The estimate, built from your real rates.
AI estimating for contractors. Diego builds defensible numbers from your real rates, labor, materials, overhead, so you know where the margin lives and what still needs answering. A custom agent, built the way we build them for any trade.
- Built from
- Your real rates
- Breakdown
- Per line item
- Open questions
- Marked, not buried
- Revisions
- Logged
The short answer · “ai estimating for contractors”
What is an AI estimator for contractors?
An AI estimator turns a plain-English description of a job into a priced, line-itemized estimate, built from your own labor rates, overhead, and markup rather than national averages. You describe the work the way you'd brief a foreman; the estimate comes back broken out by line, with the open questions flagged instead of buried in the total.
At Whitmore, that estimator is Diego. He keeps your rates on file as a living estimating doctrine, prices every job from it, logs every revision so the third version doesn't mystify the first, and never invents a number to make an estimate look finished. If a price isn't confirmed, it's marked as an open question until you answer it.
Read on ↓Fold it back ↑
Diego is also the working proof of something bigger: he's a custom agent, built the way we build agents for any business with a job that off-the-shelf software doesn't do. You review and send every estimate yourself; nothing leaves the workspace without you.
The demonstration
Watch a scope become a number.
A real exchange, replayed with demonstration figures. The owner describes the job once; Diego does the rest and says what he still needs.
How does the estimator work?
Three steps, and the number is yours to send.
- 01
Save your rates
A short interview: labor rates, overhead, markup, how you like to price. Diego keeps it on file as your estimating doctrine.
- 02
Describe the job
Plain English, the way you'd brief a foreman. Square footage, scope, what the customer wants.
- 03
Review and send
Answer the open questions, look over the lines, and the estimate is customer-ready. You send it; he never does.
Scope in, estimate out.
Describe the job the way you'd describe it to a foreman. Diego does the rest and tells you what he still needs before the number is real. Demonstration figures below.
The room· Brief in progress- OwnerKitchen remodel, about 200 square feet. Customer wants a number this week.
Diego · EstimatorOn it. Pulling your saved labor rates and the kitchen template. Demo, rough-in, cabinets, counters, finish, labor and materials broken out per line so the customer sees where the money goes.
- Diego · Estimator
Draft's ready. Two open questions before it leaves draft: tile grade, and whether the permit's on you or them. I've quoted a hundred of these, don't lowball the demo labor, that's where kitchens go sideways.
- OwnerMid-grade tile, permit's on us.
- Diego · Estimator
Updated, revision logged. Final's at $24,800 with your standard margin held. Ready when you want to send it.
A good estimate is not a guess with confidence. It is your real costs, written down before the job can argue.
To the owner pricing tonight's third bid,
I run the room here, and Diego is the steadiest hand in it. Give him the scope the way you'd give it to a foreman and he prices it from your rates, not a national average, with every line accounted for and every unknown flagged where you can see it.
He has never padded a number to look finished, and he has never sent anything to a customer, because that is your job and he knows it. I recommend him without reservation.
The honest comparison
How does it compare to estimating by hand?
The alternative isn't usually software. It's you, a spreadsheet, and a late night.
| Capability | Whitmore | The late-night spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Prices from your saved rates | Labor, overhead, and markup kept on file as doctrine | ~If you remember which tab has the current numbers |
| Line-item breakdown the customer can read | Every line, so they see where the money goes | ~Depends on how much evening you have left |
| Open questions flagged, not buried | Unconfirmed prices are marked until you answer them | ×The guess goes in the total and gets forgotten |
| Revision history | Every change logged: what moved, when, and why | ×Estimate-v3-FINAL-final.xlsx |
| Turnaround | A draft in minutes, revised while you're on the phone | ~After dinner, if nothing else comes up |
| Follows up when the customer goes quiet | Dorian nudges, so the estimate doesn't age on their desk | ×The follow-up is one more thing to remember |
Demonstration figures. Your estimates are built from your rates.
Asked, answered
- Diego · Estimator
From you. Diego prices from your saved labor rates, overhead, and markup. If a number isn't on file, he asks for it, he never invents a rate to make the estimate look finished.
That's the first conversation. He'll walk you through it once, crew rates, overhead, how you mark up materials, and keep it on file from then on.
- Diego · Estimator
No. He builds it; you review it and send it. Nothing leaves the workspace without you.
Tell him what changed. He revises the estimate, logs the revision, and keeps the history so you can defend the new number.
- Whitmore · COO
No, he's a member of the team, and the working example of a custom agent: an agent built for a specific job, the way we can build one for yours. Custom agents are included on plans from $99 a month.
He was built for general contracting and remodel work, and the same doctrine approach, your rates, your overhead, your markup, carries to most trades that quote from scope. If your pricing works differently, that's what a custom commission is for.
Elsewhere in the catalog
Fitted to your trade
This page in your industry’s terms: the same team, set up around the way your business actually runs.
Your rates, on file. Your estimates, defensible.
Hire the team and give Diego your rates once. From then on, scope goes in and a line-itemized, revision-logged estimate comes out, ready for you to send.