Free residential construction estimating software is judged on the estimate a house needs, which is not the estimate a commercial fit-out needs: a house is priced from a cost per square foot that depends on the finish level, with allowances for the selections the owner has not yet made, and with site work that varies more from lot to lot than the house does. This page is the residential estimate a free tool has to be able to produce, worked on the $449,075 build used across this site, the three residential specifics it has to handle, and the one test that applies to every estimator on this site. The free construction estimating software guide covers the general case; the construction cost estimator on this site computes the residential one on the page.
The house from a cost per square foot, by finish level
A residential estimate starts as the conditioned area times a cost per square foot, and the cost per square foot is the contractor's own figure for a stated finish level: the same 2,000 square feet at a builder grade and at a custom grade are two different numbers. A free tool has to take that figure from the contractor, not supply one, and show the multiplication. On the worked build the base comes from the contractor's cost per square foot at the chosen level, and the estimate then adds what the square-foot figure does not cover. A tool with a built-in cost per square foot it will not let the contractor change is estimating somebody else's houses.
Allowances: the selections the owner has not made
A house has items the owner chooses late, cabinets, countertops, fixtures, flooring, lighting, and the estimate carries each as an allowance, a stated amount the owner may spend, trued up when the selection is made. The tool has to list the allowances as lines with amounts, because they are where a residential estimate moves most between signing and completion, and because the true-up is a change order on each. On the worked build the cabinet allowance is a line, and the $6,000 upgrade the owner later chooses is a change against it. A free tool that folds allowances into the square-foot figure has hidden the part of the estimate the owner will ask about.
Site work, contingency and markup: the three visible lines
Site work varies more between lots than the house does: clearing, the driveway, the utility runs, the well or the septic where there is no service, the soil the geotechnical report describes. It is a line of its own, not a share of the house. Contingency is a line the owner can see, and markup is a line the owner can see, because a residential owner who cannot see them assumes they are zero and argues about them later. The construction cost estimator on this site shows all three; that visibility is the test this site applies to every estimator, and the EPA's renovation rule, linked below, is one example of a site-specific cost a house on an older lot can carry that no square-foot figure includes.
From the estimate to the draw schedule, and what free has to hand over
A residential estimate that wins becomes a schedule of values and, with a construction loan, a draw schedule at stages the lender inspects. A free tool has to hand over its lines in a form the schedule of values can be built from; an estimate that lives inside a tool that cannot export it is rebuilt by hand at signing. The residential construction draw schedule template on this site works the six stages from the schedule of values, and DrawScheduleWorks Pro takes the estimate's lines as the budget and bills each stage's draw from them. The federal payment clause linked below is the public model for progress payments the residential draw schedule follows in private form.
Questions people ask about free residential construction estimating software
What should free residential estimating software show?
The conditioned area times the contractor's own cost per square foot at a stated finish level, the allowances as lines with amounts, and site work, contingency and markup as visible lines, adding to the estimate. A single number is not an estimate.
How are allowances handled in a residential estimate?
As lines with a stated amount for each item the owner chooses late, trued up by a change order when the selection is made. Folding them into the square-foot figure hides the part of the estimate that moves most.
Why is site work a separate line on a house?
Because it varies more from lot to lot than the house does: clearing, driveway, utility runs, well or septic, soil conditions. A share of the house price cannot represent it, and the owner needs to see it.