Construction estimating software built for Canadian quoting

The problem

A detailed estimate can take hours of copying line items from the last similar job and re-checking the math. Slow quotes lose deals, and a single markup or tax error quietly eats the margin on a whole project.

Frequently asked questions

How does AI estimating work?

You write a short brief — for example, a bathroom renovation with a given scope — and Bridge AI produces an itemized estimate with labour, materials, and subcontractor lines. You review, edit quantities and costs, and set your markup before sending.

Is the tax calculation accurate for Canada?

Yes. BuildersBridge applies GST/HST/PST by province out of the box, and US state sales tax for American builders, so quotes are tax-ready without manual lookups.

Can I edit the AI estimate?

Always. The AI draft is a starting point — every line item, quantity, unit cost, markup, and discount is fully editable before the quote goes out.

Does an estimate become the project budget?

Yes. Approving an estimate seeds the project's job-costing budget, so your budget-vs-actual tracking starts from the number you actually quoted.

Is this also construction quote software?

Yes — quotes and proposals are the same workflow. The estimate you build is the quote you send: as a PDF, or as a proposal the client approves in their portal, with every version recorded.

Does it handle Canadian taxes on estimates?

GST, HST, and PST are applied by province automatically, so an Alberta quote shows 5% GST and an Ontario quote shows 13% HST without manual lookups. (BuildersBridge is software, not tax advice.)

What should construction estimating software actually do?

Produce an itemized estimate with labour, materials and subcontract lines; apply markup and the correct tax for the job's province or state; let you edit every line before it goes out; send it as something the client can approve; and carry the approved number through to the project budget. An estimator that stops at a PDF leaves the costing work still to do.

How much does construction estimating software cost?

It varies from a few hundred dollars a year for a single-user estimator to enterprise platforms priced per seat. BuildersBridge publishes its plans rather than quoting privately, and estimating is included in every plan rather than sold as an add-on — see the pricing page for current figures.

Is construction estimating software better than a spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet is fine until the maths breaks quietly. The differences that matter are tax applied by region without lookups, markup and margin calculated in one place rather than per tab, a version history when a client disputes what was quoted, and the approved estimate becoming the job budget instead of being retyped into one.

Can AI write a construction estimate?

It can write the first draft. Bridge AI turns a short project brief into itemized labour, material and subcontract lines in seconds, which is the slow part. The builder then reviews quantities, unit costs and markup and decides what goes out — the draft is a starting point, never a binding quote.

Does it handle invoicing as well as estimating?

Yes, and they are the same record rather than two systems. An approved estimate seeds the project, and deposit, progress and final invoices are raised against that job with GST/HST/PST applied by the same provincial rules the estimate used — so what you quoted is what you bill, with holdback kept visible until it is released.

Is there a free Excel construction estimating template?

Yes, and it is genuinely free — a direct .xlsx download with no email gate and no sign-up, in free templates. It has itemized labour, material and subcontract lines and a provincial tax lookup. A spreadsheet is the right tool right up until the point the maths breaks quietly: no version history when a client disputes what was quoted, and the approved number has to be retyped into a budget rather than becoming one.

Is there construction estimating software for small contractors?

This is one. The Solo plan is $179/month for one to three users with the full estimate builder included, not gated behind a higher tier, and there are no per-seat fees on any plan. A one-person renovation business gets the same itemized estimating, provincial tax handling and approved-estimate-becomes-budget flow that a fifty-person builder gets.

Does it work for general contractors who subcontract most of the work?

Yes. Subcontract is a line type alongside labour, material and equipment, so a GC can price a job mostly out of trade quotes and still see the breakdown. Once the estimate is approved it seeds the job budget, and purchase orders raised against that job show as committed cost before any bill arrives.

Is this residential estimating software or is it built for commercial work?

Residential. It is built for home builders, renovators and the trades working on houses — custom builds, additions, kitchens, bathrooms, roofing, mechanical. There is no takeoff from drawings and no RFI or submittal workflow, so a commercial GC bidding institutional work would find it thin.

Is it cloud based, and can I quote from the jobsite?

Yes — it runs in the browser with nothing to install, and it is a progressive web app, so you can add it to a phone home screen and build or edit an estimate from site. Estimates you change sync to the same workspace your office sees.