How AutoCost Keeps Your Estimates Honest

TLDR:

AutoCost is Bolster’s live pricing engine that pulls current material and labor costs into your estimate as you build it, so you’re not relying on a stale spreadsheet or last month’s gut feel. You still control your markup and templates, but your numbers stay grounded in real, region-specific pricing, which makes it easier to quote faster, protect margin, and present a cleaner proposal homeowners can actually follow.

Stop Guessing and Start Pricing From Real-World Costs

The estimate that felt right… until it didn’t

Every contractor has a story like this.

You landed a solid project, the kind that fills a gap in your schedule and keeps your crew busy for a few weeks. You priced it off a spreadsheet you’ve used for years. You tweaked a few numbers, bumped up the contingency a bit “just to be safe,” and sent the proposal.

The client signed. The crew rolled in. Materials showed up.

And then, halfway through the job, it hit you: the spreadsheet you trusted was off. Lumber had crept up. Fixtures were just enough more expensive to sting. The margin you thought you had wasn’t really there. You didn’t lose your shirt, but you didn’t win the way you could have, either.

It wasn’t bad estimating. It was old information.

That gap between what your systems think things cost and what they actually cost today is exactly where AutoCost is designed to help.

What AutoCost actually is (in contractor terms)

AutoCost is a live cost engine inside Bolster that keeps pricing current for both materials and labor based on your region.

So instead of starting every estimate by hunting through old PDFs, supplier sites, and email threads, you build your estimate with AutoCost-connected items and assemblies. When prices shift in your area, those items update. You’re not manually babysitting a spreadsheet and hoping you caught every change.

You still run the show. You decide what goes in your templates. You set your markup. You choose how you package scopes. AutoCost doesn’t replace your judgment. It takes the “are my numbers outdated?” stress off your plate.

Where the pricing comes from

AutoCost is designed to pull real supplier pricing so you can estimate with items that match how you actually buy materials.

That includes current pricing from big-box suppliers like Home Depot and Lowe’s, Canadian pricing through RONA+ (for Canada accounts), and ABC Supply catalog pricing when you connect your myABC account. The benefit is not that you must buy everything from one place. The benefit is that your starting point is grounded in real pricing instead of memory.

A bathroom remodel: two different realities

Let’s make it real: a mid-range bathroom remodel.

In the old way, you pull up a past job, copy the spreadsheet, adjust quantities, then bump unit costs because “everything’s higher now.” After that, it’s tabs on tabs: tile pricing, vanity packages, fixtures, waterproofing, and whatever surprise category the client picked off Pinterest this week. You spend hours, and there’s still guesswork baked in.

In the AutoCost way, you open Bolster and start from your bathroom template: demo, plumbing, electrical, tile, fixtures, finishes. The difference is the big cost drivers in that template are tied to AutoCost.

The tub you commonly use pulls current pricing instead of whatever you typed last time. Same with the vanity, tile, lighting, and accessories. As you adjust quantities or swap options, the pricing updates in the background without you doing the spreadsheet shuffle.

You still decide what’s appropriate for the home and the client. But you’re not fighting your tools just to get to a number you can stand behind.

From estimate to proposal without redoing the work

A lot of margin leaks don’t start on site. They start at the desk, when you build an estimate in one place and then rebuild it again to make it presentable.

With AutoCost-powered items inside Bolster, your estimate can flow into a polished proposal without a second round of re-entry. The descriptions, options, and totals are already structured. That reduces errors, speeds up turnaround, and helps you sell the job cleanly.

This is where you feel it in real life: a homeowner asks, “What happens if we upgrade the tile?” Instead of disappearing for two days to rework numbers, you can show options and price differences with confidence. Less mystery for them. Less chaos for you.

Protecting your margin without padding every line

Most contractors walk a tightrope between underpricing and eating it, or overpricing and losing the job.

When your cost data is stale, padding feels like the only defense. Add a little extra everywhere “just in case.” But padding is blunt. It can make you look high compared to competitors who are guessing differently, and it doesn’t tell you where the real risk is.

Live, region-specific pricing gives you a better baseline. If you add contingency, you’re doing it intentionally, not because your spreadsheet can’t be trusted. Over time, that leads to more predictable jobs and steadier margins.

How AutoCost fits into a normal estimating day

AutoCost isn’t a separate step. It’s part of the workflow.

You do takeoff, drop quantities into the estimate, and the AutoCost-connected items fill in current costs behind the scenes. You’re not doing takeoff in one tool and pricing in another, then stitching it together with copy/paste and crossed fingers.

Once the estimate is right, you flip it into a proposal. The structure follows the work you already did. That’s how you quote faster without cutting corners.

Who AutoCost is built for

If you do one estimate a month and your pricing never changes, you might not feel the pain.

But if you’re a remodeler, deck builder, or custom builder quoting multiple jobs a month, and you’re tired of maintaining spreadsheets like they’re a second business, AutoCost is worth a serious look. It’s especially helpful if you:

• Wear both the sales and operations hats.
• Want more consistent margins without blanket padding.
• Want proposals that feel professional and easy for homeowners to approve.

Smaller teams usually feel the lift immediately because time is tight and estimating mistakes get expensive fast.

How to get started without rebuilding everything

Start with one template and tighten it over time

You don’t need to rebuild your whole estimating system overnight.

Most contractors start with one repeatable template (bathroom, kitchen refresh, deck package) and convert the major cost drivers to AutoCost-powered items and assemblies. Then you refine as you touch estimates. One scope at a time, your system gets smarter.

AutoCost won’t swing a hammer for you. But it will help you price work based on what things actually cost right now, not what they used to cost when you last updated a sheet.

If you want to see it in action, start here with Bolster.