Sep 16, 2026
We Ran Estim8 Pro Against a Real General Contractor’s Bid.
A nine-page residential plan set, a GC’s real bid, and an apples-to-apples comparison with overhead and profit on both sides. Estim8 Pro’s mid estimate landed within 2%.
Updated October 28, 2026. An earlier version of this post compared Estim8 Pro’s cost before overhead and profit with a GC’s bid that included it. That wasn’t a fair comparison, so we re-ran the house on the current version of Estim8 Pro and compared like with like.
The job. A two-story, 2,784 sq ft home in Sarasota, Florida: CMU first floor, wood-frame second floor, pre-engineered truss roof.
The GC’s number. The general contractor’s final bid was $839,000, including a $10,000 mobilization fee. Estim8 Pro doesn’t carry a mobilization fee, so we took it out: $829,000, with overhead, profit and permitting in.
What we did. We uploaded the nine-page plan set and let Estim8 Pro run once, with no hand corrections. It read the footprint, both floor areas, the block-to-frame transition and the truss roof, then priced the job the way a contractor would: 20% overhead and profit, 10% contingency, and allowances for permit and impact fees.
The result.
GC’s bid, comparable: $829,000
Estim8 Pro low: $755,000
Estim8 Pro mid: $847,000, within 2%
Estim8 Pro high: $940,000
The GC’s number lands inside Estim8 Pro’s range. Plan reading varies a little from run to run, which is why Estim8 Pro gives you a Low, Mid and High rather than one number.
Try it on your own job. Take a plan set you’ve already bid, run it through Estim8 Pro, and see how close it lands. Your first takeoff is free.
