Best Building Estimating Software for Irish Contractors: A 2026 Comparison
Most lists of the best building estimating software are American, priced in dollars and blind to 13.5% VAT and RCT. Here's what Irish builders actually need, and what it costs in euro.
Search “best building estimating software” and you’ll get ten American tools, prices in dollars, and not one mention of 13.5% VAT, RCT or ARM5. Useful if you’re building tract homes in Texas. Not much use in Naas.
Picture this: it’s 9pm on a Tuesday. You’re pricing a rear extension on the kitchen table, working off a spreadsheet you last updated in spring. The block price has moved. So has the rebar. You guess, add a bit for luck, and hope the customer doesn’t come back with a cheaper number.
Sound familiar? We talk to Irish builders and general contractors every day, and this is the week we hear about most. So here’s the version of this comparison we’d want if we were on the tools ourselves.
The best building estimating software depends on one question
Before you compare features, work out which of three jobs you’re hiring for. Most lists mash them together. They’re not the same.
| Type | What it does | Who actually needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Trade-quoting apps | Build quotes from your own rates, add VAT, send, track, convert to invoice | Most 1-15 person firms doing extensions, renovations, fit-outs |
| Takeoff tools | Measure quantities off PDF drawings | Anyone pricing from architect’s plans regularly |
| QS-grade estimating | Measured bills of quantities, rate libraries, built around ARM | Firms tendering public or commercial work on measured bills |
The Irish measurement standard is the SCSI/CIF Agreed Rules of Measurement, now ARM5, published in November 2024. QS-grade packages like CostX, Candy and Causeway exist for that world. They’re quote-only, aimed at quantity surveyors and mid-to-large contractors, and we found no confirmed euro price for any of them.
If you’re not tendering on measured bills, don’t buy one to look professional. That’s a lot of money for a feature set you’ll never open.
For most small firms, a quoting app plus (maybe) a cheap takeoff tool covers it.
What does building estimating software cost in euro?
Honest answer: it varies, and a lot of it isn’t published. Treat everything below as a “from” figure and confirm in euro, with VAT, before you commit.
- Trade-quoting apps with euro pricing. The one we found publishing euro prices on an Irish vendor page lists €38, €42 and €49 per user per month, with a 14-day trial. The AI-assisted quoting sits on the top plan only. Two estimating users on the middle plan comes to roughly €1,000 a year.
- Job management apps. Jobber, Joblogic and ServiceM8 all have a presence with Irish and UK trades. None publishes a price we can quote, so ask each for a euro figure in writing.
- Takeoff and markup. Plans for PDF markup tools are listed at $240 to $480 per user per year, in dollars. A full takeoff-and-estimate suite was listed at about $2,599 a year, and reviewers say small teams find that steep. Don’t assume the dollar list price is what you’ll pay. Currency, VAT and the annual commitment all change it.
- QS-grade estimating. Quote-only. One user review of Candy called it “very expensive compared to competitors”.
Four checks before you buy any quoting app for builders
Most quoting programs builders try fail on the same few things. Test these in the trial, not after you’ve paid.
1. The VAT default. Building and installation work sits at the 13.5% reduced rate. Materials-only supply is generally 23%. A tool built around US sales tax or 20% VAT will misprice you. On a €30,000 job, the gap between 13.5% and 23% is €2,850. Ask the vendor to build a quote with 13.5% labour and a separate 23% materials line. If they stumble, that’s your answer.
2. RCT. If you’re a subcontractor, or you pay them, Relevant Contracts Tax applies at 0%, 20% or 35% depending on compliance rating. The quote-to-invoice chain needs to show the deduction and the reverse-charge VAT properly. And it needs to sync with Xero, Sage or QuickBooks. If it doesn’t, your accountant redoes it by hand and the time you saved evaporates.
3. How fast can you change a rate? The CSO’s wholesale price index had construction materials up 3.3% year on year in August 2026. Asphalt was up 16.1%, reinforcing metal 10.8%, paint 9.2% and ready-mixed mortar and concrete 7.6%. A static spreadsheet goes stale quickly. Pick something where you can update unit rates or import supplier price lists in minutes. And put a validity period of 14 to 30 days on every quote.
4. The e-invoicing roadmap. Revenue reconfirmed in February 2026 that all businesses must be able to receive structured e-invoices from November 2028, and all VAT-registered businesses must send them from November 2029. Ask every vendor what their Revenue-compatible plan is. It saves you a second migration.
Why quote speed is now a margin issue
Tender prices are cooling. The SCSI says commercial tender prices rose 2.5% in 2025, the lowest since 2020. But input costs aren’t cooling. The CIF’s Q3 survey found around 90% of firms reported higher raw material costs in Q2, and 76% reported higher labour costs.
Squeezed margin on fixed-price work means a wrong number costs real money. Software that ties your quantities to current labour and material rates protects margin. It’s not an admin extra.
Meanwhile the work is there. CSO figures show 36,284 homes completed in 2025, up 20.4% and the highest since the series began. Construction employment jumped 11.7% year on year in Q1. So everyone’s chasing the same subcontract work, and the builder who sends a clear quote first tends to win.
Our view for a firm under €300k turnover: don’t hire an estimator yet. CIF’s survey shows firms that size expect flat staffing. A €40-50 per user per month quoting app and one disciplined owner doing the pricing is the cheaper fix.
Where Hero AI fits (and where it doesn’t)
We’ll be straight with you. Hero AI isn’t a takeoff or QS package. It won’t measure a bill of quantities to ARM5, and if that’s your work, look at the QS-grade tools above.
What Hero AI does is the back-office around the quote. It answers the call you missed while you were up a ladder and books the site visit. It drafts a Good/Better/Best estimate from a voice note in under a minute. It follows up when the customer goes quiet. And it chases the invoice once the job’s done, so you’re not ringing people at 8pm.
Read more on how that works for general contracting, or see how to win more quotes. Hero AI starts at €22.99/month for the AI Concierge, with Growth at €139/month and Scale at €319/month. Check the pricing page for what’s in each plan. There’s no per-seat pricing, so taking on a lad doesn’t raise your bill.
We’ve also covered this ground in our guide to building contractor estimating software and the wider construction company software buyer’s guide.
Run a real job through the trial
Don’t trust a demo. Take a job you’ve already quoted and won, and rebuild it in the trial. Do two quotes:
- One with 13.5% labour and a 23% materials line.
- One with a subcontractor RCT line.
Compare the output to what you sent the customer. If the numbers match and it took a third of the time, you’ve found your quoting app. If it can’t do either, move on. Plenty of vendors offer a 14-day trial, so there’s no excuse to pay blind.
Want to see what the front end of your quoting looks like with Hero AI on the team? Download the Hero365 app and put it to work on your next enquiry. Or have a look at our free tools first.
