In today’s construction landscape, accurate and efficient estimating isn’t just about running the numbers—it’s about fostering team collaboration, tracking changes, leveraging historical data, and continuously improving processes like value engineering. At Buildr, we’ve made it our goal to bring all stakeholders of preconstruction under one roof—including estimators—so everyone can work together in real time on a single platform.

Whether you’re handling big commercial jobs or smaller specialty projects, below you'll find eight essential features any construction estimating software should provide. Along the way, we’ll highlight the latest updates from Buildr that make estimating simpler, more transparent, and more collaborative.

1) Simple Project Values

Why It Matters

Not all projects begin with a fully fleshed-out bid. Early-stage estimates are often just “rough order of magnitude” (ROM) figures or conceptual numbers that help stakeholders gauge feasibility. An estimating solution should let you quickly enter these high-level values without creating a detailed budget right away.

How Buildr Delivers

With Buildr, you can input a project’s contract value directly—no detailed estimate required. This approach is perfect for conceptual estimates; once you’re ready, you can seamlessly transition to building out a more comprehensive budget, all within the same platform.

2) Budgeting

Why It Matters

Budgeting is the backbone of any successful construction project. From conceptual planning to the final 100% budget, you need to keep teams aligned, track revisions, and maintain a clear snapshot of costs and profitability at every stage.

How Buildr Delivers

• Create and Collaborate: Buildr’s new budgeting tools allow multiple users—estimators, project managers, and more—to work on the same budget simultaneously, reducing the need for messy email threads or scattered spreadsheets.

• Publish & Update: Once a budget is published, the project’s contract value, profit, and measurements automatically update. This ensures every stakeholder sees the most current financial snapshot.

• Milestones & Target Budgets: Track progress at different design phases (e.g., Design Development, Construction Documents), set target budgets, and review changes in real time.

3) Collaboration

Why It Matters

Collaboration isn’t just about having multiple users in a system; it’s about enabling real-time communication, shared edits, and quick tag-based notifications. In construction, where estimates often involve input from various specialties, frictionless teamwork can save hours—or even days. That's the magic of a holistic preconstruction platform.

How Buildr Delivers

• Multi-Estimator Support: With our unlimited users, several estimators can update a single project budget concurrently. No more version conflicts or accidental overwrites.

• In-Platform Communication: Tag users, leave comments, or add notes directly within the budget, so discussions happen in context.

• Collaborative Change Requests: Estimators can initiate or respond to change requests, making adjustments that everyone can see immediately.

GCs will often have multiple estimators working on a job. In light of this, our estimating tool can handle multiple updates to the same budget—making sure no one’s stepping on each other’s toes.

4) Change History

Why It Matters

Bids and budgets rarely stay static. Estimates evolve as new information surfaces, materials change, or scope shifts. Without a clear log of who changed what—and why—you risk confusion, outdated numbers, or costly errors.

How Buildr Delivers

• Detailed Change Logs: Every update is tracked in Buildr, capturing the who, what, and why of each change.

• Change Reasons: Estimators must provide rationale for adjustments, so there’s always a paper trail to refer back to.

• Audit-Friendly: On bid day, it’s common to tweak multiple bids at once. Buildr’s change history eliminates guesswork about which numbers were altered and how.

“Often on bid day, estimators juggle between multiple bids, tweaking one & forgetting what they changed. With Buildr’s change history, we always know what was modified.”

– Brandon Weaver, Dojo Construction

5) Value Engineering

Why It Matters

Value engineering is about finding ways to optimize cost without sacrificing quality or essential functions. Good estimating software should make it straightforward to propose, review, and approve VE opportunities so your team can save money and maintain project integrity.

How Buildr Delivers

• Easy VE Proposals: Once you’ve built a budget, you can create change requests for specific Value Engineering items.

• Scenario Analysis: Quickly evaluate alternative materials or design choices—and see the cost impact—before committing.

• Approval Workflows: Communicate recommended changes with project managers and stakeholders, ensuring everyone agrees on any trade-offs.

If you can substitute materials for a lower cost without compromising quality, Buildr makes it easy to log that change, document the justification, and keep everyone in the loop.

6) Cost Database

Why It Matters

Estimators frequently look to historical budgets for guidance. Having a centralized Cost Database streamlines conceptual estimates and ensures more accurate proposals. It also helps mitigate the risk of giving overly casual “high-level” figures that later prove drastically off-base.

How Buildr Delivers

• One Source of Truth: All historical budgets—along with actuals—are stored in Buildr, making them easy to filter by market sector, milestone date, or project features.

• Compare Projects: Pull data from similar or duplicate jobs to quickly produce evidence-based conceptual estimates.

• Mobile & Web Access: Business development teams and VPs can reference real past numbers anytime, anywhere, to provide more realistic quotes on the spot.

“Clients often ask for a high-level conceptual amount, saying they won’t hold us to it—yet they still make decisions with that figure. We want that number to be evidence-based, derived from comparable projects. With Buildr’s cost database, we can do just that.”

– Brandon Weaver, Dojo Construction

7) Detailed Reporting & Analytics

Why It Matters

Once you’ve established budgets, estimates, and historical data, you need actionable insights. Reporting and analytics help you identify patterns—such as frequent budget overages or potential underbidding—and guide continuous improvement.

What to Look For

• Customizable Dashboards: Filter and segment data based on project size, location, or sector.

• Profit & Loss Breakdown: Quickly see if and where the project is diverging from its initial estimate.

• Export & Share: Generate PDF or CSV reports to share with owners, partners, or executive stakeholders.

8) Cloud-Based Access & Integration

Why It Matters

Modern construction teams are seldom confined to a single office. Cloud-based software keeps everyone on the same page—literally—no matter where they’re located. Meanwhile, integrations ensure that data flows seamlessly between estimating, scheduling, accounting, and other critical functions.

What to Look For

• Anywhere, Anytime Access: Log in to your estimating software from the jobsite or the boardroom.

• Automatic Updates: Receive new features and improvements without lengthy manual installs.

• Third-Party Integrations: Connect with popular PM, ERP, or CRM systems to maintain a single source of truth throughout the project lifecycle.

Conclusion

As the construction industry grows more complex, estimators need a tool that goes beyond simple number-crunching. Modern software should facilitate collaboration, track change history, support value engineering initiatives, and leverage a cost database for accurate, evidence-based budgets—all while offering robust reporting, cloud-based access, and user-friendly workflows.

With these eight essential features in mind, you’ll be better equipped to evaluate the solutions on the market—and select a platform that genuinely streamlines your preconstruction process. By centralizing your estimating work in a tool like Buildr, you can empower your entire team to work more transparently, reduce costly errors, and deliver projects on time and on budget. To learn more about estimating, be sure to check out our blog, Construction Estimating Software: The Comprehensive Guide.

Ready to take the next step?

Explore how Buildr’s new Estimating and Budgeting capabilities let multiple estimators build, modify, and finalize budgets collaboratively—all while tapping into historical cost data and logging every change along the way. Welcome to the new era of connected preconstruction.