The boom-and-bust cycle of residential construction makes steady profit elusive. A single missed material increase or an overlooked labour hour can erase margins overnight. CountBricks was built to change that. By combining real-time voice conversations, live pricing feeds, and instant blueprint take-offs, our platform turns every site conversation into a data-driven estimate before you leave the driveway. The result: fewer surprises and a clear path to higher profitability for contractors.
• Timber, steel, and concrete prices can shift weekly, yet many quotes remain static for 30 days or more.
• Sub-trade rates often change between tender and construction, leaving the GC to absorb overruns.
• Vague inclusions create gray areas that turn into unpaid extras.
• Homeowner design tweaks add labour without additional revenue when not documented instantly.
• Re-keying supplier prices into spreadsheets wastes hours that could be spent on chargeable work.
• Late invoices delay cashflow, forcing contractors to fund projects out-of-pocket.
1. Build every quote with live supplier feeds so numbers stay current from day one.
2. Lock in allowances for volatile materials and update clients automatically when prices move.
3. Capture change orders in the driveway—voice-to-estimate while the client narrates the change.
4. Standardise assemblies (framing, cladding, decking) so estimators don’t reinvent the wheel.
5. Track labour productivity in real time and compare to the original CountBricks cost codes.
6. Invoice progressively from within the same platform that generated the quote—no double handling.
7. Analyse win/loss data inside CountBricks analytics to refine mark-ups per neighbourhood and build type.
Upload PDFs and receive quantified studs, joists, and linings in minutes—directly mapped to CountBricks cost codes. No more late-night highlighter sessions.
• Integrated merchant feeds mean your estimate reflects today’s rate, not last month’s catalogue.
• Automated alerts flag price rises during construction, helping you trigger variation notices in hours, not weeks.
Discuss scope with the homeowner on site, speak dimensions out loud, and watch CountBricks create line items as you talk. What used to take two evenings now takes ten minutes.
Polished, branded proposals pull directly from your live estimate. Exclusions, allowances, and payment schedules populate automatically, reducing dispute risk and speeding up approvals.
CountBricks partnered with Oakridge Homes, a five-unit townhouse project, to demonstrate the impact of technology on profitability for contractors. Using our voice estimating and live pricing tools, the project team achieved:
• 38% reduction in average estimating time per unit
• $22,400 captured in change orders that would previously have gone unbilled
• Net margin lifted from 9% to 18% without raising the sale price
View similar success stories at CountBricks.com/portfolio.
When your starting numbers are right, every downstream decision improves. Faster estimates mean earlier client commitment. Earlier commitment secures supplier pricing. Secure pricing stabilises cashflow, allowing you to negotiate better terms. It’s a virtuous cycle—and CountBricks is the engine.
Ready to stop bleeding profit on residential builds? Book a 15-minute demo at CountBricks.com/services and see how voice-driven estimating can transform your business. Profitability for contractors isn’t a buzzword—it’s a workflow, and it starts with CountBricks.
Residential clients love to tweak. A skylight here, a wider deck there—each request can nibble away at profit unless captured and costed instantly. CountBricks embeds variation control directly into the site conversation.
1. Speak the change while standing with the homeowner—“Add 12 m² of composite decking at rear.” CountBricks converts that sentence into a new line item with current material and labour rates.
2. Hand the client your phone to e-sign the updated total. Signatures time-stamp the approval and lock in the margin.
3. Auto-push the variation to the project schedule and accounts, ensuring labour hours and invoices align.
• Keep approved allowances separate from provisional sums so you can track overruns clearly.
• Configure CountBricks notifications to alert foremen when cumulative variations hit 5% of contract value.
• Use colour-coded dashboards to compare estimated and actual labour in real time; if hours trend red, trigger a site meeting before costs spiral.
Contractors report a 30% acceleration in variation invoicing after adopting this workflow. Faster billing translates to steadier cashflow and, ultimately, stronger profitability for contractors.
Visit CountBricks.com/consultation to schedule a personalised profitability audit. We’ll analyse your current estimating process, identify leakage points, and map out how CountBricks can convert them into measurable gains on your very next project.
