Best construction estimating software in the UK (2026)

The short answer, as of October 2026:

• EstiMate: best for UK builders and contractors who want the estimate to become the quote, contract, invoices and accounts. Free to start, £15.99 a month, or £39.99 for AI take-off.
• EstimatorXpress (HBXL): best if you want a dedicated UK estimating package and would rather pay up front.
• Buildxact: best for residential builders who want estimating with on-screen take-off and pound pricing.
• Kreo: best for quantity surveyors and estimators who measure all day.
• Houzz Pro: best for design-led renovators who sell with 3D floor plans.
• Procore: best for mid-size and larger main contractors with a commercial team.
• PlanSwift: best for estimators on a Windows PC who price in Excel.

Of those seven, five were built in the US or Australia, or mainly for quantity surveyors and estimators rather than builders. Here's how to tell which fits you.

What a UK builder should look for

An estimating tool earns its keep if it does five things:

1. Builds the price from your own rates and history, not a generic book.
2. Gets quantities from drawings, by hand or with AI, and lets you check where they came from.
3. Turns the estimate into a quote the client can accept without you retyping it.
4. Knows UK tax: VAT at 20%, 5% and 0%, the domestic reverse charge, and CIS.
5. Carries on after the yes: variations, stage invoices, and the actual cost against the estimate.

The last three are where the tools below differ most. If you're still pricing in a spreadsheet, we've set out the trade-offs in estimating software vs spreadsheets.

The shortlist at a glance

Prices checked October 2026, as listed on EstiMate pricing, EstimatorXpress on Capterra, Buildxact on Capterra UK, Kreo pricing, Houzz Pro UK pricing, Procore pricing and PlanSwift pricing. Kreo's price is its AI tier, billed annually, excluding VAT, and the EstimatorXpress subscription is listed plus VAT. EstiMate's prices are what you pay. We couldn't find a VAT basis for Buildxact, Houzz Pro or PlanSwift.

1. EstiMate

EstiMate is quoting, contracts, project management, invoicing and accounting software for UK builders. It started as the spreadsheet a Cheshire design-and-build firm quoted from, and the estimating still works the way a builder thinks: material and labour breakdowns, UK trade day rates, and UK building terminology.

On Pro, the useful part is memory. Quote memory records every material price, labour package and margin you've used, feeds them to the AI, and autocomplete suggests your last price for any item. Pro's AI quote writer drafts scope, materials with quantities and prices, labour packages and a programme from a plain-English description, drawings, a walk-round voice note or photos. AI take-off reads architect PDFs and shows which sheet each quantity came from. You review everything; it never sends anything on its own. Quotes you don't win are kept in their own tab and left out of your revenue figures.

Then it keeps going: a quote link the client can accept, decline, add optional extras to or ask to amend, a contract from the accepted quote, variations, invoices, and the Accounts tab with P&L, VAT figures and a CIS register. Free trade calculators cover concrete, brickwork, roofing and plastering.

Prices: Free (3 jobs a month, watermarked PDFs), £15.99 a month, Pro £39.99 a month, all per business with one business login. Commercial, from £99 a month in early access, is for tendering contractors: AI reads the client's drawings and spec and drafts the tender.

The honest limits: there's no live Xero or QuickBooks sync (it exports in their formats), it doesn't file VAT or CIS returns to HMRC, and there's no native Android app (it works in the browser on Android). See construction estimating software for the detail.

2. EstimatorXpress (HBXL)

UK estimating software for builders, from HBXL Building Software, marketed as linking to UK builders' merchants' prices. Its pricing is listed two ways: a one-off licence at £995 on Capterra, and an annual subscription "from £899 + VAT" in third-party reviews (SaaSRat, ITQlick). We found conflicting information on whether there's a trial. Capterra shows 4.4, from only 5 reviews.

We searched for AI take-off and didn't find it, and we didn't research its other features, so ask HBXL whether it handles quotes, contracts, variations and invoices or only the estimate. We go through the sums in EstimatorXpress vs EstiMate.

3. Buildxact

Estimating, take-off and job management for residential builders and trades, from Australia. Capterra UK lists two plans in pounds: Estimating at £99 a month and Pro at £179 a month, billed monthly, with a free trial and no free plan. We didn't check Buildxact's own UK pricing page, so confirm the figures there.

It has on-screen digital take-off and an AI assistant called "Blu"; we couldn't confirm AI auto take-off (Buildxact). Capterra UK gives it 4.6 from 183 reviews. We didn't check its UK tax features, so ask about CIS and the reverse charge.

4. Kreo

London-based, founded 2018, and aimed at quantity surveyors, estimators and contractors. It's per user and billed annually only, excluding VAT. Pro is £125 a month (£1,500 a year) and adds AI take-off and automatic symbol counting; Essential has no AI. There's a 7-day trial.

Kreo does QS-style cost estimates. We couldn't confirm client-facing quotes, and we found no UK tax or contract features. Capterra reviewers say the AI is hit and miss on dense or scanned drawings, and G2 reviewers say it needs a steady connection because it's cloud-only. Best for: professional estimators, not the builder who also has to send the quote.

5. Houzz Pro

Business software for renovators and designers. In the UK, Pro is £139 a month after a 30-day trial and includes estimates, invoicing, the 3D floor planner and online payments. Houzz Pro also offers AI estimate drafting from text or voice. AI take-off, change orders and daily logs sit in the Custom package, which is price on request. The UK free-trial page says minimum contract lengths are 12 months (Houzz Pro UK free trial). We found no CIS or reverse-charge feature.

Best for: design-led renovators who sell on visuals and want Houzz's audience.

6. Procore

Procore Estimating, with AI take-off that pulls quantities from 2D drawings and 3D models, sits inside a full construction platform with a UK Site Diary and variations (Procore Estimating). It's priced as an upfront annual fee per product, based on your annual construction volume, with unlimited users. No public prices. We found no CIS in its product material.

Best for: mid-size and larger contractors. Capterra reviewers say the cost can be "prohibitively high for smaller or mid-sized firms".

7. PlanSwift and the take-off specialists

PlanSwift is Windows desktop take-off and estimating: $2,000 a year for one seat with AI Auto Count and Auto Scale, or $3,000 with an AI first-pass take-off, exporting to Excel. Togal.AI ($299 a user a month, billed yearly) and Bluebeam (from £264 a user a year) are take-off and drawing tools rather than estimating systems. We compare all of them in best AI take-off software.

Others you'll come across

• Buildertrend: proposals and on-screen takeoff inside a US all-in-one system, on a custom quote, billed annually or quarterly (Buildertrend pricing).
• Buildern: its own UK guide says it covers take-offs, estimates and VAT and CIS settings (Buildern UK guide). We haven't checked further.
• Countfire: estimating and take-off for fire-alarm and security installers, with UK case studies (Countfire).
• Builder Buddy and BuildScope: UK quoting apps listed on Capterra UK (Builder Buddy, BuildScope), neither with reviews yet when we looked.
• Estimator360: GetApp UK lists it as available in Canada and the US only.
• Job management apps: Fergus and others quote too, and Fergus launched AI quote building in September 2026 (Fergus AI). They're job management software for trades, and we found no take-off from drawings in Fergus.

How to choose

Ask yourself four questions:

• Does the estimate need to become the quote and contract, or will you retype it elsewhere?
• Are you VAT-registered, and do you deal with CIS or the reverse charge every month?
• Do you measure from drawings every week, or a few times a year?
• How many people need their own login? Per-user pricing adds up. EstiMate's Free, EstiMate and Pro plans are one business login; separate team seats with roles are on Corp from £249 a month, so if several people in the office need logins, a per-user tool can work out cheaper.

If you answered yes, yes and weekly, you're the builder EstiMate was built for.

What to do next

1. Shortlist two tools from the table.
2. Price the same real job in both, from drawings to a quote the client could accept.
3. Send the quote to yourself and look at it the way the client will.

Shortlist done? Then start free and price that job in EstiMate.