Electrical Estimating Software Built for Subbies
ContractorCounter is electrical estimating software for electricians and electrical contractors who price their own work: take off quantities from the drawings, let the AI suggest rates you review, and send a priced quote — one browser workspace, on site or in the office.
Free account. No card required.
Exports and sharing require a paid plan or eligible card-required trial.
Explore the workspace
Your quantities. Your rates. Your quote.
Click any tool to take over. This is the real workspace.
Sample drawing · scripted AI responses · changes stay in this preview. Reset clears your changes.
Choose ContractorCounter if you are electricians pricing your own jobs and you want takeoff, rates, and the quote in one place at US$14/month (or a US$249 one-time one-time license). Stay with a specialist estimating suite like McCormick if your estimating depends on deep pre-loaded electrical databases maintained for you — that depth is real, and we do not pretend to replace it.
01
What an electrical estimate is made of here
The quantities come off the drawing, not a spreadsheet. Power and lighting points counted by symbol (GPOs, single and double; downlights, battens, emergency fittings); Circuit and sub-main cable runs measured as calibrated lengths, with rises and drops added per point; Switchboards and distribution boards counted with their ways and protective devices; Containment — cable tray, conduit, and duct — measured as runs by size; Data, TV, and smoke detection counted per point alongside power — each one measured or counted on the calibrated sheet, each one a line in a live Bill of Quantities that stays tied to the markup that produced it.
02
A worked example
A 14-unit apartment floor: one lighting and one power sheet, calibrated once against the 8,100 mm grid. The AI first pass counts 96 downlights, 118 GPOs, and 14 smoke detectors, and traces 12 sub-main runs at a combined 310 m; you review the marks on the sheet, fix two mis-reads on the balcony fittings, and accept. The BoQ prices per point: downlights at your supply-and-install rate, GPOs split single/double, sub-mains per metre by cable size — a priced, versioned quote for the floor in the same afternoon. Every number traces back to a markup on the sheet, so when the scope changes the estimate follows.
03
AI takes the first pass — you keep the judgement
The AI agent can count the repetitive items, measure runs, and set the drawing scale, with every result reviewed before it commits. Then the rate side: ask for a rate on "supply and install LED downlight, residential" and it proposes a figure with its reasoning — the item as interpreted, the labour-and-material basis, your market — anchored to the rates already in your bill. Never a bare number — a proposal you accept, revise, or dismiss.
04
Honest about McCormick, TurboBid, Best Bid
McCormick — deep assembly databases and vendor pricing integrations for full-time electrical estimators pricing large commercial tenders. TurboBid — pre-built residential and service-work assemblies with labour units maintained for the US market. Best Bid — dedicated electrical bidding workflows with counted-assembly libraries a specialist office lives in. ContractorCounter wins on the other side of that trade-off: speed to a priced quote, working anywhere, and a price a electricians outfit can carry (US$14/month) instead of an enterprise licence.
See whether it fits your next job.
Start with your own drawing and check the workflow.
Try the tools on a real drawing.
Explore the example below, or take over the workspace and try it yourself. No signup needed for this demo.
Questions about Electrical estimating
Is this full electrical estimating software or just takeoff?
Both halves, in one flow: measure and count on the calibrated drawings (the [electrical takeoff](/electrical-takeoff-software) side), then price the resulting Bill of Quantities with your own rates or AI-suggested ones, and issue the quote. What it is not: a pre-loaded electrical cost database — your rates are yours.
Do the AI suggestions replace my electrical rates?
No. Every AI count, measurement, and rate is a proposal you accept, revise, or dismiss — with the reasoning shown. Your electrical rates stay yours; the AI removes the repetitive clicking, not the judgement about what a electrical item is worth in your market.
What does electrical estimating software cost compared to McCormick?
US$14/month, or a US$249 one-time one-time license, with your first workspace free and no card required; exports and sharing need a paid plan or eligible card-required trial. Compare specialist electrical suites like McCormick, TurboBid, Best Bid if their maintained databases and assemblies are central to how you price. Here the focus is a small team working from its own rates.
Can it count outlets and fittings automatically?
Yes — the AI counts repeated symbols (GPOs, downlights, detectors) and places a visible marker on every instance, so the count exists as reviewable marks on the drawing rather than a number you have to trust. You accept or correct before anything enters the bill.