Quick question for UK builders/trades: Would you trust an automated quote builder to save you admin time, and what is it actually worth?

[edward wearing]

Hey everyone,
I’m currently building a tool aimed at cutting down the hours of unpaid admin time spent on paperwork.

The idea is to allow builders and tradespeople to quickly generate a professional, fully customizable PDF quote from incoming enquiries—whether they come from your website, social media, email, or direct from local planning applications. It creates a detailed cost breakdown that you can tweak and send straight to the customer.

I have two quick questions for anyone running their own business or doing their own pricing:

Would you actually use something like this? Or do you prefer doing every single takeoff and price breakdown entirely by hand to guarantee accuracy?

How much would you realistically be willing to pay for it? Would you prefer a flat monthly subscription (e.g. £20–£30/month) or a pay-as-you-go model per quote generated?

Please feel free to rip the idea apart—I want honest feedback before building features nobody actually wants.
Cheers

 

[fisicx]

Why pay for something unknown when there are already any number of quote generators.

 

[edward wearing]

That is a completely fair point, and to be honest, if it were just another generic calculator where you have to manually type in every room size, brick count, and labour rate yourself, I wouldn’t pay for it either. There are plenty of free spreadsheets and apps that do that.
The difference with what I am building is automation and timing.
Instead of you doing the manual data entry, the tool pulls the actual blueprint and layout data directly from newly approved local council planning applications. It then uses that specific data to generate a detailed, fully editable cost breakdown (materials, labour, and markup) into a professional PDF in under a minute.
The goal isn't just to "generate a quote"—it's to let you drop a highly accurate, professional pitch pack through a homeowner's door the exact week their planning permission is granted, before they even think about posting the job on trade directories.
Out of interest, if a tool actually populated the measurements and material estimates for you straight from the council plans to save you the initial takeoff time, would that change the math for you, or do you still prefer doing every single estimate completely by hand?

 

[fisicx]

That only works if there is a planning application. Most projects are more ad-hoc. For example, laying a patio or refurbing a bathroom. Or in our case replacing the roof. The builder turns up assesses the job and provides the estimate.

 

[edward wearing]

That only works if there is a planning application. Most projects are more ad-hoc. For example, laying a patio or refurbing a bathroom. Or in our case replacing the roof. The builder turns up assesses the job and provides the estimate.

IWe are also looking into setting up quotes for any other jobs such as replacing your roof.

The contractor would be able to review the job on site then generate a quote as well as any supporting documents such as attaching insurance documents and neighbor packs should you choose to go with that company.

This would be emailed to you with in a professional looking document. Which can all be done from a tablet or phone so you can receive it straight away

 

[fisicx]

They can already do this.

Not saying there isn’t room for another quote app but there is some stiff competition. Your biggest cost won’t be the app, it will be marketing. The one the roofer used was a freebie provided by the design software they use to do all the stress calculations.

 

[Ralph_Collin]

Interesting idea overall. Saving admin time is definitely valuable, especially for small contractors. Tools like this could work well if they stay accurate and flexible.

 

[louis292]

Hey everyone,
I’m currently building a tool aimed at cutting down the hours of unpaid admin time spent on paperwork.

The idea is to allow builders and tradespeople to quickly generate a professional, fully customizable PDF quote from incoming enquiries—whether they come from your website, social media, email, or direct from local planning applications. It creates a detailed cost breakdown that you can tweak and send straight to the customer.

I have two quick questions for anyone running their own business or doing their own pricing:

Would you actually use something like this? Or do you prefer doing every single takeoff and price breakdown entirely by hand to guarantee accuracy?

How much would you realistically be willing to pay for it? Would you prefer a flat monthly subscription (e.g. £20–£30/month) or a pay-as-you-go model per quote generated?

Please feel free to rip the idea apart—I want honest feedback before building features nobody actually wants.
Cheers

Generating quotes manually definitely takes a lot of time, especially when you have a high volume of enquiries. For me, it comes down to how much customization is actually possible—if the quote looks too generic, it might put off potential clients who expect a more tailored approach.

 

[sarahstrachan]

It's an interesting idea. From a property management perspective, we deal with contractor quotations regularly, and anything that helps produce clear, professional, and consistent quotes has value.

That said, I'd see it as a tool to improve efficiency rather than replace professional judgement. The ability to customise the quote and ensure the pricing accurately reflects the scope of work would be essential.

As for pricing, I'd lean towards a monthly subscription if the platform genuinely saves time and integrates well into day-to-day workflows.

Best of luck with the project- it'll be interesting to see how it develops.

 

[edward wearing]

It's an interesting idea. From a property management perspective, we deal with contractor quotations regularly, and anything that helps produce clear, professional, and consistent quotes has value.

That said, I'd see it as a tool to improve efficiency rather than replace professional judgement. The ability to customise the quote and ensure the pricing accurately reflects the scope of work would be essential.

As for pricing, I'd lean towards a monthly subscription if the platform genuinely saves time and integrates well into day-to-day workflows.

Best of luck with the project- it'll be interesting to see how it develops.

That's some great advice, thank you.

Is there anything else that would be essential for you? I want it to be a tool that genuinely helps businesses and getting feedback this is just exactly what I need.

 

[Gecko001]

Sometimes drawings submitted for Planning Approval are full working drawings or what are called tender drawings, but many, if not most, planning drawings are very basic showing only basic room layout, elevations, external finishes, and site information, which do not provide enough information for builders to make a quotation.

 

[louis292]

It's an interesting idea. From a property management perspective, we deal with contractor quotations regularly, and anything that helps produce clear, professional, and consistent quotes has value.

That said, I'd see it as a tool to improve efficiency rather than replace professional judgement. The ability to customise the quote and ensure the pricing accurately reflects the scope of work would be essential.

As for pricing, I'd lean towards a monthly subscription if the platform genuinely saves time and integrates well into day-to-day workflows.

Best of luck with the project- it'll be interesting to see how it develops.

It's an interesting concept; tools that improve consistency in contractor quotes are valuable. However, it should prioritize efficiency without replacing professional judgement.