Are your bids missing the mark?
Manual estimates and outdated pricing can sink your profit margins before the first pipe is even laid. It’s a common, costly problem.
You’re likely juggling complex spreadsheets and supplier catalogs, making it impossible to bid with confidence and speed. This slows your entire sales cycle.
According to Field Promax, automation delivers a 25% boost in bid accuracy and cuts estimation time. This is a game-changer for winning more profitable jobs.
The right software solves this by replacing guesswork with data-driven precision, letting you streamline your entire bidding process and win more.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best plumbing estimating software for 2025. I’ll help you find a tool to maximize your ROI.
You’ll discover how to automate takeoffs, integrate with your existing systems, and use dynamic pricing to protect your margins on every project.
Let’s dive in.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TurboBid → | Commercial plumbing estimators | |
| 2 | STACK → | Contractors needing cloud collaboration | |
| 3 | Housecall Pro → | Mobile-focused plumbing businesses | |
| 4 | Knowify → | Trade contractors & plumbing firms | |
| 5 | Buildertrend → | Project-focused plumbing businesses |
1. TurboBid
Struggling with manual estimating errors and lost bids?
TurboBid offers specialized plumbing estimating software designed to streamline your bidding process. This means you can complete comprehensive estimates in half the time, taking the guesswork out of your bids. You’ll only win profitable jobs, maximizing your success.
This makes a huge difference.
TurboBid directly addresses the pain points of manual data entry and siloed pricing. Your bids will benefit from accurate material prices with weekly updates, or you can update costs from your preferred suppliers in real-time using tools like TurboPricer & NetPricer. Additionally, the software features wizards that automatically calculate your company’s overhead and employees’ labor burden costs, ensuring no hidden expenses surprise you.
The result is greater control over project profitability and competitive advantage. Plus, TurboBid helps improve your professional image with detailed bid packages, including pictures and clear pricing, which can persuade customers to choose you even if you’re not the lowest bid. This holistic approach ensures accuracy, efficiency, and ultimately, increased win rates for your plumbing firm.
Key features:
- Automated Calculations: Accurately computes labor, material, overhead, and labor burden costs, ensuring precise bids and eliminating manual errors.
- Real-Time Material Pricing: Connects to your supply house and integrates with TurboPricer & NetPricer for weekly or real-time material price updates, reducing waste.
- Professional Bid Packages: Creates detailed, customizable bid documents with pictures and pricing breakdowns, enhancing your company’s professional image.
Learn more about TurboBid features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: TurboBid is ideal for commercial plumbing estimators seeking to overcome manual errors and justify ROI. Its ability to calculate labor and overhead, provide real-time material updates, and generate professional bid packages makes it a top contender for best plumbing estimating software to streamline operations and secure more profitable projects.
2. STACK
Tired of manual plumbing estimates and costly errors?
STACK combines powerful automation with your expertise to produce faster bids and more profitable projects. This means you can stay competitive and eliminate uncertainty.
The traditional process often leads to wasted materials and missed project deadlines. STACK helps your team achieve 50-75% better productivity.
Here’s how STACK helps you win.
STACK offers solutions to take contractors through preconstruction and construction, accelerating your workflows. This includes accurate takeoffs and robust security.
You can calculate material and labor with quick, accurate digital measurement tools. Additionally, you can leverage integrated items, assemblies, and regional pricing to prepare winning bids.
Additionally, STACK provides seamless cloud collaboration, allowing anytime, anywhere access for real-time teamwork. This helps your office and field crews stay on the same page, managing issues and customizing workflows to keep projects on track from preconstruction through closeout.
The result is increased bid-win rates.
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Key features:
- Fast, accurate takeoffs: Utilize AI-powered tools to quickly calculate quantities, materials, and labor, reducing manual errors and saving valuable time.
- Integrated estimates & proposals: Leverage regional cost data, custom items, and assemblies to generate detailed, winning bids and proposals efficiently.
- Cloud collaboration & field access: Enable real-time teamwork, document control, and project management from anywhere with intuitive mobile app access.
Learn more about STACK features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: STACK streamlines your plumbing estimating and project management by offering cloud-based solutions for accurate takeoffs, detailed proposals, and enhanced field collaboration. Its AI-powered features, like the ones that helped Demotik achieve 50-75% better productivity, make it a top choice for the best plumbing estimating software.
3. Housecall Pro
Are manual errors and bid delays impacting your plumbing firm?
Housecall Pro offers a solution with features like “Quotes & Proposals” to build estimates that sell and a “Mobile App” to run your jobs from anywhere. This means you can reduce manual data entry and streamline your bid creation process. Here’s how to simplify your operations.
Housecall Pro helps you streamline every aspect of your plumbing business. You can utilize their “Quotes & Proposals” feature to generate professional estimates quickly and accurately. This includes a robust “Price Book” functionality, which lets you maintain dynamic pricing adjustments with updated supplier data. The mobile app allows you to create estimates and proposals directly on-site, ensuring real-time cost updates and visual proposals for your clients, fostering transparency and trust. Additionally, their “Reporting” feature offers real-time insights into your financial performance and job costing, helping you track profitability and optimize your margins.
This ultimately allows you to grow your business, not your to-do list.
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Key features:
- Quotes & Proposals: Build estimates that sell, allowing you to streamline takeoff processes and improve bid accuracy directly from the field, minimizing manual errors.
- Mobile App: Run your jobs from anywhere, enabling mobile estimates with visual proposals and real-time collaboration between estimators and project managers.
- Reporting: Get real-time insights, helping you track job costing, profitability, and overall financial performance to reduce profit margin erosion and scale operations.
Learn more about Housecall Pro features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Housecall Pro offers a comprehensive suite of tools that make it one of the best plumbing estimating software solutions available. With features like mobile estimating, integrated quotes, and robust reporting, it directly addresses common pain points by improving bid accuracy and reducing proposal time.
4. Knowify
Is manual data entry causing your team headaches?
Knowify offers a comprehensive job management solution that centralizes estimating, proposals, and contracts on one platform. This means you can reduce errors and save significant time.
You’ll appreciate how it streamlines everything from bids to invoicing, providing a single source of truth for every job. Plus, it handles project and service work.
Here’s how you get organized.
Knowify solves the complexity of managing plumbing projects by giving you everything you need in one streamlined system. You can build estimates, contracts, and proposals in minutes.
The software helps you work faster by automating tasks like tracking parts and expenses, and instantly building invoices. Its robust QuickBooks sync helps save time and reduce errors. Additionally, Knowify automatically tracks expenses, payments, and projected profitability for every job, providing real-time WIP reporting and financial insights to drive smarter decisions.
This means you gain the financial control needed to manage confidently, ensuring you always know the impact on your bottom line.
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Key features:
- Estimating and proposals: Quickly generate bids, contracts, and proposals, enabling faster project initiation and improved bid accuracy for plumbing firms.
- Integrated job costing: Automatically track expenses, payments, and projected profitability, giving you real-time financial insights to manage margins effectively.
- QuickBooks integration: Offers the #1 QuickBooks integration in construction, ensuring your books are always up-to-date and your team stays in the loop.
Learn more about Knowify features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Knowify is purpose-built for trade contractors, including plumbing firms, offering robust features like estimating, project management, and a top-tier QuickBooks integration. This makes it an excellent candidate for the best plumbing estimating software to streamline bids and maximize ROI.
5. Buildertrend
Struggling with manual data entry and disjointed project workflows?
Buildertrend offers comprehensive cloud-based tools specifically designed to manage your leads, projects, materials, and finances efficiently. This means you can streamline your operations.
Their platform tackles common challenges like low profit margins by offering financial tools such as estimates, budgets, and invoices to track costs. This helps ensure every penny counts in a competitive industry.
Take on more work with total control.
Buildertrend simplifies your entire process, from planning and design to completion and handoff. You can manage estimates, schedules, and selections, improving accuracy and reducing errors often associated with manual data entry.
Additionally, their pre-construction features like bids, job costing, and takeoff tools allow you to precisely track estimated versus actual costs in real time, making informed financial decisions. The mobile app enables you to manage your projects anytime, anywhere, ensuring real-time updates and accessibility for field crews.
Furthermore, Buildertrend’s communication management tools, including a client portal and sub portal, keep your teams, clients, and subcontractors connected, facilitating instant collaboration and reducing back-and-forth, ultimately saving you over 40 hours per week on tedious tasks.
Maximize your ROI with streamlined processes.
Key features:
- Comprehensive Financial Management: Offers integrated tools for estimates, bidding, job costing, and invoicing, helping you track costs, manage budgets, and increase profit margins effectively.
- Streamlined Project Coordination: Provides scheduling, daily logs, and file storage features to help you get more done with fewer workers by optimizing workflows and improving team accountability.
- Enhanced Communication Hub: Facilitates real-time collaboration with client and subcontractor portals, messages, and a CRM hub, ensuring all parties stay connected and informed, reducing stress.
Learn more about Buildertrend features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Buildertrend stands out as a strong candidate for the best plumbing estimating software because it addresses key pain points like manual errors and siloed data through its integrated financial and project management tools, helping plumbing estimators improve bid accuracy and reduce profit margin erosion.
6. Sage
Struggling to manage your business’s financial health?
Sage offers robust accounting, payroll, and HR solutions, connecting your money, people, and operations effortlessly. This means gaining a clearer picture of your profitability.
You can take control of your finances, boost productivity, and make informed decisions. Here’s how Sage helps you optimize every aspect of your business.
Ready to simplify operations?
Sage provides the tools to consolidate your essential business functions, helping you manage everything from a single system. This centralizes data, reducing manual entry errors and siloed information that often plague plumbing estimators.
Additionally, Sage empowers you to run your entire business from one connected system, giving you real-time visibility into financial performance and project costs. This comprehensive approach means your bids can be more accurate. Plus, you can optimize cash flow, manage compliance, and gain complete control over your business.
Maximize your plumbing project’s profitability.
Key features:
- Integrated business management: Consolidate accounting, payroll, and HR into one system, providing a holistic view of financial health and operational efficiency for your plumbing business.
- Real-time financial visibility: Gain instant insights into cash flow and project costs, enabling dynamic pricing adjustments and more accurate bids to reduce profit margin erosion.
- Enhanced compliance and control: Streamline compliance management and achieve greater control over your entire business operations, improving accountability and reducing manual errors.
Learn more about Sage features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Sage offers comprehensive accounting and business management solutions, ideal for plumbing estimators needing to integrate financial data, payroll, and HR. Its ability to provide real-time visibility and control makes it a strong contender for the best plumbing estimating software, helping reduce errors and increase bid accuracy.
7. PlanSwift
Tired of inaccurate plumbing bids?
PlanSwift tackles manual data entry and calculation errors head-on.
It ensures every measurement is precise, helping you eliminate costly material waste and time-consuming reworks. This means your bids reflect true project costs.
Ready to streamline your estimating process?
PlanSwift automates material takeoffs by allowing you to point and click to measure lengths for piping, then drag and drop pre-configured assemblies for instant cost calculations. You can instantly count fixtures and fittings with ease, ensuring nothing is missed. Additionally, PlanSwift instantly calculates labor, material, and waste, eliminating guesswork and providing precise estimates every time. Plus, it seamlessly integrates with Excel, so you can export your entire estimate and collaborate efficiently.
The result? More accurate bids and increased profitability.
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Key features:
- Point & Click Takeoff: Swiftly measure linear feet for piping and accurately count fixtures and fittings with simple clicks, ensuring comprehensive material takeoffs that eliminate manual measurement errors.
- Drag & Drop Assemblies: Instantly calculate labor, material, and waste by dragging and dropping pre-configured assemblies onto your takeoff items, drastically reducing estimation time and improving accuracy.
- Seamless Excel Integration: Export your meticulously calculated takeoffs and estimates directly to Excel, simplifying reporting and enabling smooth collaboration with existing accounting and project management systems.
Learn more about PlanSwift features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: PlanSwift empowers plumbing estimators to achieve unmatched accuracy and efficiency. Its intuitive point-and-click takeoff, drag-and-drop assembly features, and automated calculations make it an ideal choice for contractors seeking the best plumbing estimating software to reduce errors, save time, and ultimately maximize their profits.
8. Smart Service
Struggling with manual data entry and disjointed workflows?
Smart Service offers dynamic quoting capabilities and mobile app access, directly addressing your pain points. This means you can create detailed quotes, offer flexible pricing, and secure instant approvals, reducing manual errors.
It helps eliminate the risks of implementation failure, ensuring you can streamline complex workflows, track job progress, and manage customer interactions from one integrated platform, saving valuable time and reducing profit margin erosion.
Ready to transform your bidding process?
Smart Service helps you supercharge your profits by optimizing workflows that adapt to your unique business needs. This means no more rigid software forcing workarounds; instead, you get powerful, flexible solutions designed to maximize efficiency and profitability for your plumbing business.
You can close deals faster with their dynamic quoting, which allows for detailed proposals and instant approvals. Additionally, the mobile app lets your technicians access schedules, update job statuses, and submit digital forms from the field, significantly reducing paperwork and manual processes. This end-to-end solution allows you to get customers, schedule work, sell services, perform work order management, get paid, and manage the business efficiently, ensuring improved bid accuracy and scaling operations without proportional cost increases.
This streamlines every step of the sales process.
Key features:
- Dynamic quoting capabilities enable you to create detailed estimates, offer flexible pricing options, and secure instant approvals directly from the field, enhancing bid accuracy.
- Mobile app functionality empowers technicians to access schedules, update job statuses, and submit digital forms, eliminating paperwork and manual data entry errors.
- Integrated workflow solutions connect customer management, scheduling, routing, work order management, and invoicing, ensuring seamless operations and reduced administrative burden.
Learn more about Smart Service features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Smart Service offers robust features for plumbing businesses, including dynamic quoting and mobile work order management, making it a strong contender for the best plumbing estimating software. Its focus on adapting to your unique workflows helps streamline operations, reduce paperwork by 80% (according to one user), and improve overall profitability.
9. QuoteSoft
Struggling with slow, error-prone plumbing estimates?
QuoteSoft offers easy-to-use software for estimating labor hours and material costs, helping you deliver bids from prints, PDFs, and other digital files. This means you can streamline your takeoff processes, overcoming the pain point of manual data entry errors.
You can custom-build assemblies and specs, ensuring your bids are always accurate and fully customizable to your specific business needs. This directly addresses the challenge of siloed pricing databases, by allowing you to alter material names and icons to fit your business.
Achieve faster, stress-free estimating.
Here’s how QuoteSoft solves your challenges: its pipe estimating software is a fast and flexible tool for piping cost estimates. It automatically generates pipe components and works with various elements like fittings, valves, and fixtures, saving you significant time.
Additionally, for HVAC needs, QuoteSoft quickly and simply determines labor and material costs for various ductwork, including rectangular, round, and oval ductwork. This precise calculation extends to spiral pipe, fittings, grills, and dampers, ensuring bid accuracy and reducing material waste.
Plus, with BIM and CAD integration, including AutoCAD and Revit, you can achieve powerful estimating capabilities. QuoteSoft provides comprehensive support and training, including unlimited online support for one year, video training, and live tech support Monday through Friday.
Maximize your ROI with powerful estimating.
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Key features:
- Customizable Assemblies and Specs: Build and alter material names and icons to fit your business, delivering accurate bids from various digital files, reducing manual errors.
- Automated Pipe and Ductwork Calculations: Quickly determine labor and material costs for pipe, fittings, valves, and various ductwork types, streamlining your takeoff processes.
- Comprehensive Support and Training: Receive unlimited online support for one year, access video training, and utilize live tech support, minimizing implementation failure risks.
Learn more about QuoteSoft features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: QuoteSoft delivers powerful, customizable solutions for plumbing and HVAC estimating. Its ability to automate material takeoffs and integrate with digital files like PDFs makes it a strong contender for the best plumbing estimating software, addressing accuracy and integration needs for commercial plumbing estimators.
10. AroFlo
Is manual estimating draining your plumbing profits?
AroFlo offers comprehensive quoting and estimating features, directly addressing your challenges with fragmented data and slow bid processes. This means you can centralize your pricing and material databases, avoiding errors and streamlining your takeoff processes significantly.
Moving beyond the bid, how do you manage projects?
AroFlo helps you solve this by connecting your entire team and workflows in one platform. This means you can handle everything from scheduling and inventory to supplier catalogues and trade CRM, ensuring no paperwork or app-switching slows you down. You can instantly convert website leads into new jobs or automatically process work orders. Additionally, features like GPS tracking and an AI-Bill Scanner further enhance efficiency, allowing your team to complete work, manage compliance checks, and get paid faster with online invoices and digital payments. The result is a truly connected, automated, and smart trade business.
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Key features:
- Comprehensive Estimating & Quoting: Centralize pricing and materials for accurate bids, reducing manual errors and streamlining your takeoff process to boost efficiency.
- Integrated Job & Project Management: Coordinate scheduling, job costing, and project workflows from a single platform, ensuring seamless communication and task completion across your team.
- Supplier Catalogues & Accounting Integrations: Access real-time supplier data and connect with leading accounting software like Xero, MYOB, and QuickBooks for dynamic pricing and improved financial oversight.
Learn more about AroFlo features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: AroFlo’s integrated platform tackles common plumbing challenges head-on, offering robust quoting, project management, and critical accounting integrations. Its ability to centralize data and automate workflows makes it an excellent choice as the best plumbing estimating software for businesses seeking to boost bid accuracy and increase profitability.
Conclusion
Inaccurate bids sink your profitability.
Choosing the right tool is tough. You need a solution that eliminates manual errors and boosts your team’s bidding confidence and accuracy.
According to Caring Solutions, users report a 50% faster estimation process and improved accuracy with specialized software. This frees up valuable time and directly protects your firm’s profit margins.
Here’s my top recommendation.
After reviewing them all, TurboBid is my top choice. It directly solves these exact challenges by automating takeoffs and streamlining your entire bidding process.
I’m confident its automated overhead and labor burden calculations make it the best plumbing estimating software for protecting your margins. It ensures you only bid on and win profitable jobs.
I strongly recommend you schedule a live demo of TurboBid to see firsthand how it can transform your firm’s bidding workflow.
You’ll create winning bids faster.
