The Best Plumbing Estimating Software
We tested and evaluated the top plumbing quote software systems, focusing on features like pre-built material pricing databases, customizable estimate templates, and on-screen takeoff tools.
- User-friendly interface with low learning curve
- Integration with various file formats, including PDF, DWG, and DXF
- Direct integration with Excel for report creation
- On-screen digitizer takeoff
- Comprehensive reporting tools for detailed project analysis
- 60-day money back guarantee
- Easy to use and modern interface
- Free version available
- Unlimited takeoffs in paid version
- PlanSwift: Best for Small Contractors
- FastEST: Best for Commercial Projects
- STACK: Best for Distributed Teams
- McCormick Estimating: Best for Mid-Sized Contractors
- WenPipe: Best for Specialized Projects
- TurboBid Estimating: Best for Sole Proprietors
- AutoBid Mechanical: Best for Large-Scale Mechanical Projects
PlanSwift - Best for Small Contractors
PlanSwift provides smaller teams with an intuitive way to generate precise labor and material estimates. Its on-screen takeoff tools simplify measuring linear feet for CPVC, drain, and supply piping. You can calculate quantities for fittings and fixtures with just a few clicks, offering a user-friendly, practical tool for small contractors with limited time and resources.
You can open digital blueprints from emails, thumb drives, or online plan rooms. Once the scale is set, point, click, and count. Visual indicators on your plans help track your progress. With counted items automatically added to your material list, PlanSwift helps plumbing contractors juggle multiple small projects with fewer errors and time spent on manual estimation methods.
Drag-and-drop assemblies let you quickly pair materials with labor costs. On the job site, the overlay feature can even double as a guide for installation. PlanSwift includes a one-time charge of $1,749, including updates and support for the first year. Ongoing support and updates are available for $250/license/year, and optional personalized training is offered for $295/person, helping smaller teams get up to speed quickly.
Learn more about Planswift.
FastEST - Best for Commercial Projects
FastEST’s FastPIPE application includes a comprehensive pricing and material database with over 150,000 items. The database provides data for major manufacturers, including Gruvlok, Swagelok, Weldbend, Tyler, and Nibco. It offers up-to-date pricing for valves, flanges, piping, fittings, and hangers, along with industry-standard MCAA and PHCC labor estimates for each item. This provides a reliable foundation for building accurate, competitive bids.
This library of materials is regularly updated with market-reflective pricing. Additionally, you can easily add custom pricing and materials to align estimates with unique project requirements or local supplier rates. This ensures your estimates align with specific project scopes and needs, whether you’re outfitting an industrial facility or high-rise.
FastEST offers three separate estimating apps: FastPIPE, FastDUCT, and FastWRAP. The first application costs $4,995 for a one-time purchase or $225 per month for a subscription. Additional applications are priced at $2,495 for purchase or $93 per month to lease. For contractors needing both FastPIPE and FastDUCT, a combo package is available for $7,490 to purchase or $318 per month to lease.
All packages include the first year of maintenance, online training, setup assistance, and material pricing updates. After the first year, maintenance costs $1,100 annually for the first application and $200 annually for each additional application.
Learn more about pricing and key features for FastEST.
STACK - Best for Distributed Teams
STACK provides collaborative, cloud-based tools for coordinating work between field and office teams and multiple job sites. Staff can access, modify, and review project details at the same time:
- Takeoff & Estimating: Provides tools for direct measurements of pipes, fittings, and fixtures on digital plans; teams can create and collaborate on estimates and professional proposals tailored to client needs.
- Real-Time Markups: Teams can annotate plans to highlight additional materials needed or potential issues, such as clashes in piping layouts.
- Digital Plan Management: Allows staff to upload and centralize documents depicting complex layouts and specifications, such as pipe runs, material needs, and fixture placements.
STACK offers a subscription-based pricing model starting at $2,999 per user annually for its Takeoff & Estimating plan. The Field & Project Management and Property & Facility Operations plans start at $599 per user annually, allowing plumbing contractors to select features that fit their unique workflows.
Check out our STACK profile for more details.
McCormick Estimating - Best for Mid-Sized Contractors
McCormick Estimating simplifies multi-project estimating with complex material and cost breakdowns. It features an extensive database with over 20,000 pre-built assemblies and 40,000 items, including ProPress, Uponor, CPBC, and fixtures. This allows mid-sized contractors to create professional estimates that factor in project complexities.
The software’s ability to update pricing directly from popular supply houses means your estimates always reflect real-time material costs. With labor units based on a national average, McCormick also provides a solid benchmark for determining labor costs. You can adjust these by adding MCAA or PHCC standards. This flexibility means you can better meet industry expectations, giving you an edge over smaller competitors without standardized tools.
WenPipe - Best for Specialized Projects
WenPipe is designed for projects with unique requirements, like high-purity piping in cleanrooms or process piping for chemical plants. Its customizable estimate templates let you tailor bids to specialized materials, labor standards, and compliance needs.
You can create and reuse templates for recurring project types and modify as many as needed to suit different requirements. Easily populate and adjust material and labor costs for specific equipment like cleanroom fittings or corrosion-resistant valves. The software also incorporates specialty labor options from national averages, MCAA, PHCC, or custom labor databases, so your estimates always reflect precise rates and workloads.
WenPipe doesn’t share its pricing publicly, but we estimate its total cost of ownership falls in the $10,000-$49,999 range over three years. The system also includes one year of free training, program updates, and technical support.
TurboBid Estimating - Best for Sole Proprietors
TurboBid Estimating’s onscreen takeoff feature makes it easier to manage estimating alongside other responsibilities, like scheduling appointments or performing installations. You can view and mark up digital plans and break them down by location so you can create polished room-by-room reports for customers—helping you stand out with professional-grade estimates.
You can manually open digital blueprints in a PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat to mark plumbing symbols and input quantities. Or you can integrate with PlanSwift for even greater efficiency. This allows you to measure trenching or pipe runs by selecting the starting point with your cursor and drawing a line on the print. TurboBid calculates the measurements and adds fittings, pipe, and supports into your takeoff.
This software offers several pricing options, including a one-time purchase ranging from $1,395 to $3,090, including on-screen takeoff. You can also choose a monthly subscription at $135 per month or a 4-month plan at $399 per month. This means sole proprietors can choose a payment structure that aligns with their budget.
Read our full profile on TurboBid Estimating.
AutoBid Mechanical - Best for Large-Scale Mechanical Projects
AutoBid Mechanical features spec-driven takeoff with autofitting, ideal for handling complex mechanical systems. The software auto-generates fittings based on rule sets as you trace points along route lines. This ensures compliance with project requirements while saving time on large-scale jobs.
It further simplifies the process by matching fittings and materials to specifications like connection type, pressure class, and duct gauge. By tweaking specifications, you can quickly explore different installation costs, making value engineering quick and easy for conceptual estimates.
Last, AutoBid Mechanical includes a pre-built database of over 100,000 materials and components, ensuring you have everything you need to create reliable estimates.
What is Plumbing Estimating Software?
Plumbing estimating software is made for plumbers and contractors who need to accurately and efficiently estimate the costs of pipe replacement, repairs, or parts upgrades for plumbing projects. A type of construction estimating and takeoff software plumbing proposal products make it easy to calculate billable rates for specific projects based on the latest material, labor, and equipment costs. This software also assists with takeoff, job costing, and report generation.
Like most plumbing software, these estimating solutions tackle the specific issues that are commonly faced by plumbers and not other areas of general contracting. As mentioned, each estimate considers labor, material, and equipment costs based on available on-screen takeoff data. This information then makes it possible to predict how much piping and fittings are necessary, how long a project should take, or how many additional laborers are needed to complete the job on time.
Additionally, estimating software can facilitate client or customer change orders made after a project has already begun by quickly adjusting the original estimate. Estimating software can be used by residential and commercial plumbing businesses, as well as limited contracting services.
Note: “Mechanical estimating software” is sometimes used interchangeably with “plumbing estimating software”, especially if the software includes features for estimating HVAC and ductwork services.
Key Features
- Screen takeoff: Gain access to dimensional information extracted from digital plans and blueprints to auto-count piping, fittings, valves, and, assemblies which can be converted into a list of required plumbing materials to determine the associated costs for those materials during the estimating process
- Job costing database: Calculate material, equipment, and labor costs based on defined material base rates and quantity requirements stored in an automatically updating database
- Estimate templates: Build customized templates for calculating costs on remodeling projects
- Quote and bid management: Calculate plumbing project costs before pricing bids or offering customers official quotes for services
- Change order management: Facilitate customer requests for sudden changes to agreed-upon remodeling projects, schedules, or materials
- Customer relationship management (CRM): Manage business-customer relationships from the initial bid through to additional remodeling projects
- Document management: Store digital copies of important documents, such as past bids, quotes, and estimates, in one easily accessible system
- Reporting and analytics: Analyze past plumbing projects to identify areas of improvement
Benefits
Plumbing estimating software can provide many unique advantages to your plumbing business. Learn all about the difference estimating software can make when quoting projects:
Better Quotes with Accurate Estimates
Depending on the scale of the work, plumbing jobs can cost from a few dollars for new parts to thousands for major repairs. As a result, it’s vital to have specific estimating software capable of addressing the industry’s concerns to avoid under- or overpricing jobs. Software automates the estimating system and reduces the possibility of human error from making manual calculations on the fly.
The software keeps pricing information in one centralized cost database. No more handwritten notebooks filled with outdated manufacturer information—only the latest numbers are updated in real time. On-screen takeoff provides digital copies of blueprints, which can measure the number of materials necessary. With these features, plumbing contractors can easily insert the cost information into a custom template to create a presentable, customer-facing quote.
Reduce Overall Costs
Many customers in need of plumbing expect free estimates before any work begins. By utilizing automated software, plumbers and general contractors can create accurate estimates faster than ever before. Cloud-based estimating software with compatible mobile apps on smartphones and tablets even allows quotes to be made instantly on the spot. This functionality is particularly useful for plumbers who specialize in emergency services or repairs where time is of the essence.
For example, a burst pipe is undeniably urgent. Yet service businesses must still provide the customer with an idea of costs before any repairs can begin. Streamline quote generation from plumbing estimating software can let you get to work faster by providing the latest material pricing for a replacement pipe along with other job management costs.
Accurate estimates don’t just help customers - they help your entire project management process. After all, certified plumbers cover a whole range of services. By utilizing estimating software, you can handle quotes for all types of plumbing requests, such as:
- Pipe repair or replacement
- Fittings repair or replacement
- Mainline leaks
- Clog clearing and pipe draining
- Water heater installation, replacement, and maintenance
- Sump pump maintenance
- Sewer and septic repairs
- Greywater system installation
Some of these services cost significantly more than others to perform. Utilizing user-friendly software to make customizable estimates can reveal which jobs offer the highest profitability and which have an ROI not worth your time. This way, estimates can lower overall operating costs for future plumbing and construction projects.
Improved Customer Service
No one wants to overpay for plumbing. In fact, many people put off basic plumbing maintenance for fear of the cost. Yet there aren’t many options when something goes wrong and repairs are urgently needed. Some plumbing contractors take advantage of this, charging exorbitant prices to customers who can’t wait for a better offer. Fortunately, Most licensed plumbers prefer to use automated estimating programs to charge their customers fair prices, even in emergencies.
Additionally, quick quotes provide the opportunity to improve service by showing customers what they could save by ordering different parts or keeping up with maintenance. For instance, you can show a potential customer how much new pipes would cost based on the material they choose.
Quick turnarounds on estimates for services can lead to long-term customer loyalty. For many homeowners and property managers, plumbing work requires exact scheduling to avoid shutting off water during peak usage hours. Your potential customers will gain an idea of how long services will take when they get quotes quickly. By using estimating software with CRM tools to offer better customer support, you can increase your chances of being contacted again for more plumbing work in the future. And follow up with the customer, such as asking if they’re satisfied with your work, can provide an opening towards additional services when they arise.
Plumbing Estimating Software Pricing
Estimating software pricing for plumbing depends on whether you want an on-premise or cloud-based solution. On-premise products generally charge a one-time perpetual license fee, while cloud-hosted software is charged as a monthly SaaS. Each version includes varying degrees of updates, maintenance, and real-time IT support, though some may come at an additional cost. For instance, mobile apps accessible through iPhone or Android devices may cost more to install.
SaaS price options like FastEST can start at $225 per month, with most priced per user. One-time perpetual license fees range from $1,395 to $4,995 for a set number of users. The best software options are designed to fit every budget and business size, from individually licensed plumbers to PHCC-certified plumbing companies. Several options can integrate with general contracting or plumbing software for additional functionality, such as invoicing, work order management, or basic accounting.
