2016 Craftsman Costbooks are Available

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: February 9, 2016

Version 2.7 of Construction Cost Estimator is now available. This update includes the option to purchase the 2016 Craftsman costbooks as in-app purchases for $49.99 each. The Craftsman costbooks are the industry-standard source for material and labor costs for over 30,000 common construction items. The costs are also localized to your area based on your Zip Code in the US or your Postal Code in Canada. The Craftsman Book Company has been compiling construction cost data for over 60 years, so the costs are very accurate and complete.

2016 Craftsman Costbooks

You can update to version 2.7 in the Updates section of the App Store. We’re also working on some great new features, so keep an eye out for more announcements soon.

 

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2015 Craftsman Costbooks are Available in Version 2.4

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: January 23, 2015

Version 2.4 of Construction Cost Estimator is now available. This update includes the option to purchase the 2015 Craftsman costbooks as in-app purchases for $49.99 each. The Craftsman costbooks are the industry-standard source for material and labor costs for over 30,000 common construction items. The costs are also localized to your area based on your Zip Code in the US or your Postal Code in Canada. The Craftsman Book Company has been compiling construction cost data for over 60 years, so the costs are very accurate and complete.

You can update to version 2.4 in the Updates section of the App Store. We’re also working on some great new features, so keep an eye out for more announcements soon.

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2014 National Electrical Estimator is Available in Version 2.1

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: March 21, 2014

We’ve received quite a few requests for making Craftsman’s National Electrical Estimator available within the Construction Cost Estimator app, and we’re happy to announce that it’s available in version 2.1 for $49.99 via an in-app purchase.

National Electrical Estimator CostookThe National Electrical Estimator costbook includes costs for installation of all common electrical work: conduit, wire, boxes, fixtures, switches, outlets, loadcenters, panelboards, raceway, duct, signal systems, and more. The costbook provides material costs, manhours per unit, and total installed cost. It also explains what you should know to estimate each part of an electrical system.

After you purchase this costbook, you can add cost items directly to your estimates, or you can copy items into your own costbook and customize them.

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2014 Craftsman Costbooks are Available in Version 2.0

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: January 21, 2014

Version 2.0 of Construction Cost Estimator is now available. This update includes the option to purchase the 2014 Craftsman costbooks as in-app purchases for $49.99 each. The Craftsman costbooks are the industry-standard source for material and labor costs for over 30,000 common construction items. The costs are also localized to your area based on your Zip Code in the US or your Postal Code in Canada. The Craftsman Book Company has been doing this for over 60 years, so the costs are very accurate and complete.

2014 Craftsman Costbooks

2014 Craftsman Costbooks

Version 2.0 of the Construction Cost Estimator app has also been completely updated for the new look and feel of iOS 7. We’re also working on some great new features, so keep an eye out for more announcements soon.

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A New Look for iOS 7

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: October 24, 2013

Version 1.9 of Construction Cost Estimator has been completely updated for the new look and feel of iOS 7. You can install the update by launching the App Store app on your iPhone or iPad, and tapping the Updates button in the lower right corner. Then tap the Update button next to the apps that you want to update.

iOS 7 Update

The new version has a much lighter look that gets out of the way so that you can focus on quickly creating your estimate. Version 1.9 also includes some updates under that hood that make the app faster and more stable.

If you haven’t installed iOS 7 yet, you can launch the Settings app on your device. Then tap the General button and the Software Update button.

 

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2013 Craftsman Costbooks are Available in Version 1.6

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: February 26, 2013

Version 1.6 of Construction Cost Estimator is now available. This update includes the option to purchase the 2013 Craftsman costbooks as in-app purchases. If you already purchased the 2012 Craftsman costbooks, the 2013 update is free. Version 1.6 is also the last update that will support iOS 5. Version 1.6.1 will require iOS 6.0 or greater.

2013 Craftsman Costbooks

The 2013 Craftsman costbook data has been updated to include the top-level categories, such as Demolition, Electrical, and Painting. This makes it much easier to browse through the cost items in the same way that you would browse the Table of Contents in a printed book.

The costbook search algorithm has also been significantly improved to search through all levels of the hierarchy to find matching cost items. Additionally, all of the parents and children of those matching items are shown in the search results as well. So if you search for “painting”, you would see the top-level category called “Painting and Finishing” and all of the sub-folders and individual cost items within the Painting folder. You would also see an individual cost item called “Touch-up Painting”, along with the following parent folders in the hierarchy: Doors -> Exterior Doors -> Door Repairs. This will make it much easier to quickly find the cost items you are looking for.

Costbook Search Algorithm

Version 1.6 also includes some other new features that customers have been asking for, such as the ability to show or hide the Material, Labor, Other, or Subcontract columns individually, the ability to assign a default Cost Category the the cost items in your custom costbook, and the ability to display the total labor hours at the bottom of the estimate.

Version 1.6.1 should be available sometime next week, with a few bug fixes and the ability to delete the associated cost items from the estimate when you delete a Phase or Area from a project. Note that version 1.6.1 will require iOS 6.0 or greater.

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Video Interview with TUAW

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: February 14, 2013

TUAW just posted a video interview that we filmed last summer. I talked about how the apps came about, and discussed some my design philosophy.

http://www.tuaw.com/2013/02/08/origin-stories-joel-grasmeyer-construction-cost-estimator/

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Tutorial Videos for Construction Cost Estimator

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: December 29, 2012

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been creating some video tutorials for Construction Cost Estimator. You can find them at the following link:

www.ConstructionCostEstimator.com/tutorials

The first tutorial is a 5-minute overview of the app, which gives a brief summary of all of the features. The rest of the tutorials cover the following subjects:

  • Setting Up Default Values
  • Creating Project Templates
  • Entering Project Data
  • Creating an Estimate
  • Customizing PDF Reports
  • Custom Costbook Items
  • Syncing Costbook Purchases

The tutorials were created with the iPad version of the app, but the same concepts apply to the iPhone and Mac versions. If you would like to see a tutorial on a particular topic, just let me know.

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Construction Cost Estimator for Mac

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: December 4, 2012

Construction Cost Estimator is now available for Mac OS X. The world of construction cost estimating software has long been dominated by complex and expensive Windows software and ugly spreadsheets. Many of them cost over $1,000, and they’re not very user-friendly. Many contractors have been moving from PCs to Macs over the last few years, but they have been disappointed by the lack of high-quality business software. We would like to change that.

Estimate

The Mac version of Construction Cost Estimator is designed to be simple and intuitive so you can get your estimate out the door as fast as possible. You can quickly search through 3 Craftsman costbooks available within the app to get the material and labor costs for over 30,000 common construction items. You can also create your own custom costbook to save the cost items that you use the most. When you’re done creating your estimate, you can email it to your customer directly from the app.

Costbooks

Take a look at the sample estimate below. It’s clean and simple, and you can customize the layout to suit your needs. If this would save you time and money, go buy a copy today from the Mac App Store.

Sample Estimate

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New Features in Construction Cost Estimator version 1.3.1

By Joel Grasmeyer | Published: September 20, 2012

Construction Cost Estimator version 1.3.1 introduces some great new features, along with iOS 6 compatibility. I’ve been receiving some excellent feedback from customers over the last few months, and I’ve tried very hard to prioritize the feature requests based on the relative demand. Here’s a summary of the new features since version 1.0:

• Terms and Conditions can be added to the bottom of the estimate
• You can add some project notes that can be hidden from the customer, but visible on internal reports
• You can display a discount below the estimate total
• The cost item totals and the estimate totals can be completely hidden in the reports. This is great for generating Bid Requests.
• You can also display the Quantity and Units independently of the Cost Breakdown now.
• The estimate date, and customer signature date can be edited
• Now you can enter the labor productivity in either Hours per Unit or Units per Hour
• Your logo is shown at a larger size on the reports
• The default text within the emails can be edited in the settings
• The app has a great new icon!

Construction Cost Estimator Icon

You can download the latest version by launching the App Store app on your iPhone or iPad, and then tapping on the Updates tab.

Construction Cost Estimator for Mac

Quite a few people have been requesting a version of Construction Cost Estimator for the Mac. I’m actually working on the Mac version right now, and it should be ready in about a month. If you’re interested in beta-testing the Mac version within the next few weeks, just send me an email and I’ll add you to my list of beta-testers. After that, I’ll be able to get back to adding new features to all of the apps.

Pricing and Availability

Construction Cost Estimator is designed to help contractors create professional on-site estimates and email them to the customer as a PDF. The customer can even add their signature to the estimate directly on the iPhone or iPad. Users in the U.S. and Canada may optionally install 3 different Craftsman Costbooks containing detailed cost breakdowns for over 30,000 common construction items.

You can get more detailed information at www.ConstructionCostEstimator.com.

Construction Cost Estimator is $19.99 for iPhone, and $29.99 for iPad, and it is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Business category. The Craftsman Costbooks are available as in-app purchases for $49.99 each.

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