Can It Do? Clear Estimates Feature Guide

Michael Croteau
2021-07-16T19:47:49Z

Overview

Welcome to Clear Estimates, a powerful estimating tool for residential remodelers and contractors!

Clear Estimates offers a 15,000+ item library tailored to residential remodeling - perfect for kitchens, baths, additions, and more! Our library covers a wide variety of projects, and includes labor rates for many trades. Before you begin your estimating journey, let's take a look at the best uses for Clear Estimates!

Clear Estimates is great for:

Residential Remodeling

You're in the right place! Our software is built for remodelers and general contractors. You can handle any residential remodeling project - from something small like a bathroom, all the way to a full house remodel!

Find a great overview of how Clear Estimates works here:

Create Your First Estimate

Handyman

We've got you covered! Clear Estimates includes a part library specific to handyman work - perfect for interior / exterior repairs, maintenance, and small scale projects! Need to patch some drywall? No problem! Installing a ceiling fan? Done!

Clear Estimates for Handyman

House Flipping

Absolutely! Clear Estimates is perfect for estimating your renovation costs when doing a house flip.

We won't do anything with the project management side (i.e. property sales, generating leads, etc), but we've got your renovation costs covered!

Find out how a pro house flipper uses Clear Estimates!

Decks

Clear Estimates is great for deck projects! We include multiple templates for decks, and many options for deck / porch installs.

You can use any combination of our templates / library items to handle your next deck project!

Learn about using Clear Estimates for decks:

Find Deck Items in Clear Estimates

Roofing

We include multiple templates for residential roofing! Our library offers items for roof framing, shingle and metal roofing, gutter install, and more! Our library is primarily for residential projects - so when used for commercial roofing, you may need to add in some of your own items.

You can learn how to find our roofing items here:

Find Roof Items in Clear Estimates

Residential Electrical

We have plenty of items for electrical tasks! You'll find items for installing outlets and switches, interior & exterior lighting, kitchen & laundry appliances, amp service for homes, and more.

The items in Clear Estimates can be thought of as "assemblies" - including all the material and labor cost needed for a given task. For this reason, you may not find options for different wire gauge sizes, brands of conduit, etc. Instead, you will find assembly items, such as:

"Install bathroom light & wall switch, finished ceiling & walls, economy. Within 10' of power source. No patching."

"Install box & duplex outlet, open walls, within 10' of power. No patching included."

If ever there is anything you can't find in our library, you can easily add it in!

Finding Electrical Items

Plumbing

Clear Estimates is great for residential plumbers! We include multiple options for bathroom, kitchen, laundry and general plumbing!

The items in Clear Estimates can be thought of as assemblies - including all the material and labor cost needed for a given task. For this reason, you may not find options for different valve types, exact coupling sizes, etc.

Instead, you'll find assembly items such as:

"Provide and install economy shower faucet set and valve."

"Run 3/4" PEX in closed wall, average 1 fitting, 2 holes per 4 ft, no patching"

If ever there is anything you can't find in our library, you can easily add it in!

How To Find Plumbing Items

HVAC

We have many items for HVAC work! We include options for AC, baseboard heat, fan installation and more!

The items we include can be thought of as "assemblies", including the material and labor costs for a specific task.

So, you'll find items like this in our HVAC category:

"Install gas forced air furnace, 50,000 BTU, AFUE 80%. No ductwork or removal of old system included."

"Install electric hot water baseboard, 750W, 4' long, within 15' of power. No removal of old system included."

You won't find:

Individual air conditioner parts, heater, boiler / furnace parts (for repairs, etc).

Branded items

Different options / brands of pipe insulation, values, couplings, reducers, nipples, and so on.

All of our HVAC items are geared toward residential settings. As always, you can add in anything you can't find!

Painting

Clear Estimates is great for painters! We have items for interior & exterior residential painting projects - plus, multiple painting templates as well!

We include hundreds of painting items, all which will give you the material and labor cost for painting tasks. For example:

"Paint wall, over smooth finish, latex, roll, 3 coats"

"Paint fascia & trim up to 6" wide, water based paint, brush, 2 coats"

We won't include any branded items, i.e. prices for specific brands of paint, finish, primer, etc.

Finding Painting Items

Fencing, Landscaping, Hardscaping

We do include a category for landscaping and fencing projects. Clear Estimates is designed for remodels first and foremost - so when used for these projects, you may need to add in some of your own items.

You will find items for excavation, stump removal, tree removal, retaining and stone walls, patios and walkways, etc. If ever you can't find the exact item you need, you can add it in easily!

We also include some items for fencing - including chain link, picket, iron, vinyl, railings and more. Learn how to find those items here:

Finding Fencing & Landscaping Items

Add Custom Parts to your Part Library

Farm / Barn / Shed

Clear Estimates is primarily for residential remodels (bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, etc). We do include many items you'll need (roof framing for sheds, wall framing, foundation, etc).

For example, we include barn doors - but mostly for interiors. You can easily customize those items to handle true barn construction, however!

Clear Estimates is not geared towards:

Commercial Construction, Roofing, Electrical & Remodeling.

Our library is set up to handle residential projects. Out of the box, we do not offer a commercial part library. Using Clear Estimates for commercial work generally requires adding in your own items. We make our part library fully customizable - so if you know your own pricing, you can customize our part library for commercial work! You can even customize your categories / cost codes, if you're looking for CSI Master Format.

Adding Custom Parts to your Library

Importing your Own Part List from Excel

New Construction / New Build

As a remodeling software, Clear Estimates typically handles projects as large as additions.

You can use our software to estimate new home builds, since many of the items you need will be included! You may, however, need to add in some of your own items (using our custom part feature) when using it for new build projects - if there is something you cannot find.

Adding Custom Parts to your Library

Water Damage / Flood Mitigation / Remediation

Clear Estimates is designed for remodeling projects - kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, additions, etc. It does not include many of the items you might need for water mitigation estimates.

We do offer items for things like demolition. However, these are general demolition tasks, rather than removing specific damaged items. You can always add in your own items for scopes of work like this! Clear Estimates is just not set up to handle water damage estimates by default.

Creating Custom Parts

Mold Damage / Fire Damage / Remediation

Clear Estimates doesn't include specific items for mold or fire damage / remediation. You can add in custom items for this easily - but Clear Estimates is generally geared toward true remodels - bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and so on.

We do offer items for things like demolition. However, these are general demolition tasks, rather than removing specific damaged items.

Construction Site Cleanup

We include some items in our library for dirt hauling, loading & hauling debris, etc. In general, the software is not set up for site cleaning contractors.

Janitorial / Cleaning Companies

Clear Estimates is not set up for cleaning, custodial or janitorial estimating.

Automotive

Clear Estimates cannot be used for automotive / car repair estimates.

Industrial

We do not include a price library for industrial projects.

Welding

We do not include any specific pricing for welding estimates.

Road Construction

We do not include any items for road repair / paving / construction.

Sewer Work

While we do include many items for residential plumbing work, we do not do anything with sewer work / repair.

Land Development

Clear Estimates offers items for dirt hauling and excavation, but is not handy for a land development contractor.

Other

Scheduling & Project Management

Clear Estimates focuses on the estimating, so we can provide the best estimating tool possible! For project management tasks, we provide an integration with BuilderTrend - a leading project management tool. This is handy for any scheduling & project management tasks you may need to do!

More on BuilderTrend

Plan / Blueprint Take-offs, Sketching and 3D Modeling

At the moment, we do not offer the ability to upload plans / blueprints into Clear Estimates. We are working on an integration with a plan takeoff tool, so this may be available in the future!

For the time being, we also do not include anything for sketches or drawings. Any drawing or sketching must be done outside of Clear Estimates, for now.

International Pricing, Canada, UK

At the moment, Clear Estimates' prices are sourced from the United States only. It's possible we will include international prices down the road!

We also do not include international measurement units (i.e. metric measurements).

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Canada

We do price out many locations near the Canadian border - so we have a number of clients who use our pricing - and convert to CAD as needed!

AI capablities

At the moment Clear Estimates does not have an AI feature for creating estimates.

Insurance Estimating

As all insurance companies are different, we cannot guarantee they will be accepted. However, we have plenty of customers who use Clear Estimates for insurance work - and we offer the level of detail most insurance companies request!

We have heard of our estimates being both accepted and denied by different insurance companies.

Mobile Access

Clear Estimates is a cloud based software you will run in a browser - and it works on any device with an internet connection!

We do find the software works best on desktop, but we have many clients who use Clear Estimates on a iPad, tablet or similar device!

Now that you've had a chance to look at everything Clear Estimates offers, you can head to the link below to learn more about the software!

First Time User Walkthrough