Bidfident for housebuilders
Estimating software for new builds and one-off homes
One-off new builds make for long estimates. Bidfident prices the timber frame kit, roof covering, insulation and plasterboard by the square metre, from your own rates for carpenters, dryliners and labourers, with internal joinery as a single item. Mechanical and electrical quotes sit side by side, supervision and temporary electrics follow the programme, and fitting out the basement can stay on the sheet as an option.
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?
A house too long to see on one screen
Hundreds of rows, and the only way to see the whole house is to scroll. In Bidfident you group the sheet by division or by floor, then collapse it to see every subtotal at once.
Six months of prelims to keep up to date
Supervision, temporary electrics and the site toilet are priced for 26 weeks, then the build runs four weeks over. In Bidfident weekly and monthly items follow the job duration.
Last year's rates in this year's house
The new estimate is a copy of the last one, with last year's rates still in it. In Bidfident every estimate uses the company's one rate library, and a submitted tender keeps the rates it was priced with.
How Bidfident fits your work
The whole house, division by division
Group the sheet by division, from frame and roof to insulation, plasterboard and second fix joinery, each with its subtotal. Collapse it to see the whole house.
Every trade at its own rate
Carpenters, dryliners and labourers, each at their rate from the company library. Change a rate once and every line using it updates.
Mechanical and electrical quotes side by side
Enter each quote for plumbing, heating and ventilation, and for the electrical installation. The lowest is flagged and carried unless you pick another, and a declined quote is ignored.
Prelims for the length of the build
The site manager by the week, temporary electrics and the site toilet by the month, linked to the job duration. Change the weeks and they follow.
Totals by cost code
The cost report totals the house by cost code, under each division with its subtotal. Click a row to jump to it, or copy the report as CSV.
From cost to tender total, to the penny
Direct cost, then contingency and fee, with insurance on the subtotal after fee, then VAT shown separately for reference. The basement option is shown for reference only.
Worked example: a 223 m² one-off new build
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 26 lines of your own work, 4 subcontract packages and 6 preliminaries items over a 26-week programme. The 6 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 "Refurbishment and housebuilders" and "New builds" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Timber frame kit, walls, floors and roof, 223 m2
| £86,301.00 |
Concrete interlocking roof tiles, battens and underlay, 270 m2
| £10,314.00 |
Insulation and vapour control layer, 483 m2
| £7,467.18 |
Plasterboard, taped and jointed, 800 m2
| £9,480.00 |
Internal doors, architraves and skirting, 1 item
| £12,600.00 |
Option 1: basement fitted out, 102 m2
| £32,487.00 |
21 more lines of your own work
| £78,030.28 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Plumbing, heating and ventilation
| £24,800.00 |
Electrical installation
| £11,200.00 |
Foundations and ground-bearing slab
| £21,180.00 |
Client choices: kitchen, worktops and flooring, allowance
| £32,000.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Site manager, part-time
| £11,700.00 |
Temporary electrics and site toilet
| £1,920.00 |
Skips, exchanged
| £3,300.00 |
Building control and structural warranty fees
| £3,200.00 |
Setting out and as-built survey
| £950.00 |
Builders' clean
| £650.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| £204,192.46 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | £32,487.00 |
| Subcontractors | £89,180.00 |
Preliminaries
| £21,720.00 |
Direct cost
| £315,092.46 |
Contingency
| £12,603.70 |
Overheads and profit
| £39,323.54 |
| Subtotal before the bond | £367,019.70 |
Bond
| £0.00 |
Insurance
| £1,835.10 |
Tender total
| £368,854.80 |
VAT, for reference
| £73,770.96 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
Can I collapse the estimate to see the whole house?
Yes. Group the sheet by division, area or location, then collapse the groups to see every subtotal on one screen.
Will last year's new build tenders change when I put up my carpenter and dryliner rates?
No, not once a tender is submitted. A submitted tender keeps the labour and plant rates it was priced with.
Can I go back to the house as it was before the drawings were revised?
Yes. Bidfident keeps a version each time it saves, and about every 10 minutes while it autosaves. Compare any saved version of the house with now, and restore it with a click.
Can temporary electrics be priced by the month?
Yes. Prelims can be by the week, month, lump sum or each, and weekly and monthly items can follow the job duration.
Does the tender for a new build show VAT?
Yes, at 20%, on its own line and for reference only. The tender total is before VAT, and the tax's name and rate can be changed in Company settings.
Can I track actual costs against the estimate during the build?
No. Bidfident is for pricing the job, not cost value reconciliation. You can copy the cost report as CSV for your own spreadsheet.
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 new build 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.