Bidfident for landscape contractors
Estimating software for landscape construction
Landscape contractors use Bidfident to price hard and soft work on one sheet: interlocking pavers and retaining walls by the square metre, topsoil by the cubic metre, sod by the square metre and trees each. Installers and labourers carry their own rates, the plate compactor runs for its own hours, irrigation comes in as a subtrade, and the skid steer rents by the week.
Enter your email and Bidfident sends you a sign-in link. New companies start with a starter rate library. Who runs Bidfident, and what it keeps about you.
Sound familiar?
Hard and soft work at one rate
Paver and wall installers cost more than the crew laying sod, but a spreadsheet often uses one rate for both. In Bidfident each line takes its trade's rate, so installers and labourers are each priced at their own.
The same paver build, retyped every job
Pavers on granular base get rebuilt from scratch each time, and a rate is always slightly off. In Bidfident an assembly in the rate library fills the whole line at once, with the same rates on every estimate.
Upgrades the client hasn't decided on
Extra trees or a bigger wall get deleted, or left in the total by mistake. In Bidfident switch the line off and it stays on the sheet, struck through, with what it comes to shown beside the totals.
How Bidfident fits your work
Pavers, walls, sod and trees on one sheet
Each line takes its own unit, m², m³ or ea, with crew hours per unit and a material price with waste. The plate compactor can run for its own hours apart from the crew's.
Installers and labourers at their own rates
Set a rate for landscape installers and another for labourers. Each line takes its trade's rate, and a new trade can be added right from the Trade cell.
Upgrades kept but not counted
Price the extra trees, the upgraded pavers or the taller wall, then switch them off. They stay on the sheet, struck through, and what they come to is shown beside the totals.
Assemblies for the work you repeat
Save pavers on granular base or sod with topsoil as an assembly. Start typing a description and the line picker finds it, with its prices, and fills the whole line.
Irrigation bids side by side
Enter each irrigation contractor's price, see the lowest flagged, and carry it or the one you pick. Carry a plug amount if the bids aren't in yet.
Skid steer and foreman by the week
Rent the skid steer and pay the foreman by the week, linked to the job duration. Add a week and both follow.
Worked example: hard and soft landscaping for a townhouse complex
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 24 lines of your own work, 3 subtrades and 5 overhead items over a 6-week job. The 5 lines this page talks about are listed one by one, and the rest are added up in one row. It's the same job you can open as an example project in Bidfident, so every figure below matches it.
To open this job in Bidfident: sign in and set up your company in Canada, then on the Projects screen, under Example project, pick "Civil and site work" and "Landscaping construction" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Interlocking pavers on granular base, 850 m2
| $91,239.00 |
Segmental retaining wall, up to 1.2 m, 140 m2
| $40,005.00 |
Topsoil, supplied and spread, 150 mm, 420 m3
| $23,016.00 |
Sod, No. 1 nursery, 2,600 m2
| $15,249.00 |
Deciduous trees, 60 mm caliper, 36 ea
| $18,792.00 |
19 more lines of your own work
| $106,699.30 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Irrigation system
| $18,600.00 |
Wood privacy fence, 1.8 m
| $13,600.00 |
Site furnishings, allowance
| $6,500.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Site supervision, foreman
| $9,600.00 |
Skid steer rental
| $7,500.00 |
Mobilization
| $2,500.00 |
Water new sod and trees to acceptance
| $3,600.00 |
Waste bins
| $1,800.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| $295,000.30 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | $23,383.00 |
| Subtrades | $38,700.00 |
Overhead
| $25,000.00 |
Direct cost
| $358,700.30 |
Contingency
| $10,761.01 |
Fee
| $36,946.13 |
| Subtotal before bonding | $406,407.44 |
Bonding
| $4,064.07 |
Insurance
| $2,032.04 |
Bid total
| $412,503.55 |
GST, for reference
| $20,625.18 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
Can I keep an upgrade, like extra trees, without it counting?
Yes. Switch the line off. It stays on the sheet, struck through, and what it comes to is shown beside the totals.
Can an assembly fill a whole paver line at once?
Yes. Save it in the rate library, then type a description and pick it. It fills the line with its hours and prices.
Can I price trees each and sod by the square metre?
Yes. Units are free text, so ea, m², m³ and sf all work. Bidfident doesn't convert between units.
Can installers and labourers have different rates?
Yes. Give each trade its own rate in the library. Any one line can also carry its own rate, marked in purple.
Can I add waste to pavers, sod and topsoil?
Yes. Each line's material price has its own waste percentage, like 5% on pavers and sod and 10% on topsoil.
Can the plate compactor run fewer hours than the crew?
Yes. Give it its own hours per square metre on the paver line. Leave it blank and it runs for the crew's hours.
Does Bidfident work with Claude or ChatGPT?
Not yet, but it's coming. You'll be able to connect Bidfident to your own Claude or ChatGPT account and ask about your estimates in plain English. The answers will come from Bidfident's own figures, so they match the estimate. It will use the account you already have: Claude first, ChatGPT to follow.
Price your next landscaping bid in Bidfident
Enter your email and Bidfident sends you a sign-in link. New companies start with a starter rate library. Who runs Bidfident, and what it keeps about you.