Clear Estimates Review: Overview, Features, Pricing & Alternatives in 2025

Tired of construction estimates taking forever?

If you’re researching tools like Clear Estimates, you’re likely stuck spending countless hours tracking prices and rewriting proposals just to stay competitive.

The reality is, wasted time struggling with manual estimates means losing out on jobs and profits every single week.

Clear Estimates aims to fix this by giving you a cloud-based platform with region-specific cost databases, customizable templates, and direct integrations with QuickBooks and Buildertrend—so you can generate accurate bids faster and minimize mistakes.

In this review, I’ll break down how Clear Estimates can save you hours on every proposal using real feature-by-feature analysis and hands-on insights from my deep dive with the software.

Here’s what you’ll find in this Clear Estimates review: a full breakdown of the estimation workflow, pricing details, how it compares to competitors, and my honest verdict on whether it’s the right fit for your construction business.

You’ll walk away knowing the features you need to feel absolutely confident in your decision.

Let’s get started.

Clear Estimates Overview

Clear Estimates has been focused on construction estimating since its founding in 2004. From their Baltimore headquarters, their entire mission is to simplify the proposal process for busy contractors.

What I noticed immediately is their disciplined focus for residential contractors and remodelers. They aren’t trying to be an all-in-one platform for every construction niche, which keeps the tool refreshingly straightforward and easy to master.

You’ll see through this Clear Estimates review how its smart integrations with QuickBooks and Buildertrend connect quoting directly to the accounting and project management tools your team likely already uses.

Unlike bloated, all-in-one suites, their approach unapologetically prioritizes fast and accurate estimate creation. This focus makes the software far more approachable than jack-of-all-trades tools that can often feel overwhelming and unnecessarily complicated.

They work with thousands of small to medium-sized contracting businesses and independent remodelers who need to produce professional bids quickly without the high cost and overhead of hiring a dedicated estimator.

I found their core strategy centers on empowering you with trustworthy, hyper-localized data. Their extensive cost databases are updated quarterly across 400 US regions, a huge confidence booster for protecting your profitability.

Now let’s examine their core capabilities.

Clear Estimates Features

Tired of wrestling with complex construction estimates?

Clear Estimates features are designed to simplify your estimating process, helping you create accurate and professional proposals with ease. Here are the five main Clear Estimates features that transform how you manage bids.

1. Estimation with Comprehensive Cost Databases

Are your material costs always out of date?

Manually researching and adjusting prices can be a huge time sink. This often leads to inaccurate bids that can hurt your profitability.

Clear Estimates provides access to over 15,000 line items with detailed labor and material costs that are regionally specific and updated quarterly. From my testing, this feature quickly calculates expenses based on your location, saving you hours of manual effort. It’s a huge win for accuracy.

This means you can generate confident, precise estimates in minutes, ensuring you never underbid or overcharge again.

2. Customizable Templates for Professional Proposals

Struggling to create professional-looking proposals?

Wasting time writing proposals from scratch can delay your project pipeline. This also makes it harder to impress potential clients consistently.

Clear Estimates comes with over 160 preloaded templates, allowing you to quickly customize proposals with your logo, scope and contract language. What I found impressive is how easy it is to tailor templates by adding or removing components to fit any job. This feature ensures you always look polished.

The result is you can produce professional, winning proposals in minutes, freeing you up to focus on closing more deals.

3. Integration Capabilities

Is your data scattered across different software?

Manual data entry between your estimating, accounting, and project management tools wastes time. This creates frustrating data silos and potential errors.

Clear Estimates integrates directly with QuickBooks for invoicing and Buildertrend for project management, streamlining your workflow. This is where Clear Estimates shines, as its seamless data transfer eliminates double entry and keeps all your systems in sync. This feature helps connect your entire operational pipeline.

This means you can finally connect your essential business tools, ensuring smooth data flow and reducing administrative headaches.

4. Change Order Management

Do scope changes always cause billing headaches?

Tracking modifications to a project’s scope and costs can be a messy process. This often leads to miscommunications and lost revenue on unexpected changes.

Clear Estimates provides dedicated tools to document and track all project modifications, ensuring clear communication with clients. This feature makes it incredibly easy to manage adjustments to project scope and costs, keeping everyone on the same page. It helps maintain transparency.

So you can confidently manage project changes, ensuring accurate billing and avoiding disputes over additional work.

5. Payable Invoicing

Is getting paid quickly a constant struggle?

Manual invoicing and chasing payments can significantly slow down your cash flow. This creates unnecessary financial stress for your business.

Clear Estimates allows you to create payable invoices directly from your estimates via Clearent by Xplor. Here’s what I found: clients can pay securely via credit card or ACH check, which speeds up the entire payment process. This feature integrates directly with your estimate.

This means you can streamline payment collection, improving your cash flow and giving you more time to focus on your core business.

You’ll quickly appreciate how these Clear Estimates features work together to create a cohesive system for all your estimating needs, from first bid to final payment.

Clear Estimates Pricing

Budgeting for new software?

Clear Estimates pricing offers transparent, tiered subscription plans, making it easy for you to understand and choose the right fit for your estimating needs.

Plan	Price & Features
Standard Plan	$79/month (monthly) or $59/month (annually) • Unlimited estimates & customers • Extensive line item database • Preloaded templates • Quarterly rate updates
Pro Plan	$119/month (monthly) or $99/month (annually) • All Standard features • Buildertrend & CRM integrations (Zapier) • Custom filtering & reports • ATTOM™ property data
Franchise Plan	Starts at $249/month (monthly) or $199/month (annually) • All Pro features • Custom branding & web hosting • Custom feature development • Customized employee training

1. Value Assessment

Understand what you’re paying for.

What I found regarding Clear Estimates’ pricing is that the tiered structure directly aligns with different business needs. The annual billing discount helps your budget significantly, reducing your monthly outlay compared to month-to-month commitments. You get unlimited estimates and customers even on the base plan, which is a huge value for any contractor.

This means your costs scale predictably, ensuring you only pay for the advanced features your business truly requires.

2. Trial/Demo Options

Try before you buy.

Clear Estimates offers a generous 30-day free trial that gives you full access to all software features. From my cost analysis, this is incredibly valuable as it allows you to fully test its capabilities with your actual projects before making a financial commitment. There are no setup fees or contracts, so you can cancel anytime.

This helps you evaluate the software’s fit and ensure it delivers real value to your estimating process.

3. Plan Comparison

Choosing your ideal plan.

For most independent contractors, the Standard or Pro plan will likely offer the best balance of features and cost. The Pro plan offers key integrations that boost efficiency, especially if you use Buildertrend or a CRM. The Franchise plan is tailored for larger operations needing extensive customization and support.

This helps you match Clear Estimates pricing to your specific operational scale and integration requirements, optimizing your budget.

My Take: Clear Estimates’ pricing is straightforward and value-driven, making it an excellent choice for contractors seeking a robust estimating solution with scalable features and transparent costs.

The overall Clear Estimates pricing reflects excellent value for a critical business function.

Clear Estimates Reviews

What do actual customers truly think?

My analysis of Clear Estimates reviews focuses on real user feedback from various platforms, offering balanced insights into what customers truly experience with the software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Most users report high satisfaction.

From my review analysis, Clear Estimates boasts an “excellent” 90% user satisfaction rating, reflecting widespread positive sentiment. What I found in user feedback is how its intuitive nature aids quick adoption, leading to a generally positive experience for contractors and remodelers.

This suggests you can expect a smooth onboarding process and high usability.

2. Common Praise Points

Users consistently love its accuracy.

Customers frequently praise the accurate, region-specific material costs and the significant time savings. Review-wise, the professional proposal generation capabilities stand out, helping users impress clients and streamline their bidding process effectively.

This means you can generate professional estimates quickly and confidently, saving valuable time.

3. Frequent Complaints

Some users desire more customization.

While highly rated, some Clear Estimates reviews mention limited customization for reports and integration limitations. What stands out in user feedback is how certain advanced features are perceived as lacking, such as direct blueprint uploads or offline functionality.

These issues are generally minor, not deal-breakers, but worth considering for specific needs.

Overall, Clear Estimates reviews indicate strong user satisfaction with minor areas for improvement regarding advanced features.

Best Clear Estimates Alternatives

The best Clear Estimates alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations and priorities. I’ll help you navigate the competitive landscape and pinpoint your ideal solution.

1. Buildertrend

Need an all-in-one project management solution?

Buildertrend excels when your priority is a comprehensive suite extending far beyond estimating to include extensive project and client management capabilities. From my competitive analysis, Buildertrend offers broader project management functionality than Clear Estimates, making it a powerful alternative for holistic business operations.

Choose Buildertrend if you need robust project scheduling, customer management, and service tools alongside estimating.

2. STACK Construction Technologies

Are digital takeoffs and real-time collaboration critical?

STACK is your go-to if digital takeoffs with auto-count capabilities and seamless real-time collaboration on plans are primary needs for your projects. What I found comparing options is that STACK streamlines digital takeoff and team collaboration, especially for complex or larger-scale projects where precision is paramount.

Consider this alternative when advanced digital takeoff and collaborative plan markups are more important than simple estimating.

3. Houzz Pro

Seeking a comprehensive suite with marketing and CRM?

Houzz Pro shines when you’re looking for an all-in-one solution that integrates marketing, CRM, and 3D floor plans with your estimating and project management. From my analysis, Houzz Pro provides extensive business management features, making it a versatile alternative particularly for design-focused residential professionals.

Choose Houzz Pro if you need integrated marketing and client management alongside estimating, especially for design-centric projects.

4. ProEst

Do you manage large-scale or highly complex projects?

ProEst is the superior choice for larger firms or those with complex commercial projects requiring highly detailed breakdowns, advanced customization, and extensive cost databases. Alternative-wise, ProEst offers enterprise-level customization and detail over Clear Estimates’ simplicity.

This competitor is best suited for big contractors needing granular control and advanced pre-construction management features.

The best Clear Estimates alternatives truly depend on your specific business size and feature priorities, not just pricing.

Clear Estimates Setup

What does it take to implement new software?

Clear Estimates setup is surprisingly straightforward, especially for a cloud-based solution, making it one of the less complex deployments you’ll encounter. I’ll break down the realistic expectations for your Clear Estimates review.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Getting started is quite simple here.

As a cloud-based solution, Clear Estimates requires no software installation or maintenance, significantly streamlining your implementation. From my implementation analysis, most businesses can get up and running quickly, often within days, leveraging its intuitive interface and pre-loaded templates.

You’ll want to prepare for quick data input and customization of existing templates to match your specific needs.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Minimal technical hurdles to overcome.

Your team will primarily need a stable internet connection and web browser access, as there’s no specialized hardware or complex software to manage. What I found about deployment is that Clear Estimates easily integrates with QuickBooks, simplifying your accounting workflows, though the Buildertrend integration can be smoother.

Plan for seamless web access and consider your existing data transfer needs if you’re integrating with other systems.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption is remarkably intuitive.

The user-friendly design and familiar estimation concepts mean your team will experience a very gentle learning curve, quickly becoming proficient. From my analysis, the intuitive interface significantly reduces formal training needs, allowing users to dive in and learn by doing, with ample support resources.

Invest in familiarizing your team with the pre-loaded templates and customization options to maximize efficiency and adoption.

4. Support & Success Factors

Excellent vendor support smooths the path.

Clear Estimates provides robust support via phone, email, and chat, along with helpful walkthrough calls during your trial period. From my implementation analysis, responsive customer support is a major success factor, quickly addressing any questions and ensuring a smooth transition.

Plan to leverage their support resources, watch their videos, and use their documentation to accelerate your team’s proficiency and address any challenges.

Overall, Clear Estimates setup is quite user-friendly, and its cloud-based nature ensures a remarkably quick and smooth deployment for most businesses.

Bottom Line

Clear Estimates: Is it for you?

This Clear Estimates review distills who benefits most from its features, where it shines, and its limitations, helping you decide if it’s the right fit for your business.

1. Who This Works Best For

Contractors prioritizing fast, accurate residential estimates.

Clear Estimates is ideal for small to medium-sized residential remodelers, general contractors, and specialty trades like roofing or HVAC, as well as house flippers. What I found about target users is that businesses needing rapid, precise cost data will find it invaluable for generating professional bids quickly.

Your team will succeed if you value a straightforward interface and need to impress clients with detailed, professional proposals.

2. Overall Strengths

Unmatched speed and accuracy in cost estimation.

The software succeeds with its comprehensive, regionally adjusted, and regularly updated cost database, which dramatically reduces the time spent on manual pricing. From my comprehensive analysis, its intuitive interface simplifies complex estimating processes, allowing you to create bids in minutes instead of hours.

These strengths mean you can turn around quotes faster, increasing your chances of winning bids and growing your client base.

3. Key Limitations

Beyond estimating, it has less robust project management.

While excellent for estimates, the software offers fewer comprehensive project management features compared to all-in-one solutions, and lacks integrated digital takeoff from blueprints. Based on this review, users needing extensive blueprint takeoff capabilities directly within the system might find this a drawback.

I’d say these limitations are manageable trade-offs if your primary need is accurate, professional estimating, rather than an all-encompassing construction suite.

4. Final Recommendation

Clear Estimates earns a solid recommendation.

You should choose this software if your priority is generating accurate, professional, and fast estimates for residential projects without needing complex project management. From my analysis, its value proposition is strongest for dedicated estimators and small to mid-sized contractors focused on bidding efficiency.

My confidence level is high for contractors seeking to streamline their estimating process and enhance their proposal professionalism.

This Clear Estimates review showcases strong value for its target audience, making it a reliable tool for efficient and accurate construction estimating.