Independent estimating for subcontractors
in the trade
You bid the job. I do the counting.
Carpentry, drywall, painting and plastering takeoffs, priced and bid-ready. Tell me your bid date and I'll confirm within the hour whether I can hit it — then I hit it. One estimator with 22 years in the trade who has hung board and swung a hammer, not a queue and not a call center.
The problem isn't that you can't estimate.
It's that you're on site from six to five, and then you're pricing work at the kitchen table at nine at night. Some weeks the bid goes out rough. Some weeks it doesn't go out at all.
That's the job I take off your hands. You forward the plans; I do the takeoff, price the labor and material, write up the assumptions and exclusions, and send you back something you can put your letterhead on and email to the GC. You stay on the tools and you bid more work.
What lands in your inbox
- A full quantity takeoff — broken out by area, level and wall type. Board by type and thickness, studs and track by gauge and width, insulation, rated and sound assemblies, corner bead, access panels, finish level.
- Labor hours priced to your market, not a national average — and I'll ask you what your crews actually produce rather than guessing at it.
- A bid summary — the numbers laid out clean and checkable, so you can drop them into whatever you normally send.
- A finished proposal, if you want one. On your letterhead, ready to go to the GC under your name. It's an option rather than the default, because plenty of contractors already have a format they'd rather I just fill in.
- Assumptions and exclusions in writing. Spelled out, so nothing lands on you in a scope review six weeks later.
- Excel and PDF — or your own format if you have one you like. A full Quick Bid estimate is available as a premium option.
What I price
Carpentry & drywall
Gypsum board hang and finish, metal stud partitions, shaft wall, rated and acoustic assemblies, suspended ceilings and insulation — plus rough framing, sheathing, blocking, doors and hardware, trim, millwork and casework. Level 4 and Level 5 priced like they're different things, because they are.
Carpentry & drywall estimating →Painting & plastering
Interior and exterior coatings counted by substrate, coat and system, with the prep priced instead of assumed. Stucco, veneer plaster and EIFS — lath, accessories, control joints and weep screed off the elevations, not off a guess.
Painting & plastering estimating →Labor only, if that's how you work
Plenty of subs don't furnish material. If the GC buys the board or the supplier bills direct, you don't need a material number — you need to know how many hours the job is.
A labor-only takeoff gives you the quantities converted into man-hours and crew-days at your own production rates, priced at your labor rate with your burden. No material, no markup on material you aren't buying, and no assumptions about pricing you don't control.
Labor subs
You bring the crew, somebody else brings the board. You need hours and a rate, not a materials list.
Unit price and T&M
Priced per square foot, per sheet or per opening, so you can hold a unit rate and still know what it actually costs you.
Smaller shops
You buy your own material and know your suppliers better than I do. I'll stay out of it and price the labor.
It costs less than a full takeoff — there's less to price and fewer assumptions to defend. Quoted up front, same as everything else.
How it works
Send the plans
Email, Dropbox, WeTransfer, a link from the plan room — whatever you have. Addenda too. Send your bid date with it and I'll come back within the hour with a delivery date, or tell you straight away that I can't make yours. If the set's incomplete I'll say what's missing before I start, not after.
I price it
Takeoff, labor, material, waste factors, assumptions and exclusions. If something in the drawings doesn't make sense, I call you — I don't quietly guess and bury it in a number.
You send the bid
Three business days is standard on a single-trade package, and you've had the date in writing since the hour you sent the plans. Review it, tell me where you'd have priced it differently, and I get calibrated to how you actually build.
What it costs
Published, because almost nobody in this business publishes theirs.
| Price | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| First takeoff | Free | One per company, on a real bid you're chasing — up to 10 drawing sheets, one trade. On a bigger job I'll take off a typical floor or unit type free and quote the rest. No card, no contract. The standard turnaround doesn't apply to the free one — you still get a delivery date within the hour, but paying work gets scheduled first. |
| Turnaround | 3 business days | Standard on a single-trade package, counted from a complete set including addenda. You get a confirmed delivery date within an hour of sending the plans — and if I can't make your bid date, you hear that in the same hour rather than the day before. |
| Per bid | Quoted up front | Tiered by sheet count and project size. You get the number before I start — never a surprise invoice. |
| Labor only | Costs less | Hours and crew-days at your production rates and your labor rate — no material, no markup on material you aren't buying. For labor subs, unit-price work, and shops that buy their own. |
| Proposal | Option | A finished proposal on your letterhead, ready to go to the GC under your name. Not the default — plenty of contractors have a format they'd rather I fill in. Quoted with the bid. |
| Quick Bid estimate | Premium | A full estimate built in Quick Bid rather than Excel — your labor and material database, your markup structure, and a branded proposal you can send as-is. Run Quick Bid yourself and I'll send the bid package too, so the estimate lives in your system. Quoted separately. |
| Monthly | Flat monthly | A flat monthly fee covering an agreed number of bids. Month to month, cancel whenever. This is what most contractors end up on. |
| Rush | Quoted up front | Anything you need faster than the standard three business days. Tell me the date; if it's possible you'll have a price for it within the hour. |
| Payment | 50% / 50% | Half when you approve the price, half when the estimate is delivered. Pay by card or bank transfer through a secure link on the emailed invoice. Monthly plans are billed at the start of each month. |
I don't price as a percentage of your bid. You shouldn't have to pay me more for winning.
Every estimate ships with its assumptions, exclusions and terms. It's an estimate, not a guarantee — check it against your contract documents before you bid. Liability for any error is limited to the fee paid for that estimate.
Three ways to buy a takeoff
I'll be straight about where I sit. I'm not the cheapest and I'm not the biggest.
The $15 gig
- Turnaround
- 24 hours
- Who does it
- Unnamed, usually overseas, often a different person each time
- Reaching them
- A form, and a reply tomorrow
- If it's wrong
- You find out at the scope review. There's no recourse.
Martin Estimating
- Turnaround
- A confirmed date within the hour, then 3 business days standard
- Who does it
- Me. Every time. 22 years in the trade — I've hung and finished board myself.
- Reaching them
- My cell, during the day, answered by me
- If it's wrong
- Call me and I fix it. I keep my book small enough to have room to.
The big estimating firm
- Turnaround
- Six to nine business days
- Who does it
- Whoever's next on the bench
- Reaching them
- An account manager
- If it's wrong
- A process, and a place in the queue
Straight answers
Where are you based?
Pennsylvania. I work off plans — same as every estimator you'd hire for this, including the ones with an address in your town. What you get that they don't is one named person on a phone that rings during your workday, instead of a shift worker in another time zone or a ticket number at a firm with sixty clients.
How fast can you turn a bid around?
Three business days is standard on a single-trade package, counted from a complete set — plans plus addenda. But the number that actually matters to you is your bid date, so send that with the plans and I'll come back within the hour telling you whether I can hit it.
If I can't, you hear it in that first hour rather than the day before it's due. That's the whole reason I keep my book small — a date from me is a date, not a hope. Need it faster than three days? Say so, and rush gets quoted up front.
What do you need from me to start?
The plan set and any addenda, the bid date, and the scope you're carrying. If you have production rates you trust — sheets per man-day, footage of tape per day — send those and I'll price to them instead of to an industry average. If you don't, I'll use mine and show you exactly what I used so you can push back.
What's actually free about the first one?
A real takeoff on a real bid you're chasing: one trade, up to 10 drawing sheets — roughly a tenant fit-out or a small commercial job. No card, nothing to sign, one per company.
On a bigger job — a tower, a large multifamily building — I'll take off a typical floor or one unit type for free and quote the rest of the building. You see exactly how I count and what I catch, on your own job, before you spend anything. If you like it, the rest becomes a paid job. If you don't, you've lost a plan set upload.
One thing I'll be straight about: the standard turnaround is for paying work. On the free one you still get a delivery date within the hour and I'll hold to it — but it gets scheduled around clients who are paying. Send it with a few days' runway rather than the night before the bid goes in.
How do I pay?
By card or bank transfer. Once you have the price and tell me to go ahead, I email an invoice for half with a secure payment link. The other half is invoiced when the estimate is delivered. The free first takeoff needs neither, and monthly plans are billed at the start of each month.
What if the numbers are wrong?
Call me and I'll re-run it, same day where I can. Every takeoff ships with its assumptions and exclusions written out precisely so you can check my logic instead of taking a total on faith. I'd rather be argued with before the bid goes in than after.
Do you work with the GC or just with subs?
Mostly subs — carpentry, drywall, painting and stucco contractors bidding their own work. I'll do interiors packages for GCs too, but subs are where I'm sharpest, because pricing one trade properly is a different job from pricing twenty roughly.
Will you sign an NDA? Do you bid against me?
Yes, happily. And no — I don't estimate for two contractors bidding the same package. If you bring me a job and a competitor of yours calls about it, they get turned down, not a second quote off your plans.
What software do you use?
On-Screen Takeoff for the quantities, Excel for the pricing. You get the workbook, not just a PDF, so your own people can open it, check it and reuse the structure on the next one.
If you want it, I also build estimates in Quick Bid — ConstructConnect's bid software, which takes the On-Screen Takeoff quantities straight across and applies your labor rates, material costs and markup structure. It comes back as a branded proposal in PDF or Excel, and if you run Quick Bid yourself I'll send the bid package so the estimate sits in your system rather than mine. It's more setup on my end, so it's a premium option, quoted separately.
How much work can you actually take?
A deliberately small number each month. When I'm full I'll tell you I'm full rather than take it and sit on it. That's the whole reason a date from me is a date.
Send me the next set of plans.
The first takeoff is free — up to 10 drawing sheets, one trade — and there's nothing to sign. Worst case you get a second opinion on a number you were going to guess at anyway.
Send it with a few days' runway — the standard turnaround is for paying work, and you'll still get a delivery date on the free one within the hour.
Best times to catch me: early morning, or once you're off the site. If I don't pick up I'm on another set — leave a message and I'll call back the same day.