Build it yourself, Free
- Create a free account and build as many estimates as you like, with no time limit.
- Set your margin, overheads and contingency line by line.
- Send your client a branded Quote Pack.
Building estimating service for UK builders
Still pricing jobs at 10pm?
Build it yourself for free, or send us your plans and we'll build it. Either way, you set the margin.
Create a free account and price your own jobs, as many as you like. Or let our estimators cost every part of the job: labour, materials, plant and subbies, with a full breakdown and a client-ready Quote Pack in 3 to 5 working days.
Free to build your own. Ours from £90 + VAT.
- Estimate in 3 to 5 working days
- Estimator in touch within 24 hours
5/5 star
Google rated
24 hours
for your estimator to be in touch
3 to 5 days
working days to your finished estimate
£10k to £1m+
residential jobs priced
35+ years
on the tools. Built by builders, for builders
Two ways to price a job
Build it yourself, or let us build it
Same platform, same margin sliders, same Quote Pack. You choose who does the take-off.
We build it for you, from £90 + VAT
- Send your drawings, photos or written scope.
- An estimator is in touch within 24 hours.
- A full labour and materials breakdown in 3 to 5 working days.
- Backed by The TruTrade Estimate Guarantee.
Stuck on a tricky job or short on time? You can buy an estimate from us at any point.
On site all day. Pricing jobs all night.
You've got drawings for three jobs, a client chasing a price, and a take-off that'll eat your whole Sunday. Then you guess the margin and hope you've not missed anything.
Stop working for free. Let us do the costing, so you can get your evenings back.
- Evenings and weekends lost to take-offs
- Extension plus refurb, loft plus kitchen: slow and hard to price
- Too high and you lose the job. Too low and you work for nothing
- One missed item and the margin's gone
How it works
Buying an estimate: from drawings to Quote Pack in four steps
You send the job. A real estimator prices it. You stay in control of the number that goes out.
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Send us the job
Upload drawings, photos or a written scope and pick your estimate type. They don't need to be perfect.
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Hear from your estimator
Within 24 hours, your estimator gets in touch to go through the job and ask anything the drawings don't show.
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Get your estimate
In 3 to 5 working days: a full labour and materials breakdown, priced on current UK supplier rates and measured quantities.
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Set your margin and send
Adjust margin, overheads and contingency, then send your client the Quote Pack. Won the job? Turn it into a project
You stay in control
We give you the costs. You set the price.
Whether you build it yourself or we build it for you, your estimate isn't a fixed PDF. Move the sliders for margin, overheads and contingency and watch the client price change as you go. Start from Competitive, Suggested or Premium, then fine-tune it.
- Set your margin trade by trade, not one blanket percentage
- Contingency and profit shown separately, so you know what's what
- VAT worked out for you, and your profit shown before the job starts
- Save revisions, with the full history kept
Win it, and your stage budgets carry straight into the project. Then track labour against them with Timesheets.
Example figures: Competitive, Suggested or Premium. Profit margin 22%. Business overheads 8%. Contingency 5%. Build cost £38,400. Overheads and contingency £4,992. Profit at 22% £8,448. VAT at 20% £10,368. Client price £62,208. Your profit £8,448.
What you get
What's in every TruTrade estimate
- One-to-one contact with your estimator
- Labour and materials broken down by trade
- Plant and subcontractor costs
- A material take-off with exact quantities, so you don't over-order
- Profit, overheads and contingency you can adjust line by line
- A build cost summary with VAT worked out
- Up to two rounds of reasonable revisions
- A client-ready Quote Pack, free with every estimate
- Three estimate types: Single Works, Extensions and Renovations, or Bespoke and New Builds (your estimator confirms the right one)
A Quote Pack that wins the job
Your client gets the same branded Quote Pack you see on our sample: cover, fee proposal, stage breakdown, payment schedule and client agreement. Build your own estimate and you can still send one.
Using Project Management? Your client can accept the quote online and ask for changes as tracked variations.
Pricing
Pick your estimate. Pay when you send the job.
Choose the estimate that matches your job and pay up front. When your estimator reviews the drawings, they check you've picked the right one. If your job needs a different estimate, we'll credit the difference or send you a link to pay the top-up.
Single Works
£90 + VAT
Garden rooms, kitchens and bathrooms, knock-throughs and garage conversions.
Start my estimateMost popular
Extensions and Renovations
£180 + VAT
Extensions, internal and external renovations, and loft conversions.
Start my estimateBespoke and New Builds
£255 + VAT
New builds, multi-part jobs like an extension plus a loft conversion, and specialist work. Specialist jobs can be priced on request.
Start my estimateEvery estimate includes: an estimator in touch within 24 hours, full labour and materials breakdown, material take-off, free Quote Pack, two rounds of revisions.
The QS alternative
A faster, more affordable alternative to a traditional quantity surveyor
TruTrade isn't a QS firm. We solve the same problem for residential builders, at a price that makes sense for the job.
| Your own spreadsheet | Traditional QS | TruTrade estimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | You, after a day on site | A surveyor | A TruTrade estimator |
| Cost | Your evenings and weekends | Quoted per project | Clear prices, from £90 + VAT |
| Turnaround | Whenever you find the time | Varies | 3 to 5 working days |
| Labour and materials by trade | If you've got the time | Yes | Yes, with a material take-off |
| Setting your margin | A guess at the end | Done separately | Live sliders, line by line |
| Something for the client | A price in an email | A report written for you | A branded Quote Pack, free |
| Once you've won it | Start again in a spreadsheet | Start again in a spreadsheet | One click into a live project |
The TruTrade Estimate Guarantee
If we've missed something that's clearly in your plans or written scope, we'll put it right.
Every estimate we build for you includes up to two rounds of reasonable revisions. It's based on the drawings and written scope you send us, so anything agreed on the phone needs confirming in writing. Let us know within 7 days of delivery.
Won the job?
Won the job? Turn it into a project.
Your estimate becomes a live project in one click, with the budget for every stage already set up. Then run the whole job from your phone in Project Management.
Timesheets
Your team clock in to each stage, so you see labour against what you priced.
Find out more →TruChat
A chat for your team and a separate chat with your client, kept with the job.
Find out more →Budgets and job P&L
See what every job is actually making while it's still running.
Find out more →Client Portal
Give the client a login, not a WhatsApp thread.
Find out more →Bought an estimate from us? Project Management is free for the project it becomes. For more projects, try it free for a month, then £4.99 + VAT per seat per month.
Builders who stopped pricing in the dark
“The quote pack alone wins me work. Clients think I've got a QS on the payroll, and the margin sliders mean the number that goes out is the number I meant.”
“I used to price on the hop and hope for the best. Now I set my margin before the client's even called back.”
Built by builders
Estimates from people who've done the work
“Builders were pricing jobs on guesswork, spreadsheets and time they didn't have. That costs you margin, sleep and jobs. So we built the thing the trade was missing: price properly, stay in control, stop working in the dark.”
Tony Ellard, Founder. 35+ years in construction and the Build with A&E YouTube channel, 100k+ subscribers.
Questions builders ask about estimates
How long does a building estimate take?
Your estimator will be in touch within 24 hours of you sending the job. Your finished estimate and Quote Pack follow in 3 to 5 working days.
How much does an estimate cost?
£90 + VAT for single works, £180 + VAT for extensions and renovations, and £255 + VAT for new builds and bespoke jobs. You pay when you send the job, and your estimator checks you've picked the right estimate type when they review it. The Quote Pack is included free.
Is TruTrade a quantity surveyor?
No. We're an estimating service for builders, run by people from the trade. You get the detailed costing you'd expect from a QS, faster and with clear prices from £90 + VAT.
What do I need to send you?
Your drawings, the job address and a short description of the work. It takes less than 2 minutes to send. If anything's missing, your estimator will ask when they get in touch.
Can I build my own estimate for free?
Yes. Create a free account and build as many estimates as you like, with no time limit. If you get stuck or run short of time, buy one from our estimators instead, from £90 + VAT.
How accurate are your estimates?
Every labour and material cost is priced from measured quantities on your drawings, at current UK supplier rates. Your estimator will be in touch before they start, to go through anything the drawings don't show.
What's in the Quote Pack?
A professional, client-ready quote built from your estimate, with the work split into stages, VAT worked out and a payment schedule. It comes free with every estimate.
What if you've missed something?
Tell your estimator. Every estimate includes two rounds of revisions, so anything missing can be added before your Quote Pack goes out.
Do I need a subscription to get an estimate?
No. Building your own is free, and you pay once for each estimate you buy. You don't need a Project Management subscription for either.
What kinds of job do you price?
Residential building work from around £10,000 to £1m+: extensions, renovations, loft conversions, new builds, kitchens, bathrooms, garage conversions and more. We don't price commercial jobs at the moment.
Do you cover the whole of the UK?
Yes. You send your drawings online and your estimator will be in touch, so it doesn't matter where the job is. Our team is based in Leamington Spa.
Can I turn my estimate into a project?
Yes. If you bought it from us, Project Management is free for the project it becomes. For more projects, start a free month of Project Management.
Stop pricing jobs at 10pm. Get your evenings back.
Build it yourself for free, or send us your plans and an estimator will be in touch within 24 hours. Your estimate follows in 3 to 5 working days.
Rather talk it through? Call 01926 352236, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
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