The Construction Estimating Software Built for Modern Contractors

If you ask ten residential contractors what slows their business down, you’ll hear the same three culprits: estimating takes forever, proposals don’t look professional or consistent, and projects drift because costs, selections, and scheduling live in too many places. Bolster was built to fix exactly that. It’s construction estimating software designed for residential work—kitchens, baths, additions, interiors, exteriors, even custom homes—that helps you go from first conversation to signed contract (and then through delivery) faster, clearer, and with healthier margins.

Unlike generic tools or cobbled-together spreadsheets, Bolster brings quoting, takeoffs, pricing, proposals, client communication, and project tracking under one roof—so you can deliver quick construction quotes without sacrificing accuracy.

Why contractors switch to Bolster

Contractors land on Bolster for a few common reasons:

• Speed without sloppiness. You need to send quotes quickly to filter tire-kickers and win the good jobs. Bolster’s assemblies, templates, and auto-cost features let you spin up accurate estimates in minutes, not days.
• Professional proposals that actually sell. Clean, branded documents with clear options (entry/mid/premium), annotated images, and itemized selections help clients understand scope—and say “yes” faster.
• Real-time cost control. Live pricing, vendor integrations, and selection tracking keep your margins intact through change orders and upgrades.
• A better client experience. From quick web quotes to in-proposal messaging and payments, Bolster makes you look modern and responsive—without adding admin work.

That’s the headline. Here’s what it looks like in the day-to-day.

Fast, accurate estimating (that you can trust)

Estimating is where most backlogs begin. Bolster accelerates the workflow with reusable templates and smart assemblies you can tailor to your company’s way of building. If you do a lot of fence installs, decks, interior renovations, or custom baths, you can build “starter” estimates with pre-scoped labor, material groups, and typical allowances. Add entry/mid/premium options to show good-better-best pricing in a single proposal. Your sales time drops, your accuracy goes up, and your pipeline stops bottlenecking.

Bolster also supports takeoffs and auto-cost logic, so quantity changes cascade through your estimate without hunting through cells. Combined with real-time cost tracking and integrations (like big-box materials for quick budgeting), you keep estimates aligned with reality as suppliers and selections shift.

Proposals that convert (and protect your brand)

A big frustration for growing teams is keeping proposal quality and formatting consistent across salespeople and projects. Bolster makes your branding, layouts, and sections repeatable—logo, fonts, cover pages, scope breakdowns, terms, and allowances—so every proposal looks like it came from the same professional firm.

Better still, proposals in Bolster can show options and upgrades clearly. Clients can see how selections move the price, compare line items, and make decisions quickly. You can include annotated images (great for restoration and exterior work), attach plan sets or photos, and collect signatures and payments directly from the proposal. It’s a cleaner, more persuasive buying experience that still captures the nitty-gritty you need to protect scope and profit.

From “quick quote” to signed job—without extra tools

Many contractors want a way to qualify leads right on their website. With Open Quote, you can embed a quoting widget via iframe on a landing page. Prospects answer a few scoped questions and get a quick construction quote, and you receive a structured lead with enough context to follow up intelligently. It’s perfect for teams filtering high-volume inquiries (think painters, fence installers, or small interior updates) and pairs nicely with a deeper, template-driven estimate once the lead is serious.

Because Open Quote feeds directly into your Bolster workflow, you avoid the “copy-paste into a spreadsheet” dance and keep your CRM, estimates, and proposals connected.

Selections, change orders, and real-time cost control

Margins rarely vanish on day one—they erode during selections and changes. Bolster helps you price selections transparently and track client choices in real time. When a homeowner upgrades fixtures or adds square footage during design development, your estimate updates cleanly and the proposal shows the delta. You can issue change orders with the same branding and clarity, reducing friction and awkward conversations.

On the cost side, contractors appreciate how Bolster’s live pricing and vendor tie-ins make it simple to refresh material numbers and compare options. For teams scaling up, this means the owner is no longer the single point of truth for every price.

Scheduling, tasks, and a central source of truth

Once a job is sold, chaos shouldn’t start. Bolster gives you a Gantt-style schedule and task workflows so project managers can plan phases, dependencies, and milestones. Paired with Bolster Drive (centralized file storage) and in-app messaging, your field team and clients aren’t hunting through email threads for the latest plan set or schedule update. Everything lives with the job, from estimate to final invoice.

Built for residential contractors—of all shapes and sizes

We see a wide range of teams succeed on Bolster:

• Custom home builders and boutique remodelers who need selections-driven proposals, polished branding, and better client engagement throughout longer projects.
• Specialty trades and service-oriented teams (painters, fence contractors, deck builders) who benefit from fast quoting on the web, clean proposals, and a straightforward pipeline.
• Growing general contractors who are expanding into new construction and want to standardize estimating, tighten cost control, and reduce spreadsheet chaos.

The common denominator: each team wants to quote faster, win more, and deliver with fewer surprises.

What sets Bolster apart from generic software

There are plenty of business tools you could bend into a construction workflow, but Bolster starts with how contractors actually sell and build. That shows up in small but crucial ways:

• Assemblies and templates that reflect real residential scopes (kitchens, baths, exterior facelifts, fence lines, and deck rebuilds).
• Optioned proposals that feel natural for homeowners—clear choices, transparent pricing, and polished presentation.
• Selections tracking that ties design decisions to dollars automatically.
• Change-order sanity—fast to issue, easy for clients to approve, and always on brand.
• A website quote experience that feeds the same pipeline you use to estimate and sell.

When software matches the way you already think about jobs, your team adopts it faster and your process becomes repeatable.

Getting started

If you’re wrestling with spreadsheets, duct-taped CRMs, or proposals that change every time a different salesperson touches them, Bolster will feel like a breath of fresh air. Start by importing a few common scopes, build branded proposal templates, and turn on Open Quote for your highest-volume services. The first changes most teams see are faster first touches and clearer proposals—and those two improvements alone typically raise close rates.

Bottom line: Bolster is construction estimating software purpose-built for residential contractors who want quick construction quotes, professional proposals, and tight control over selections, costs, and schedules. It helps you win the right jobs faster and deliver them with less stress—so you can scale the business, not the busywork.

If you’re ready to trade chaos for clarity, explore Bolster and see how your next estimate can become your best sales tool yet.