Remodeling estimating software that prices the labor.
On a remodel the lumber is the easy number; the hours are the whole game. billWright takes off framing and decking by the board and linear foot and finish trim by the opening, carries a real contingency and allowances for what you find behind the wall, and prices from your own loaded labor rate. Approve the bid and it becomes an invoice and a job budget you can cost against. Built by a working contractor, free through the beta.
Free for the duration of the beta. Your data is yours - export it any time, in a format that opens anywhere.
The hours hide where the bid does not look.
Carpentry and remodeling are taken off by the board foot, the linear foot, and the opening - then priced on labor. The losing jobs almost always come from the same three blind spots.
What is behind the wall
You bid the visible scope, then demo opens rotted framing, a notched joist, or wiring that will not pass. Every relocated fixture is a thousand to three you did not quote. A bid with no contingency line eats it.
Finish labor gets lowballed
Trim material is cheap; scribing cabinets, mitered returns, coping base, caulk-and-fill is a day you charged an hour for. Bids built on material plus a flat percent under-price the hours every time.
No waste factor, no hardware
Decking needs 10 to 25 percent waste; framing needs offcuts. Leave it off and you reorder at retail mid-job. Same blind spot hits hangers, structural screws, and lags - small lines that add up.
Ballpark a deck, right now.
This is a takeoff for a 300 sq ft pressure-treated deck - footings, posts and beam, the ledger, joists at 16 inches on center, decking with waste, stairs and railing, and the demo haul-off. Notice how much of the total is labor, not lumber. Adjust the quantities and your own rates; in the app these become reusable assemblies.
billWright vs a spreadsheet, for a remodel bid.
Everything that makes a bid fast, right, and worth keeping after you win.
| For a remodel or carpentry bid | billWright | Spreadsheet / generic tool |
|---|---|---|
| Take off by board foot, linear foot & opening | Built in - price book + calculators | Manual, and stale |
| Reusable assemblies (deck, trim a room, bath) | Built in | Rebuild every time |
| Waste factor on every material line | Built in | Forgotten until you reorder |
| Contingency & allowances for the unknowns | Standing lines | Manual placeholder |
| Price finish labor in hours, not by area | Built in | Lowballed by percent |
| Approved quote becomes an invoice + job budget | Automatic | Re-enter everywhere |
| Cost the real job against the estimate | Built in job costing | No |
| Price | Free through the beta, honest after | Varies |
Different trade? See general contracting or concrete estimating, or compare billWright to the tools you know.
Estimating software for carpenters and finish work.
Rough carpentry and finish carpentry do not price the same way, and a tool that only thinks in square feet gets the finish side wrong. billWright takes off framing and decking by the board and linear foot, and trim, casing, doors, and cabinets by the opening and the run, so the slow brushwork and the scribing get the hours they actually take. Set your own loaded rate once, and the same deck or trim-a-room assembly prices itself on every bid.
The estimate is the start, not the end.
Estimating
Price from your own numbers, send a branded quote, and watch the bid close.
Crew time
The crew punches in from a phone; you approve a whole week in one pass.
Invoicing
Bill from the approved estimate in one click, record payments, chase overdue.
Books
Expenses, income, and tax already coded - so you know the job made money.
Remodeling estimating, answered.
What is the best estimating software for remodelers and carpenters?
There is no single winner; it depends on crew size. The honest answer for a one-truck carpenter is to start with whatever lets you build assemblies, a deck or a trim-a-room template, so you are not re-pricing from scratch on every bid. billWright is built around your own assemblies and loaded labor rate, estimates in the units the trade really uses, and is free through its closed beta.
Do I really need software, or is my spreadsheet fine?
A spreadsheet works until it does not. It has no contingency logic, no waste factors baked in, and no easy way to update a lumber price across every saved bid. The moment you are losing track of labor hours or reordering material mid-job, the spreadsheet is already costing you more than software would.
Will it use my real prices, or generic national numbers?
Good estimating tools let you set your own material costs and your own loaded labor rate, then save them as reusable assemblies. Generic national-average databases are a starting point, not a bid; lumber and labor move locally, and a tool that will not let you override its numbers will quietly mis-price your market.
Can it handle both rough framing and finish trim?
Yes, but it has to estimate in the units each side of the trade uses: square feet and board feet for framing and decking, linear feet and per-opening counts for trim, doors, and cabinets. Software that only does square-foot pricing will under-price finish work, which is labor-driven, not area-driven.
Price the hours, hold your margin.
Built by a working contractor, answering to the people who use it - not a board chasing a quarterly number. Your data stays yours.
Prefer email? hello@billwright.app