The contractor estimate app that drafts the numbers for you
Most estimate apps give you a blank template at 9pm. Trusso reads the job — your description, your photos, or a 3D room scan — and builds the line items from your own labor rates and material costs. You adjust, hit send, and the customer approves online.
From $29/month flat. No per-user fees. No credit card to start.
Three ways in
Start an estimate the way the job actually reaches you
A job estimate app should meet you where the job is — at the kitchen table, on the walkthrough, or in a marketplace lead email.
Describe the job
Type it the way you'd say it: "Repaint a 3-bedroom interior, walls and trim, minor drywall patching in the hallway." AI turns that into labor and material line items priced from your book.
Snap jobsite photos
Photograph the room, the roof, the fence line. AI reads the photos, sizes up the scope, and drafts the line items — you check the numbers instead of building them.
3D-scan the room
Scanstead, our free LiDAR scanner for iPhone, captures real measurements as you walk the space. The estimate starts from actual square footage, not a tape-measure guess.
Scanstead is free on the App Store, and our free AI estimate generators cover paint, roofing, drywall, fencing, flooring and pressure washing.
Your price book
AI does the arithmetic. You set the numbers.
The difference between a toy and a contractor estimating app is whose prices it uses. Trusso's AI never quotes from a national average — every estimate anchors to the price book you control.
- Your labor rates by trade — if you charge $85/hour for framing, that's what the estimate says
- Your material costs — drywall sheets, breakers, gallons of paint, dumpster rentals
- Your markups — set them once, applied consistently on every quote
- Reusable services and line items, so repeat work prices itself in seconds
More on how it works: the Trusso price book · what our AI does (and doesn't)
Interior repaint · 3 bedrooms
Drafted by AI from your price book · 12 line items
- Labor — walls & ceilings, 3 bedrooms$1,860
- Labor — trim & doors$540
- Drywall patching, hallway$220
- Paint — 11 gal premium interior$495
- Primer, tape, plastic & sundries$180
- Estimate total$3,295
Sample estimate. Every line is editable before it goes out.
Beyond the document
From lead to approved estimate to paid invoice
An estimate isn't the goal — the booked job is. Trusso connects the estimate to everything before and after it.
Step 01
The lead comes in
From Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp, Google or your website — imported automatically, customer record created, no re-typing.
Step 02
AI drafts the estimate
Scope from the description or photos, prices from your book. A draft with real line items is ready in under 30 seconds.
Step 03
You review and adjust
Every line is editable. Bump the labor hours, swap a material, add an allowance. Your judgment stays in charge of the number.
Step 04
Customer approves online
They get a professional approval page on their phone — no printing, no chasing signatures. Often approved before you've left the driveway.
Step 05
Estimate becomes job, then invoice
Approved work lands on the schedule with the scope attached, and the invoice pulls from the accepted estimate — the number they agreed to is the number they're billed.
How Trusso compares to other estimate apps
The estimate app market splits into documents-only tools and full platforms. Here's the honest landscape.
| Documents-only apps (Joist, Invoice Fly) | Per-user platforms (Jobber, Housecall Pro) | Trusso | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Builds the estimate for you | No — blank templates | No — manual quoting | Yes — AI drafts from your price book |
| Marketplace lead import | No | No | Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp, Google |
| Scheduling, jobs & CRM | No | Yes | Yes |
| Typical cost, owner + 4 crew | $10–$32/mo (single user only) | ~$149–169/mo | $59/mo flat |
Full comparisons: Trusso vs Joist · Trusso vs Jobber · our full guide to estimating apps
FAQ
Contractor estimate apps, answered
- What is the best estimate app for contractors?
- It depends on what you need the estimate to do. If you only need to produce documents, Joist ($10–$32/month) or Invoice Fly are fine. If you want the estimate drafted for you — from a description, photos, or a 3D scan, priced from your own rates — and then connected to scheduling, job tracking and invoicing, that's Trusso, from $29/month flat with a 14-day free trial.
- Is there a free estimate app for contractors?
- Trusso's free AI estimate generators cover paint, roofing, drywall, fencing, flooring and pressure washing — no signup needed for a ballpark. The Scanstead room scanner for iPhone is free too. For estimates you send as a business, priced from your own rates with online approval, plans start at $29/month after a 14-day free trial.
- How does the AI know what to charge?
- It doesn't guess — it reads your price book. You set your labor rates, material costs and markups once; the AI figures out the scope and quantities from your description, photos or scan, then does the arithmetic with your numbers. Estimates reflect what you actually charge, not a national average that's 30% off for your zip code.
- Does it work on a phone in the field?
- Yes. The Trusso mobile app for iOS and Android is built for the truck: draft an estimate at the kitchen table, capture a 3D scan during the walkthrough, and send it before you pull out of the driveway. Everything syncs with the web app back at the office.
- Can it estimate from a lead I got on Angi or Thumbtack?
- That's the fastest path of all. Marketplace leads are imported automatically — customer, address, job description, photos — and AI drafts the estimate from them in under 30 seconds. You review, adjust and reply from one inbox while the other contractors are still typing the customer's name into their CRM.
- What does a contractor estimate app cost?
- Documents-only apps run $10–$32/month for a single user. Per-user platforms like Jobber and Housecall Pro run roughly $150–170/month once four or five people need access. Trusso is flat: $29/month covers an owner plus 2 crew, $59/month an owner plus 10, $99/month unlimited — estimates, scheduling, CRM and invoicing included.
Send tonight's estimates before dinner
Set up your price book, and the next estimate takes minutes instead of an evening. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.
No credit card required. Cancel anytime.