What Estimating Software Costs You Over Three Years
A subscription is a bill that never stops. A build is paid once and belongs to you. Here are both, with the published numbers.
Bring one tender package. No sales deck.
The three-year picture
Subscription figures come from each vendor's own published pricing, on their cheapest annual plan, checked 28 July 2026. Our figure covers a typical first build plus hosting.
| Option | Year 1 | Year 3 total | Then what? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buildxact Pro | $4,070 | $12,210 | Keeps billing |
| Cubit Estimating, 2 estimators | $4,008 | $12,024 | Keeps billing, per user |
| EstimateOne | from $3,000 | from $9,000 | Keeps billing |
| A custom build plus hosting | about $4,900 | about $6,900 | Hosting only. You own the software |
Read year one honestly. A custom build is not cheaper in the first year. It costs about the same as one year of a mid-tier subscription. The difference shows up in year two, when one bill stops and the other does not. Break-even lands around month 14.
All figures in Australian dollars. Vendor prices are their published Australian rates and exclude GST where they say so. Our build and hosting are billed in US dollars and converted here at roughly 0.65 for comparison, so your actual figure moves with the exchange rate. Most first builds land between $1,500 and $3,000 US, and hosting is $54.99 US per month. Check current vendor pricing yourself: Buildxact, Cubit, EstimateOne. RIB CostX, RIB Candy, Databuild and BEAMS do not publish prices, so we have not estimated them.
Where an off-the-shelf package beats a custom build
These products are good. They have years of engineering behind them, and for a lot of firms they are the right answer. Three places they win outright:
Breadth
Takeoff tools, supplier price lists, quote letters, purchase orders and reporting, all in one subscription. A first build covers one workflow properly, not all of that.
It works today
You sign up and start this afternoon. We need days to build a first cut, and a few weeks to get it right against live tenders.
A trodden path
Training material, user communities and years of bug fixes. A system built for you is new, and new software has a settling-in period.
So here is the honest test
If the package almost fits, buy the package. If you are paying four thousand dollars a year to work around one, build yours instead.
What you get for the money instead
Every estimating package asks you to move your process into its shape. Some are rigid about it. Others are flexible and hand you a blank engine, which sounds better until you work out that somebody has to spend months building your rates, formulas and templates inside it. That somebody is one of your estimators.
We do that work, we do it from the workbook you already price with, and the result belongs to you.
| A subscription | A build | |
|---|---|---|
| Payment | Every month, per seat or per company | Once, then hosting |
| Minimum term | Commonly 12 months | None |
| Ownership | The vendor owns it | You own it, and you can have the source code |
| Your rate logic | You configure their engine | We build your logic in, from your workbook |
| Excel | Varies by product | Kept. Import what arrives, export whenever |
| Changes | Request it and wait for the roadmap | Quoted as a sprint, built for you |
| Support | Included in the subscription | Included with hosting |
Two contractors who did exactly this
Lohman Contracting
Lohman's estimating logic had grown inside a macro-heavy workbook. We rebuilt the workflow as secure software: BOQ mapping, quantity-based productivity, regional rate sets, materials, equipment, project costs, pricing schedules and tender versions. The proprietary rate logic stayed protected rather than exposed to every user.
Read the Lohman build"I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you. Keep on doing what you did with me."
RSB Contracts
RSB fabricates and erects structural steel. We automated BOQ inputs, built tendering and revisions, tracked production across every live project, and matched purchase orders to supplier invoices. The same job data carries through each step, so commercial, production and finance share one view.
Read the RSB build"I spent 100+ hours trying to improve our estimating spreadsheet with ChatGPT before I found LlamaPress. This new software reflects the way we actually think and has made everything so much more streamlined and practical."
Find out which answer is right for you
Bring one completed tender package, the spreadsheet your team used to price it, and whichever product you are currently weighing up. We walk the process with you.
What you leave the call with
- Which parts of your process a package would cover, and which parts you would still handle by hand.
- The setup work a flexible package would put on your estimators, with rough hours attached.
- A three-year cost comparison using your real seat count.
- A straight answer on which option fits. If the package wins for your volume, we will say so.
Send a workbook and we build first
Tick the box below and we email you a secure upload link. We build a first cut before the call, so you spend the 30 minutes reacting to working software instead of describing your process.
Book your review
We reply within one business day to confirm a time that suits AEST hours.
Questions we get from people comparing options
What happens after the build? Who supports it?
We do, and support is included with hosting. Hosting is $54.99 US per month, and it covers running the system, backups, questions and bug fixes. New features are quoted as a sprint, the same way the first build was.
If we own it, are we stuck maintaining it ourselves?
No. Ownership means you hold the software and can be given the source code, so you are never locked to us. Day to day, we run it. If you ever want to take it in-house or hand it to another developer, you can, which is not true of a subscription.
Do our estimators have to stop using Excel?
No. Estimators keep using Excel where Excel is the right tool. The system imports what arrives and exports whenever a client or head contractor wants a spreadsheet.
Will our rates and formulas be visible to everyone?
No. Permissions let estimators price with the rate sets without reading or altering the formulas behind them. Lohman Contracting had exactly that requirement.
How long until we can use it?
A first working cut usually takes days, because our AI agent builds from your existing workbook rather than starting from a blank page. You then run a live tender through it and we adjust from what you find. A package works the same afternoon you buy it, so if speed is the deciding factor, buy the package.
Are these price comparisons current?
They were checked on 28 July 2026 against each vendor's published Australian pricing, and we link to those pages so you can verify them. Vendors change prices, and several do not publish any, so treat the table as a starting point and confirm your own quote.
Bring one tender. We will show you where the hours go.
Thirty minutes, no deck, and a straight answer on which option fits your business.
Book a free 30-minute review