Construction estimating and bid workspace for small contractors

I’m looking for an Excel sheet or affordable program for small storm, water and sewer estimates. I use Bluebeam for takeoffs and have material pricing. I need something that calculates: Trench, bedding and backfill quantities Labor and equipment costs based on crew production/LF per day Dewatering, hauling, restoration and indirect costs Overhead and profit Clean Excel or PDF summaries I’m considering SiteEst, Estimating Link, SharpeSoft and InEight. Any firsthand recommendations? If you have a user-created Excel template you’re willing to share, I’d appreciate it. I’m also willing to pay for a good utility-estimating workbook.

I’m working in a family GC business (commercial remodels, ground-up residential, small development work). I’m the one trying to modernize our systems so we stop estimating loosely and actually control our numbers and cash flow. Here’s what we’re currently using: • Contractor Foreman for accounting, invoicing, and job cost tracking • Bluebeam for takeoffs (mostly finishes right now, starting to use it for framing and structural quantities too) • Planning to use Microsoft Project for scheduling/timelines • AIA billing flows into Contractor Foreman Where I’m stuck right now is tightening up our bottom-up estimating. Instead of doing rough/top-down numbers, I want to: • Get 3 quotes per trade (subs and suppliers) • Compare them side-by-side • Build a clean master estimate • Add overhead + profit correctly • Group into phases • Then structure payment schedules based on actual cash requirements My current thought process is: • Use a paper or simple bid sheet to gather quotes • Move best numbers into an Excel master estimate • Schedule in MS Project • Build payment schedule around the schedule + cash needs My questions: 1. Is Excel still what most of you are using for bottom-up estimating? Or is there something better that’s budget-friendly? I’m not looking for $10k+ enterprise software — just something solid for commercial remodels, ground-up residential, and small development work. 2. When you’re building estimates, are you breaking trades down into detailed internal line items and then rolling them up into one number per trade? Or are you estimating at a higher level? 3. What are you consistently carrying in indirect costs? I’m thinking supervision, dumpsters, temp utilities, small tools, mobilization, insurance, etc. Anything you’ve learned the hard way to always include? 4. Is the stack I’m using reasonable? Bluebeam + Contractor Foreman + MS Project + Excel for estimating? Or am I missing something obvious? I’m trying to build a repeatable system so we can scale and not get burned on cash flow. Appreciate input from guys actually running work. Read more

Hey there, I just started working on the office side of a smaller GC and have been tasked with determining what software to use for Project Management/Estimating purposes. The company has been using Buildertrend, but it has only been serving in name only... Looking for something that isn't as complicated as BT, but can withstand tracking schedules, estimates, and other related fields. What software do you use? Any help is appreciated. Update: Our company has decided to go with Contractor Foreman. The software covers the most bases for us in terms of estimating, scheduling, and opportunities for use by supers on site. It is truly an all-around winner in terms of opportunity cost for us. Hopefully this will help some of you guys out! Thanks again for your help!