Pricing
One rate. $10 an hour. Every trade.
Most estimating firms either charge $40–75 an hour or don't publish a rate at all. Here's exactly how ours works, in the open, before you ask.
Flat rate
$10/hr
Every trade. No tiers, no minimums, no rush surcharge.
- Fixed quote before any work starts
- 24–72 hour turnaround at the same rate
- Excel workbook, summary PDF, marked-up plans
- Second-estimator review included
Why the rate is this low
The delivery team works from India, where the same hour of skilled construction-estimating labor costs a fraction of US or Canadian rates. We don’t treat that as something to obscure — it’s the actual reason a $10/hour flat rate and a 24–72 hour turnaround are both possible. The time-zone difference works in your favor: a package sent at the end of your business day lands with the estimating team at the start of theirs, so work is already underway well before your next morning.
How a quote gets built
Send the drawing set and your bid date. We review the scope and come back with an estimated number of hours and a total cost — typically within two business hours. Nothing starts until you approve that quote in writing, so you know the exact cost before any measuring begins, not after.
What this replaces
A full-time in-house estimator carries a salary, benefits and software licensing costs whether or not there’s a bid in progress that week. At $10/hour with no minimum project size, you pay only for the hours an actual takeoff or estimate takes — closer to an on-demand preconstruction department than a fixed headcount line item.
Pricing questions, answered
- How is the $10/hour rate actually billed?
- You get a fixed quote before any work starts — we scope the drawings, estimate the hours a takeoff or estimate will take, and quote you a total dollar amount at $10/hour. Nothing starts until you approve that quote in writing, so there's no surprise invoice at the end.
- Is $10/hour the same for every trade?
- Yes. There's no tiered pricing by trade, no surcharge for MEP or structural scope, and no minimum project size or retainer. The rate is flat whether the package is a single-trade takeoff or a full multi-trade bid.
- Why is this cheaper than a typical in-house or outsourced estimator?
- The delivery team works from India, where the same hour of skilled estimating labor costs a fraction of US or Canadian rates — and because the team works while it's daytime there and nighttime in the US, a package sent at the end of your day is often already in progress before your next morning starts. That time-zone overlap is also what makes the 24–72 hour turnaround realistic rather than a marketing number.
- Do you charge more for urgent or same-day turnaround?
- No rush surcharge. If a bid date requires a 24-hour turnaround, that's quoted at the same $10/hour rate — the hours are just scheduled to hit your deadline rather than priced differently for it.
- What's included in the quoted price?
- The quote covers the full deliverable for the scope you send: the takeoff or estimate itself, the Excel workbook, a summary PDF, and a marked-up plan set showing exactly what was measured. There's no separate charge for the deliverable formats.
Bid more. Win more.
Stop turning down invitations to bid because the takeoff will not get done in time. Send us the plans and get your numbers back in 24–72 hours.