-foot estimating?
No. Estimate as you do now; Obra records what the job was sold for, what it cost by the box and the hour, what was collected, and where the margin landed.
Can my setter send the tile-shop receipt from the truck?
Yes, as a submitter, by WhatsApp, email or the app, in English or Spanish, without seeing the job's finances. A reviewer confirms it to the job and code.
Free download

Not ready for an app? Start with our free Excel template.

A ready-made spreadsheet to track costs and income per project — with categories and the totals already set up.

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