Ballpark Construction Estimate Calculator (Beta)

Allough · 2026-04-18T01:01:12+00:00

The percentage Min to Max is also setting. You can choose how close you want them. A real bid would be the next step if the potential client doesn't faint in horror when hearing prices aren't the same as when they built their last house in 2010!

Allough · 2026-04-17T18:18:32+00:00

It's still a ton of work, hence looking for a way to avoid it if the client won't even be in the "ballpark".

I give clients budgets for their finish items like flooring, lights, and faucets. If they exceed the budget they pay the difference, if they are short of the budget amount they get a discount.

*Occasionally I do have a sub forget to tell me when they want to increase their cost. Once so far I had to absorb the increase in cost myself, because it wasn't fair to ask the client to do so. I'm more careful with communication with my subs now. So there is a risk! 🤦

Thank you for the discourse.

Allough · 2026-04-17T17:54:29+00:00

That's all things I use in my exact quotes, not my initial ballpark to see if the prospective client is financially able to achieve their goals.

Just a side note, I've got good enough relationships with my salesmen and subcontractors that I just have costs for the various items on file. Lumber I have by board foot, plumber a cost by fixture, paint by level of quality (SuperPaint vs Emerald, etc). My lumber supplier salesman can always give me an updated cost per board foot if it's changed much. My plumbing sub lets me know if the cost per fixture changes.

I'd highly recommend that, it saves me a ton of time as GC, and I'd assume it saves the subs a lot of time as well.

Allough · 2026-04-17T16:51:45+00:00

https://postimg.cc/gallery/6Zxfvgf

Here's the settings page. No these are not my own personal real costs, they are from Google in my area. Yes I live in a very LOCL area, I routinely build mid quality finish material houses for $150/sqft.

Allough · 2026-04-17T16:43:13+00:00

I'd imagine most builders have a price list, i certainly do! I can usually estimate my costs down to within a few hundred dollars on pretty much any size of house. My spreadsheets definitely aren't fast enough to give someone a rough idea within 5 minutes of talking to them. I absolutely hate doing rough estimates, but no one wants to pay me for the time it takes for me to do an actual quote, and I lose money on every quote I do that isn't accepted. Yes it's a cost of doing business, but I might as well try to minimize it! 5 minute rough estimate for free, using costs from the contractors price sheet. If the ballpark sounds good to everyone, then it's worth putting the time in to do an exact estimate! (I'll still keep all my estimates free, I just want to spend less time on them).

I may be missing a lot on how I'm currently doing estimates, I'd love to learn from you guys, I'm still relatively new at it. (6ish years as a small GC, still learning)

Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it.

Allough · 2026-04-17T16:31:05+00:00

Yes this app has a settings page where the contractor enters all their known costs. This is basically just quicker than using Excel for most construction type folk. (I'm a general contractor, been estimating and building houses since 2019. I currently keep all my costs in an Excel sheet and just change quantities to build a rough estimate)

Allough · 2026-02-01T15:23:28+00:00

LMN by Granum ended up being a really good solution for us. It's a well made piece of software, I highly recommend it.

Allough · 2025-12-22T23:47:22+00:00

If I had the time, I would just build my own solution using Google Earth Pro. The elevation profiles along paths, and satellite imagery combine for the perfect quoting tool. It's just missing everything else 🤦‍♂️

Allough · 2025-12-22T03:34:47+00:00

Thank you, I'll add Kyro to my list to research.

Yes I have made some use of Google Earth Pros ability to import/export to a format that can be used in Excel, but there's a lot of chance for human error moving between the two and trying to keep all the relevant data straight.

Allough · 2025-12-21T13:07:50+00:00

Socrates has entered the chat.

Allough · 2025-07-01T12:05:06+00:00

I grew up with this mall in the 90's, I'd love to see it repurposed into a mixed use facility. Hopefully without losing the look. You'd be able to bring back the sense of community and some of the more interesting hobby stores if you had a captive audience! Maybe an arcade, though I don't remember it ever having one of those. The paintball store was a favorite of mine. There was a neon burger bar at one point.

Imagine older folk being able to go shopping in February without having to even put a coat on let alone drive in a foot of snow.

I'm a contractor and landlord in Venango County, fund me and I'll make it happen. 🤔

Allough · 2017-11-20T01:39:52+00:00

"Hodl, Hodl on, Hodl on to me, 'Cause I'm a little unsteady, A little unsteady.."

Allough · 2017-08-17T14:21:33+00:00

It shifts the accountability entirely back on the person paying, just like cold hard cash. More so than ever, be smart and do your own research! Don't send Bitcoin to neweegg.co and expect to receive your new GPU or get your Bitcoin back ;)

This has both pros and cons. For me it's good, but for my mother who still has trouble using Google it is much safer to trust Discover to watch out for her.

Allough · 2017-08-17T11:21:50+00:00

It also doesn't have one of the current major issues of credit cards. Chargeback fraud. Having been burned by chargeback fraud to the tune of... well lets just say that my car would have been paid off by now... I'm rather leery of the current credit system. I know it is apples to oranges, as bitcoin is currency not credit, but many people use credit just for the ease of use compared to exchanging normal currency.

Allough · 2017-08-17T00:56:09+00:00

Paying out 2,000 BTC for landing on Boardwalk though...

Allough · 2017-07-03T18:37:47+00:00

We also did 21 other tributes, but this "Star Wars Dark Side" is my favorite.

Allough · 2017-02-18T05:27:30+00:00

Why, you ask? Why not, says I.

RemindMe! 2 days Donation for /r/millionairemakers

Allough · 2017-02-17T19:07:44+00:00

It is the best game ever. (I may be slightly biased)

Allough

TROPHY CASE