Construction Estimating Software That Starts at the Drawings
ContractorCounter is construction estimating software for subcontractors and small teams who price their own work. The estimate starts where the work starts — on the drawings: take off quantities, let AI suggest rates you review, and send the priced quote from the same browser workspace, in the office or on site.
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Verdict
Choose ContractorCounter if you are a subbie or small team pricing from drawings and you want takeoff, a live Bill of Quantities, AI-suggested rates, and versioned quotes in one place at US$14/month (or US$249 one-time one-time). Choose an enterprise precon platform instead if you need multi-estimator bid management and integrations across a large office — that is a different job, priced like one.
01
Drawings to quote, without the re-keying
Most small-team estimating dies in the gaps between tools: measure in one, spreadsheet in a second, quote in a third. Here the chain is one surface — calibrated measurement and counts become a live Bill of Quantities, rates price it, and the quote versions itself as the scope moves. Change a polygon on the drawing and the estimate is already current.
02
AI where estimating is slowest
The AI assistant takes the first pass at the repetitive work — counting fixtures, measuring runs, setting the sheet scale — and proposes rates with reasoning: how it read the item, the cost basis, the market it priced for, anchored to the rates already in your bill. Everything is a proposal; nothing commits without your review. It is the speed of automation with an estimator still responsible for every number.
03
Priced for the teams doing the pricing
Enterprise estimating platforms are priced for estimating departments. ContractorCounter is US$14/month per user — or a US$249 one-time one-time license — with a free, card-required trial. The economics are built for a subbie or a two-estimator builder, not a precon office.
04
Estimating by trade
The workflow is the same; the assemblies, units, and rates are your trade's own. Trade pages, each with that trade's real takeoff language and a worked example: electrical, builder, HVAC, plumbing, roofing, drywall, painting, landscaping, and concrete estimating.
05
Honest about the alternatives
**STACK** and the precon cloud platforms win when a whole estimating department needs shared plan rooms and bid pipelines. **PlanSwift** wins for high-volume desktop takeoff on Windows with assemblies. Cost-database suites win when maintained labour units matter more than your own rates. If that is your office, use them. If you are the person doing the measuring AND the pricing AND the quoting — this is built for you.
Common questions
Questions about Construction estimating
Is this estimating software or takeoff software?
The honest answer is that for a small team they should never have been separate products. The takeoff produces the quantities, the quantities become the Bill of Quantities, rates make it an estimate, and the estimate becomes the quote — one chain, one workspace. You can use it as takeoff-only and export, but the value is the chain.
Does it come with a cost database?
No — and that is deliberate. Small teams price from their own rates, not a maintained national database. Your rates live in the bill and the rate list; the AI can suggest a rate with reasoning when you hit an unfamiliar item, and you decide what goes on the quote. For the margin that goes on top, the [construction markup calculator](/construction-markup-calculator) does the markup-versus-margin arithmetic the two terms are constantly confused over.
Is there free construction estimating software for subcontractors?
Fully free estimating suites are rare — most "free" tiers are takeoff-only or bid-limited. What we offer without payment: a [free PDF markup tool](/free-pdf-markup-tool) that opens your drawing in the browser with no account at all, [free construction calculators](/calculators), and a free card-required trial of the full takeoff-to-quote workflow, so you can price a real job before the first charge.
Can my team work on the same estimate?
Yes — the workspace is shared: mark up on site while the office prices, with live cursors and versioned quotes, on any platform with a browser including Mac and iPad. No licence seats tied to machines.
