Compare
What you're using now, and what changes.
For most small contractors, the real alternative isn't another app. It's a takeoff tool, an inbox and a spreadsheet. Here's what EstiMates replaces and what it doesn't.
| Task | Email and spreadsheets | Takeoff tool alone | EstiMates beside it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep your takeoff tool | |||
| Searchable plan set with every sheet named | Some | ||
| Answers about the plans that cite the sheet | |||
| Bid packages built from your takeoff quantities | By hand | ||
| Subs bid from a phone, no account | Reply by email | ||
| Who opened, bid, declined, and a chase list | |||
| Every bid in one grid, converted to your units | Retype it | ||
| Missing scope and exclusions flagged | |||
| Award exported in your tool's layout | Retype it | ||
| Share a sheet by link, with pinned comments | Attach a PDF | Some | |
| Proposal the client signs on a phone | Word + PDF | ||
| Punch list pinned on the drawings, with photos, offline | Photos by text | ||
| Subs fix items from a link, with an after photo | Calls and texts | ||
| Punch items tied to signed contract lines | |||
| Completion certificate the owner signs | Paper | ||
| Owner handover link with everything in a ZIP | Email attachments | ||
| Works on a Mac, iPad and phone | Often Windows only |
“Takeoff tool alone” is a general picture. Features vary by product and edition.
Bid-management platforms
Looking at a bigger bidding platform too?
Some are built for large GCs and sold on annual, quote-based contracts. Others focus on finding subs for you. Here's an honest way to choose.
Pick EstiMates if
- You're a GC or specialty sub with 1 to 25 people, and you already have a takeoff tool you like.
- You invite subs you know and want their numbers back in one grid without retyping them.
- Your sets mix metric and imperial, or subs quote in units that aren't yours.
- You want public, monthly pricing you can expense, without a sales call or an annual contract.
- Your estimators work on Macs, or need the plans on a phone in the field.
Pick something bigger if
- You need a network or database of subs you've never worked with. EstiMates doesn't sell leads; you bring your own list.
- You need sub prequalification, insurance tracking or risk scoring.
- You're an enterprise GC already standardised on a big project-management platform and want bidding inside it.
- You want takeoff itself replaced. EstiMates sits beside your takeoff tool; it doesn't measure for you.
- You need RFIs, submittals, schedules, daily logs or safety. EstiMates covers punch and closeout at the end of the job, not project management during it.
Not sure? Start on the free plan with a live bid and see whether it saves you the hour. See pricing
Punch & Closeout
Already use a punch-list app?
Fieldwire, Procore and Buildertrend all have punch lists. EstiMates isn't trying to be a better punch-list app. The difference is where the job already lives.
- If you bid the job in EstiMates, the drawings, your awarded subs and their emails, and the signed contract and change orders are already there. The punch list takes no setup.
- Punch items tie to the contract lines they belong to, with holdbacks, and extra work becomes a change order.
- Closeout ends with a completion certificate the owner signs and one handover link, both tied to the same contract.
- Subs use the same kind of link they bid from, and owners and architects never need an account.
Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. EstiMates is not affiliated with them.
Bring your next plan set.
Free to start, no card. Keep your takeoff tool.
Start freeIn beta. You'll accept the Beta Tester Agreement before you start.