In residential construction, the estimate is more than a price—it is the roadmap that guides scheduling, cash flow, subcontractor coordination, and ultimately profit. A five-minute miscalculation on wall framing or an outdated material rate can erase a margin you spent months protecting. That is why precise, repeatable residential building estimation sits at the heart of every successful builder’s operation.
• Compressed margins caused by missed labour hours
• Delays stemming from under-ordered material quantities
• Erosion of client trust when variations pile up
• Lost tenders because your quote landed last or felt “ball-park”
CountBricks eliminates guesswork by turning a site walk-through or plan review into a live, data-rich cost breakdown. Speak your scope, and our AI instantly converts it into tasks, quantities, and live material pricing. Builders no longer need to toggle between spreadsheets, supplier portals, and plan viewers—everything happens inside one platform built for residential trade workflows.
1. Talk, measure, capture – Use your phone or headset to describe the job while on-site or inside the office. CountBricks transcribes and tags each requirement.
2. Automated takeoff – Upload PDFs or DWG files and let CountBricks outline walls, slabs, and roof areas in seconds. Dimensions flow straight into quantity schedules.
3. Live cost feed – CountBricks pulls current supplier rates or your contracted price list in real time, ensuring every line item is market-ready.
4. Instant quote output – Generate branded quote documents, including provisional sums and exclusions, ready to send from CountBricks.com/services.
5. Seamless hand-in to site teams – Accepted quotes convert to job budgets, purchase orders, and progress claims with no double entry.
• Capture scope in natural language while details are fresh
• Eliminate copy-paste errors between sheets and emails
• Build a searchable library of past projects to benchmark new jobs
• Free up estimators to focus on value engineering instead of data entry
• Build assemblies: Instead of pricing studs, plates, and fixings separately, create wall assemblies in CountBricks so one measurement updates every component.
• Lock your supplier feed: Use CountBricks to tag preferred vendors, securing fixed rates for the tender period.
• Include contingency lines: Residential projects face client-driven changes; a transparent contingency preserves goodwill and margin.
• Reconcile estimates to actuals: After practical completion, push site costs back into CountBricks.com/portfolio to refine your future estimates.
• AI detects slab outlines and depth, then auto-calculates cubic metres, mesh reinforcement, and pump hours based on local code requirements.
• Voice-captured wall lengths sync with timber pricing, while labour hours adjust for single- or double-storey builds.
• Drone imagery can be uploaded to verify roof pitch and area, ensuring flashing and gutter allowances are spot-on.
Does AI replace my estimator? No. CountBricks augments human expertise by automating takeoff and pricing math, leaving the estimator to assess risk and strategy.
How quickly can I quote? Builders report cutting turnaround from days to hours, winning more tenders simply by being first and most detailed.
Is supplier data secure? Your rate files live inside encrypted storage and can only be seen by users you authorise.
Visit CountBricks.com/consultation to book a 30-minute walkthrough. Our team will import one of your recent projects and show you how fast and accurate estimation can be when voice, AI, and live pricing converge.
Coastal Frames, a boutique carpenter in Byron Bay, struggled to price custom builds quickly enough to keep up with enquiries. After onboarding with CountBricks:
• The owner walked a 320 m² site with earbuds, describing wall heights, rafter spans, and joinery details. CountBricks captured 148 data points in real time.
• A PDF of the architect’s plans was uploaded. The AI takeoff outlined floors, window openings, and roof areas in under four minutes.
• Live timber pricing from the carpenter’s preferred merchant synced automatically, revealing a 7 % seasonal increase the team had not seen in their spreadsheet.
• Within two hours the client received a 12-page, branded quote—including alternates for spotted-gum decking—that ultimately won the job.
• Quote volume increased from six per month to twelve without hiring another estimator
• Margin slippage due to outdated material rates dropped from 4 % to less than 1 %
• The builder’s acceptance rate rose because quotes were clearer and arrived first
• Record site walks in the morning when ambient noise is lower to improve voice capture accuracy.
• Tag every custom item—think recycled bricks or bespoke balustrades—as a template so future estimates auto-populate with proven rates.
• Use the version-compare feature in CountBricks.com/services to show clients cost impacts of design tweaks, turning potential disputes into transparent decisions.
CountBricks isn’t just software; it is a competitive advantage in a tight residential market. Whether you are a solo carpenter or a multi-crew builder, our team can import your price book, map your workflow, and have you producing data-rich estimates in days. Visit CountBricks.com/consultation and see how effortless residential building estimation can become.
