# Best Construction Estimating Software for Small Business - Page 2 *By [Neya Kumaresan](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/neya-kumaresan)* Products classified in the overall Construction Estimating category are similar in many regards and help companies of all sizes solve their business problems. However, small business features, pricing, setup, and installation differ from businesses of other sizes, which is why we match buyers to the right Small Business Construction Estimating to fit their needs. Compare product ratings based on reviews from enterprise users or connect with one of G2's buying advisors to find the right solutions within the Small Business Construction Estimating category. In addition to qualifying for inclusion in the Construction Estimating Software category, to qualify for inclusion in the Small Business Construction Estimating Software category, a product must have at least 10 reviews left by a reviewer from a small business. ## Category Overview **Total Products under this Category:** 258 ## Trust & Credibility Stats **Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:** - 30 Analysts and Data Experts - 12,200+ Authentic Reviews - 258+ Products - Unbiased Rankings G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category. --- **Sponsored** ### Premier Construction Software Premier Construction Software is a global, AI-powered construction ERP that helps growing general contractors control job costs, cash flow, and risk across every project in one easy-to-use cloud platform. Replace disconnected accounting, project management, and field tools with a single source of truth for WIP, change orders, and forecasting, so your team can shorten billing cycles and keep margins on track. How we're different: • Built for general contractors, owners, and land developers managing multi-project, multi-entity portfolios. • Advanced construction accounting with detailed job costing, real-time WIP reporting, and cash-flow forecasting to spot issues before they hit the P&L. • Project and field management with RFIs, subcontracts, drawings, and change orders tied directly to the budget and schedule. • Automated billing, approvals, and payroll to reduce manual entry and speed up collections. • Unlimited entities, consolidated reporting, and role-based dashboards. [Book a Demo](https://www.g2.com/external_clickthroughs/record?secure%5Bad_program%5D=ppc&secure%5Bad_slot%5D=category_product_list&secure%5Bcategory_id%5D=384&secure%5Bdisplayable_resource_id%5D=386&secure%5Bdisplayable_resource_type%5D=Category&secure%5Bmedium%5D=sponsored&secure%5Bplacement_reason%5D=neighbor_category&secure%5Bplacement_resource_ids%5D%5B%5D=2355&secure%5Bprioritized%5D=false&secure%5Bproduct_id%5D=53531&secure%5Bresource_id%5D=384&secure%5Bresource_type%5D=Category&secure%5Bsource_type%5D=category_page&secure%5Bsource_url%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g2.com%2Fcategories%2Fconstruction-estimating-software%2Fenterprise&secure%5Btoken%5D=6c50cff247919e5f560ba45a1a4e0e90e95fcc2ef6bf0cab7b6d33f07ea776f0&secure%5Burl%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fpremiercs.com%2Frequest-demo%2Fg2&secure%5Burl_type%5D=book_demo) --- ## Top-Rated Products (Ranked by G2 Score) ### 1. [Higharc](https://www.g2.com/products/higharc/reviews) Higharc was founded in 2018 and is based in Durham, North Carolina. Higharc is a residential homebuilding technology company focused on transforming the home design, sales and building process. The company employs a diverse team of experts across the United States, South America and Europe, in architecture, construction and software development, all working together to modernize the homebuilding process. Higharc partners with homebuilders to deliver a comprehensive home design platform utilizing 3D modeling and generative design, real-time cost estimation and an immersive online sales experience for homebuyers. The user-friendly interface allows for easy customization and instant modifications, making the design process accessible and efficient for users. Higharc's web based platform simplifies the home design, sales and construction workflow by providing a single source of truth at the beginning of the building process and seamlessly transferring data and updates across the organization. Builders benefit from streamlined workflows, improved accuracy and faster go to market timelines. **Average Rating:** 4.8/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 41 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 9.7/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10) - **Work Breakdown Structure (WBS):** 7.3/10 (Category avg: 8.3/10) - **Integrations:** 8.7/10 (Category avg: 8.1/10) - **Digitizing Quantities:** 8.1/10 (Category avg: 8.4/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Higharc](https://www.g2.com/sellers/higharc) - **Company Website:** https://www.higharc.com - **Year Founded:** 2018 - **HQ Location:** Durham, NC - **Twitter:** @HigharcHomes (762 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/higharc/ (167 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Top Industries:** Construction, Architecture & Planning - **Company Size:** 61% Mid-Market, 39% Small-Business #### Pros & Cons **Pros:** - Ease of Use (22 reviews) - Features (19 reviews) - Customer Support (13 reviews) - Useful (13 reviews) - Collaboration (10 reviews) **Cons:** - Learning Curve (7 reviews) - Missing Features (6 reviews) - Improvement Needed (4 reviews) - Learning Difficulty (4 reviews) - Inadequate Tools (3 reviews) ### 2. [Kreo](https://www.g2.com/products/kreo/reviews) Kreo Software is an AI-powered construction takeoff and estimating software tool to help quantity surveyors, estimators and contractors save time and win more business. With Kreo you can automate routine tasks and bring your favourite productivity tools together so that you can speed up measurements and produce your takeoffs in a familiar Excel-like environment. **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 31 **User Satisfaction Scores:** - **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 10.0/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10) **Seller Details:** - **Seller:** [Kreo Software Ltd](https://www.g2.com/sellers/kreo-software-ltd) - **Year Founded:** 2017 - **HQ Location:** London, England - **Twitter:** @kreo_software (717 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/11366884 (23 employees on LinkedIn®) **Reviewer Demographics:** - **Top Industries:** Construction - **Company Size:** 75% Small-Business, 25% Mid-Market ## Parent Category [Construction Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-management) ## Related Categories - [Bid Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/bid-management) - [Construction Project Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-project-management) - [Takeoff Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/takeoff) --- ## Buyer Guide ### What You Should Know About Construction Estimating Software ### What is Construction Estimating Software? Construction estimating software helps construction managers, contractors, and companies better calculate the total cost of a construction project. Interesting features of construction estimating software are its accuracy and automation with speed playing an important role in both. Before a contractor begins a construction project, they are required to submit a bid to their clients. The bid is made up of many elements, including estimating the cost of materials, predicting the number of manpower hours a project will take to complete, and comparing resources and labor costs with competitors. A construction project cannot begin without the draft of a cost estimate. The estimated cost may fluctuate when certain aspects of the project were not accounted for or were either overrepresented or underrepresented in the initial bid. The potential for human error is massive in construction projects, which increases the overall cost of the project. Construction estimating software may either be purchased as a standalone product or bundled within a construction project management platform or construction ERP software. Construction estimating software provides users with tools that automate data entry, pulls the most up-to-date prices of materials and equipment, and identifies labor and overhead costs. Key Benefits of Construction Estimating Software - Helps draft accurate bids, aids contractors and construction professionals in moving away from time-consuming legacy tools, and instills more confidence in clients - Provides users with tools that automate data entry and retrieval, ensuring accuracy and speed - Reduces the potential for users to misattribute numbers or forget to double-check the availability of a materials - Enables both the easy adjustment of estimates as well as instant takeoffs (generating a list of materials needed for a project) - Tracks any deviations and alerts contractors and clients about changes to the final cost, helping contractors to stay close to the original estimate ### Why Use Construction Estimating Software? Contractors and companies are enabled to bid on more projects and win more clients by utilizing construction estimating solutions. With this software, construction professionals spend less time on calculations and focus on cultivating productive client relationships and building financially sound construction projects. Such software helps reduce manual efforts, allowing users to concentrate on critical labor and project management. Construction estimating software is used in both the pre-construction (“pre-con") and operational stages of the construction project lifecycle. For example, when construction estimating software is used post bid as the project progresses, it keeps track of materials management and ongoing costs and also predicts any potential deviances to the initial estimate. **Reporting —** Most, if not all, construction estimating software generates reports. Those reports range from straightforward estimates to historical project data to predictive business intelligence. Reports equip contractors with more proof of progress and support the need for increasing materials or labor. Additionally, some construction estimating solutions provide access to an industry database of materials and resources, which helps with initial estimate creations. **Speed —** Construction estimating software automates the manual processes that contractors and project managers followed in the past to calculate all costs that a construction project incurs. Construction industry professionals have turned to spreadsheets to offset some of that manual effort, but even spreadsheets are prone to human error and do not necessarily reflect or enable data consolidation. The most compelling reason to use construction estimating software is speed. Increasing estimation speed results in time saved, meaning increased efficiency and productivity. Speed assists in cutting down the number of hours spent on drafting up one or multiple estimates; it also enables users to minimize data duplication, ensure standardization and consistency across countless projects taking place simultaneously, and facilitates collaboration between project owners, project managers, and individual construction industry professionals. **Process consistency —** Additionally, construction estimating software makes processes more consistent, improving the entire construction project lifecycle to help construction businesses scale in the future. With construction estimating software, project managers are enabled to better supervise project progress, delegate responsibilities throughout the entire project lifecycle, and effortlessly review the expenses accrued versus the resulting total profit. ### Who Uses Construction Estimating Software? All types of stakeholders in the construction business use construction estimating software. For construction firms to not exceed budget and resources, they must pull historical project data in addition to analyzing the breadth of the current project via an estimate. While trade-specific estimating software does exist, most general or subcontractors find that the majority of construction estimating solutions fit their needs. ### Kinds of Construction Estimating Software Two specific subsets of construction estimating software include takeoff and bid management. Standalone takeoff and bid management solutions make it easy for smaller construction firms and stakeholders to integrate them with existing solutions and frameworks. Similarly, many construction estimating solutions offer takeoff and bid management functionality within their platform to enable streamlined workflows. **Takeoff —** Takeoff functionality automates the quantification of materials and resources vital to a construction project. Effective takeoff streamlines the entire bidding process and showcases granular costs that a construction project will incur. **Bid management —** Bid management functionality simplifies and automates the manual process of creating and submitting bids, tenders, and proposals that are critical to construction companies for winning projects. ### Construction Estimating Software Features Construction estimating software offers several critical features along with some “nice-to-have" features that are listed below. **Real-time calculations —** Construction calculators automatically estimate or determine the costs of a construction project. Such calculators often have the ability to update costs as a project progresses. **Adjustments to specific or overall bid estimates —** Construction estimating software provides the ability to monitor and update costs and track any alternate or substitute resources used during a project. This feature is helpful for progress tracking. **Blueprint or computer-aided design (CAD) image import and export —** Import and export of an existing or newly created blueprint or CAD image into the construction estimating software is facilitated. **Proposal templates —** Either the software comes prepared with bid proposal templates where users drag and drop data points, or it enables the creation of specialized templates to use in the future. **Proposal generator —** Construction estimating software should be able to pull data from takeoff, the resource cost database, the historical database, and any imported data into an integrated proposal generator. The generator is responsible for efficiently and accurately calculating bids that are submitted as part of a construction proposal. **Takeoff —** With construction estimating software, estimators are able to effectively estimate the quantity of items that are determined necessary from initial blueprints. #### Additional Construction Estimating Features **Historical database —** Construction estimating software provides a built-in solution or access to a database that tracks and monitors the materials used, contractors employed, jobs completed, and other related data of past construction projects. Users leverage the data to better estimate costs, time, and resources spent on similar projects. **Materials and resource cost database(s) —** The software offers a built-in solution or access to a database full of material inventory, along with the cost of those resources. Users are able to pull material prices directly from the database, which is comprehensive and up to date. **Project progress reporting and tracking —** While construction estimating solutions generally do not offer comprehensive project management functionality, these tools may still be able to keep tabs on a construction project in the context of helping users align the initial project estimate with its most current state. Other Features of Construction Estimating Software: [Electrical estimating](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-estimating/f/electrical-estimating), [Framing estimating](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-estimating/f/framing-estimating), [HVAC estimating](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-estimating/f/hvac-estimating), [Mechanical estimating](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-estimating/f/mechanical-estimating), [Plumbing estimating](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-estimating/f/plumbing-estimating) ### Trends Related to Construction Estimating Software Mobility and intuitiveness of construction software remain critical in the case of construction estimating software. However, the biggest trend in construction software is the consolidation of solutions. Users (whether they are project owners, general contractors, or any other individual stakeholder) are turning away from a technology stack made up of disconnected products towards a comprehensive ecosystem of solutions. Whether such an ecosystem is an end-to-end platform or connected through a series of seamless integrations and APIs, users want effective tools that make it easy to store, analyze, and share project information and data. Additionally, vendors have realized that both current and prospective buyers centralize all processes around the construction project lifecycle and that the project lifecycle is a fluid one. For example, bid management and construction estimating software can be used across the entire lifecycle, not only during the pre-con process. Construction software has to be able to support such fluid workflows, and vendors are taking note of this rising trend. ### Potential Issues with Construction Estimating Software It is important for business owners and contractors to weigh the pros and cons of investing in construction estimating software. Key stakeholders of a construction company are required to judge if the business has the bandwidth to overcome the pain points of construction estimating software’s learning curve. Other points to note are whether it is financially feasible to adopt new technology and which aspects of the construction project lifecycle they want to streamline, make more efficient, or if they want an entire overhaul. Several issues potentially crop up when deploying and implementing construction estimating software. **Integration —** Compatibility is vital with construction estimating software. For example, if the software refuses to, or is reluctant to integrate with accounting solutions, then it adds an unnecessary step to the construction project lifecycle. The construction estimating software takes care of the financial aspects of a construction project but may fail to integrate with the existing accounting solutions. **Unfamiliarity —** Spreadsheets are common and rampant within the construction industry because of their familiarity among contractors and other stakeholders of a construction business. Additionally, while construction estimating software tries to be as high level as possible, some specialties are too niche for the tool to adequately support. **Cost —** The cost of construction estimating software is more than just the actual cost of the tool. Training, support, and the provision of software updates need to be taken into consideration. Costs of software updates should be considered because if a vendor doesn’t offer regular updates to the product, then a company runs the risk of noncompliance as well as missing out on construction industry trends. ### Software and Services Related to Construction Estimating Software The following solutions can be used in conjunction with construction estimating software to enhance the latter’s functionality, or be used as a supplement to the software throughout the construction project lifecycle: **Construction project management —** [Construction project management software](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-project-management) provides project owners and managers an industry-specific project management solution to better manage project workflows and enable effective communication between all parties. Many construction project management software is designed to transfer information with construction estimating software. **Bid management —** [Bid management software](https://www.g2.com/categories/bid-management) eases the creation and submittals of request for proposals (RFPs) and request to tenders (RTTs). With bid management software, contractors and project owners automate the task of creating bids, store historical bids for future reference, and enable accountability and visibility of disparate teams. Accurate bids create more accurate construction project estimates. **Construction accounting —** [Construction accounting software](https://www.g2.com/categories/construction-accounting) takes basic accounting software capabilities and specifically tailor them to the construction industry. They provide users with financial management and accounting insights into construction projects and the company as a whole. Construction estimating software feeds into construction accounting solutions to enhance the reporting and management of a construction project’s financial health, and vice versa. **Prequalification —** [Prequalification software](https://www.g2.com/categories/prequalification) and bid management software automates the sourcing of trade workers prior to them being hired onto a construction project. Both these solutions may be used to supplement data that is utilized by construction estimating software. Verified and validated bids lead to a better scope that validates the generation of construction project estimates.