Clear Estimates, Inc. - Ann Arbor, Michigan

Farhad G.

Great database and templates make estimating easy and quick , also a nice complete estimate proposal including contract, payments and financing options . The estimate summary organize and summarize all the jobs to the main categories give you a total view of work scope. And so many great things more.

Jose A. P.

I found it to be very easy to use and the fact that it has updated material and labor library costs made estimating and invoicing faster and easier for me. It has all the tools needed to organize customers and projects. I can also make custom templates, this feature saved me time for future projects.

George M.

This software is great for preparing estimates. My only issue is that there are a lot of detailed options, and I would prefer to see more general options and summary estimates. Overall, it is definitely a good choice for General Contractors.

Robert F.

I’m mostly happy with the program.
I’m still learning but I’d like to see a bit more accounting for open bills. I’ve not closed a single estimate with CE with out dropping the markup to under 5%. Tough times.
For the cost per year I’m not sure just yet.

Christopher C.

The team at Clear Estimates are well informed and are very helpful. I highly recommend Clear Estimates for any and all construction projects.

Dan S.

Trim carpenter using Clear Estimates for all my estimates. What was a very time consuming endeavor now takes a fraction of the time. Was using the Craftsman Books for estimating and switched to Clear Estimates due to the lack of depth, features, and true flexibility. Clear Estimates is extremely flexible and has many more advanced features compared to all other estimating software in its price range.

My main feature requests for Clear Estimates would be:
Invoicing: More capabilities in providing clients with detailed invoices that pull straight from the approved bid. Would like to be able to select the parts of a job that are completed and send them directly to an invoice.
Parts added to components: currently when you add a part to a component, all global changes such as pricing for example are now not possible as a global option. Example: cost per LF changed in a part are not reflected in the same part after adding it to a component, these changes now have to be done on an individual basis for all parts added to a component.

With all that said the components feature is excellent as it relates to its ability to clearly show the client details related to each option or phase of the job. Example: client wanted a custom pantry, custom master closet, and other custom shelves. Components allowed me to build a component for each request using the parts of the job. The issue arose when I had to alter pricing to win the bid, now forced to update the parts individually in the component, and would of loved to invoice directly from the components as well.

Overall very happy with the product.

Edward C.

I have tried dozens of estimating methods and platforms over my 26 years in the residential construction industry. From simple Word docs, spreadsheets, and complicated management platforms, Clear Estimates is by far the best solution I have found thus far.

I was just awarded a project where is was the high bidder but was selected because of the concise, detailed, and professional proposal I submitted.

The learning curve was reasonable. It took me a couple bids to work through and revise, but overall it was intuitive and easy to navigate. I like the price database and I especially like that I can easily adjust it up or down to match my vendors prices.

The markup feature is excellent. It allows me to set a overall markup and increase or reduce markup on specific items if I need to. It flags the altered markup items so that it is clear which are standard and which have been adjusted.

Overall I like this program a lot and intend to keep using. Clear Estimates continues to add templates which have been a huge time saver.

Thank you and Well Done!

Edward -
Legacy Home Care

Meg W.

This software has been pretty easy to learn. The training videos are helpful too. But my favorite feature is the chat help. I usually get an answer from a live person within 30 minutes.

The templates are very helpful to me because I am still learning about how construction is done, specifically the steps involved. The templates prompt me to include items I would not have thought of.

The only negatives are that the trades of plumbing & electricity are assumed to be done by subcontractors so there are very few helpful items in these areas.

They have a vast collection of items, they call them parts, that cover most situations, but there are some holes. For example, they don't have parts to cover using gravel to prepare for a concrete slab, things like that.

But when I ask about that, they refer it to the guys who create parts so it will be added at some point. In the meantime, I am able to create parts & templates to save for repeated use in the future. So that helps.

All in all, we think it is worth the money.