No hourly rate ticking over, no retainer, no subscription and no lock-in contract. The fee is confirmed in writing as a fixed dollar figure before any work starts, so the invoice never tells you something the quote did not.
One. The first job is free. Send the plans, get the marked-up takeoff and the priced spreadsheet back, and decide for yourself whether it was worth paying for. Nothing is owed and nothing is signed.
Two. After that, the fee is a fixed dollar figure confirmed to you in writing before any work starts. Not an estimate of a fee, not an hourly rate with a range on it — the actual number, agreed first.
Three. There is no retainer, no subscription, no minimum spend and no lock-in contract. You use us on the jobs where it helps and skip the ones where it does not, and a quiet month costs you nothing.
Because it would be misleading. A single-slab takeoff and a full commercial tender package are hours apart in work, and a rate card either overcharges the small job or underquotes the big one. What we can promise instead is the thing that actually matters: you know the exact fixed fee before anyone starts measuring.
The same deliverable on every job, whatever the trade.
Only where it is genuinely extra work, and only at a figure agreed with you before it is done: revisions caused by a changed drawing set or a changed scope, and additional deliverables like a construction program, a progress claim schedule or a sub-contract review. Correcting one of our own errors is never charged.
Not a sales pitch — just the trade-offs, since these are the three options most tradies are actually choosing between.
| Option | What it costs you | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing it yourself at night | Your evenings and weekends | Fatigue is where missed items come from |
| Employing an estimator | Salary, super, leave and idle time | You pay in the quiet months too |
| An hourly-rate consultant | An open-ended number | You find out the cost after the work |
| Eagle Eye | A fixed fee agreed before work starts | You have to send the drawings |
If you want this in dollars rather than words, the estimating ROI calculator works out the return using your own tender volume, win rate and margin. It is free and it does not ask for your email.
Our services are a legitimate business expense for Australian businesses and subcontractors, which means the cost is tax deductible. That changes the real cost of using an estimator, and it is worth factoring in before you decide to keep doing it yourself.
We are estimators, not accountants — confirm the specifics with yours for your own situation.
Straight answers. If something here is not clear, email and ask.
Yes, and there is no catch attached to it. Send the plans for one job and you get the marked-up takeoff and the priced spreadsheet back at no cost, with no obligation to use us again. It is the only sensible way to prove the work is worth paying for.
Off the value of the job you are quoting, and it is confirmed to you in writing as a fixed dollar figure before any work starts. You are never billed against an hourly rate that grows while you wait, and you never see a number for the first time on an invoice.
For reference, the fee is one per cent of the quoted job value. Most clients carry it inside their own quote, so on a job they win the fee is covered by the client and on a job they lose there was no fee worth worrying about.
None. No retainer, no monthly fee, no minimum number of jobs, no lock-in contract. You use the service on the jobs where it helps and you do not hear from us on the jobs where it does not.
After the takeoff is delivered, on the fixed fee agreed before it started. If the drawings change and the work has to be revisited, we confirm the cost of the revision before doing it rather than adding it afterwards.
Our services are a legitimate business expense for Australian businesses, which means the cost is tax deductible. We recommend confirming the specifics with your accountant for your own situation.
Small jobs are worth doing and we do plenty of them. Very large commercial tender packages take more time to measure, so the timing gets confirmed up front along with the fee — the principle does not change, you know the fixed figure before work starts.
Only where the scope or drawings have actually changed, and only at a figure agreed with you first. Correcting something we got wrong is not a revision, it is our problem to fix.
Send the drawings and the scope for one job. You will get the marked-up takeoff and the priced spreadsheet back within 24 hours on most residential jobs, at no cost and with nothing to sign. Prefer to talk first? Reply with "KEEN" and your number.