Two Apps, One Engine: Why We Wired Estim8 Pro and Project Proctor Together

By Justin Van Wie, founder, DVC Apps

The software world forgot the everyday contractor. The big firms get estimators, project managers and a back office. The one-truck builder gets the kitchen table at midnight and a stack of apps that don't talk to each other.

We think that's backwards. So we built two apps that work as one: Estim8 Pro takes in the job and builds the proposal; Project Proctor runs the work and bills it. Today they share one engine.

What did we actually build?

We mapped the two apps onto a single contract and a single ledger, so a job is never entered twice. Estim8 Pro ingests the job: talk it through with Supe, snap the plans or upload them, and it produces a priced, trade-by-trade estimate and a branded proposal the owner signs on their phone. Once it's signed, the job flows into Project Proctor with every cost division intact. Proctor schedules it, crews it, tracks the change orders and bills the draws, and every dollar lands back in the same ledger Estim8 keeps.

Why one engine instead of two apps with an export button?

Because an export is a copy, and copies drift. The moment a contract lives in two places, it starts to disagree with itself: a change order gets added in one app and not the other, a draw gets billed against a stale number, and the contractor spends Sunday reconciling. So we made a hard rule. Estim8 Pro is the system of record for every dollar: the contract, change orders, draws, retainage and payments. Proctor is the system of record for the work: the schedule, the crew and the progress. Each app reads the other through a secure link, and neither keeps its own copy of the money.

What rules keep the money right?

A few simple ones, enforced by the engine rather than by hoping everyone is careful.

• Progress only moves forward. Once work is billed, it can't be un-billed by a crew member moving a task back.

• One billing contract, shared by both apps. Change orders and draws are calculated the same way whichever app you send them from.

• The estimate is the job. Every line in Proctor traces back to a line the owner signed in Estim8.

• Payments go to the contractor. Owners pay by card or bank into the contractor's own connected account, and it shows paid in both apps.

Why does this matter so much to us?

Because eight out of ten contractors work for themselves, and they deserve the same tools the big firms have, without the big-firm price tag. Most contractors expect AI to change their work; very few have changed a single workflow yet (Dodge Construction Network's SmartMarket Brief with CMiC, December 2025, found 87% versus 19%). The gap isn't interest. It's software that's cumbersome, complicated and costly, built for companies with an IT department.

Our goal is the opposite: give the everyday contractor their time back and save them money. A bid that's done before your coffee. A job that schedules itself from the signed proposal. A draw you send from the driveway.

What's next?

More of the job, in fewer taps. Estim8 Pro and Project Proctor 1.15.0 bring change orders and draw billing to both apps, and the shared engine means every new feature lands in both places at once. We're going toe to toe with the big platforms, and we're doing it for the little guy.

Founding Members, through 15 Nov: a full year of Estim8 Pro, with Project Proctor Pro included, for $499. Fifty spots: go.estim8pro.ai/founding.

Estim8 Pro: go.estim8pro.ai/get · Project Proctor: go.projectproctor.ai/get