Bidfident for landscaping contractors
Estimating software for hard and soft landscaping
Landscape contractors use Bidfident to price hard and soft works on one sheet: block paving and retaining walls by the square metre, topsoil by the cubic metre, turf by the square metre and trees by number. Landscapers and labourers carry their own rates, the wacker plate works its own hours, irrigation comes in as a subcontract package, and the skid steer is hired 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 works at one rate
Block paviors and wall builders cost more than the gang laying turf, but a spreadsheet often uses one rate for both. In Bidfident each line takes its trade's rate, so landscapers and labourers are each priced at their own.
The same block paving build-up, retyped every job
Block paving on Type 1 gets 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 taller 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
Block paving, walls, turf and trees on one sheet
Each line takes its own unit, m², m³ or nr, with labour hours per unit and a materials price with waste. The wacker plate can work its own hours apart from the gang's.
Landscapers and labourers at their own rates
Set a rate for landscapers 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 better block 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 block paving on Type 1 or turf with topsoil as an assembly. Start typing a description and the line picker finds it, with its prices, and fills the whole line.
Irrigation quotes side by side
Enter each irrigation contractor's price, see the lowest flagged, and carry it or the one you choose. Carry an allowance if the quotes aren't in yet.
Skid steer and foreman by the week
Hire 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 development
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 24 lines of your own work, 3 subcontract packages and 5 preliminaries items over a 6-week programme. 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 the UK, then on the Projects screen, under Example project, pick "Civils and groundworks" and "Hard and soft landscaping" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Block paving on Type 1 sub-base, 850 m2
| £41,650.00 |
Segmental retaining wall, up to 1.2 m, 140 m2
| £20,762.00 |
Topsoil, supplied and spread, 150 mm, 420 m3
| £18,480.00 |
Turf, cultivated, 2,600 m2
| £10,452.00 |
Semi-mature trees, 18-20 cm girth, 36 nr
| £11,430.00 |
19 more lines of your own work
| £50,157.16 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Irrigation system
| £10,800.00 |
Close-board fencing, 1.8 m
| £7,480.00 |
Site furniture, allowance
| £3,600.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Site supervision, foreman
| £5,100.00 |
Skid steer hire
| £3,300.00 |
Mobilisation
| £1,300.00 |
Water new turf and trees to handover
| £1,900.00 |
Skips
| £1,120.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| £152,931.16 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | £12,650.00 |
| Subcontractors | £21,880.00 |
Preliminaries
| £12,720.00 |
Direct cost
| £187,531.16 |
Contingency
| £5,625.93 |
Overheads and profit
| £19,315.71 |
| Subtotal before the bond | £212,472.80 |
Bond
| £2,124.73 |
Insurance
| £1,062.36 |
Tender total
| £215,659.89 |
VAT, for reference
| £43,131.98 |
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 block paving 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 by number and turf by the square metre?
Yes. Units are free text, so nr, m², m³ and m all work. Bidfident doesn't convert between units.
Can landscapers 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 block paving, turf and topsoil?
Yes. Each line's materials price has its own waste percentage, like 5% on the block paving and turf and 10% on the topsoil.
Can the wacker plate work fewer hours than the gang?
Yes. Give it its own hours per square metre on the block paving line. Leave it blank and it works the gang'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 tender 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.