Concrete bidding software is bought by a flatwork or foundation contractor who has priced enough pours by hand to know where the money leaks: the yards ordered short, the forms not counted, the pump not priced, the finish hours guessed. Concrete estimating software and concrete takeoff software are the same purchase looked at from the count side, and masonry bidding software is the block and brick version, where the unit is the block, the bag of mortar and the course. All of them produce a material total, hours at a loaded rate, equipment and subcontracted work, and the estimate template on this site turns those into a bid with overhead and markup.
The takeoff: yards, forms, rebar and finish
A concrete takeoff counts cubic yards from area and thickness with the waste the truck and the subgrade will take, formwork in linear feet by height, rebar or mesh by weight or area, anchor bolts, vapor barrier, expansion joint, sealer and the pump if the truck cannot reach. Each quantity carries the crew's hours for placing, finishing and stripping. Software that scales the drawing does the areas faster than a wheel; the counting of forms and rebar is where the software earns its price or the estimator earns theirs.
Masonry: block, brick, mortar and the course count
Masonry bidding software counts block or brick from wall area and unit size with the waste for cuts and breakage, mortar by the bag from the unit count, grout and rebar for reinforced cells, lintels, flashing, ties and weeps, and scaffolding by the lift. Hours come from the crew's rate per hundred units for that block size and that wall height. A bid that prices the wall per square foot without the course count has priced the last job, not this one.
From the count to the bid
The material total and the hours from either takeoff are the first inputs on the estimate template on this site; the waste, the loaded rate, the pump or the scaffold as equipment, overhead and markup produce the bid total. Pro keeps every bid against the customer and the job, so the yards ordered and the yards placed can be compared when the job closes and the next waste allowance is a fact.
Questions people ask about concrete bidding software
Does a small concrete contractor need bidding software?
A flatwork crew can bid from a template that carries yards, forms, rebar, finish hours and the pump; software pays when the drawings are large enough that scaling them by hand costs more than the license.
What waste should a concrete takeoff carry?
Enough to cover the subgrade's unevenness and the truck's last yard, set from the crew's own history of yards ordered against yards placed rather than from a rule of thumb.
Is masonry bidding different from concrete bidding?
The unit is different, block and brick by the course instead of yards by the pour, and the crew rate is per hundred units; the bid arithmetic of material, hours, equipment, overhead and markup is the same.