Free construction estimating software
- Estimate to the owner
- $449,075
- Building, at your cost per square foot
- $330,000
- Direct cost with site work
- $355,000
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. DrawScheduleWorks publishes no market costs, no concrete prices and no survey: the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
Free construction estimating software is searched for by a contractor who has been quoted a takeoff suite priced per seat and wants the estimate built from numbers they already know: their own cost per square foot from the last job of this type, the site work, a contingency for what the ground will do, and overhead and profit on top. The suites price the takeoff; the small contractor prices the job. This guide is about what a construction estimate has to carry and in what order, and the free construction cost estimator on this site builds one with no account.
Try the free construction calculator Free to use. No account, no card, no sign-up.
Your cost per square foot, from your own jobs, and shown
The building line is the conditioned area times your cost per square foot, and the figure is yours from the last jobs of this type, not a published average that has never seen your subs or your market. Both numbers are on the estimate, because a building figure with nothing behind it is the line the owner's lender questions. The tool asks for the rate and publishes none.
Site work on its own line, contingency on the direct cost
Site work, utilities and permits vary by the lot, not by the square foot, so they go on their own line and the direct cost is the building plus the site. Contingency is a percentage of that direct cost, set before the job starts for what the unknowns will do, and it is shown as a line rather than hidden in the rate, so the owner sees it and sees it come back if it is not spent.
Overhead and profit last, on everything above it
Overhead and profit is a percentage of the direct cost plus the contingency, because the office and the margin ride on the whole job including its risk. It is the last line before the total, and the total is what goes to the owner. The paid plan keeps that estimate against the client and the project, so the contract sum and the draws start from it.
Will it do what you need for Free construction estimating software?
Tell us what your business needs and we will tell you straight whether DrawScheduleWorks Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you are better off with something else. A person reads these and replies.
Free construction estimating software: common questions
What should construction estimating software include for a small contractor?
An estimate built from the area at your own cost per square foot, site work on its own line, contingency as a percentage of the direct cost, overhead and profit on the whole, and the total to the owner; a concrete calculator for the pour; a schedule-of-values draw for billing the job; and clients and projects so every estimate files against the job it became. Takeoff engines and plan markup are for a different buyer.
Is there free construction estimating software?
The tools on this site are free and need no account: the construction cost estimator, the construction calculator and the schedule-of-values draw each work the job on the page from your own figures and print as they stand. DrawScheduleWorks Pro adds your business name and logo, a PDF with no watermark, and saving every project against the client.
What percentage should contingency and overhead and profit be?
Your figures, entered as percentages; the worked example uses 10% and 15% to show the arithmetic. Contingency should reflect how much of the job is below grade or behind walls nobody has opened; overhead and profit should reflect what your office costs and what the job has to earn. The tool applies whatever you enter and publishes no norm.