Clear Estimates
Construction estimating software with locally adjusted material and labor costs for residential remodelers
By Clear Estimates · HQ Ann Arbor, US · 4.0/5 Value-Position score (estimate)
Positioning guardrails
Best for
- Residential remodelers, handymen and general contractors who need fast, accurate bids
- Kitchen, bath, addition, roofing, siding, painting, plumbing, electrical and HVAC estimates
- Small contractors who want templates, e-signature, invoicing and branded proposals in one tool
- Franchise and multi-user operations needing custom branding and a hosted quote page
Ideal size: 1–20 people · Small residential contractor or remodeling franchise with low IT overhead
Not for
- Commercial, industrial or heavy civil construction estimating
- Large enterprises needing ERP-grade cost controls or multi-entity workflows
- Buyers who require published security certifications or formal SLAs
- Teams needing a documented public API or MCP server
Value metrics scorecard
Time-to-Value
Under 1 week with templates
~7 days to first production value
Total Cost of Ownership
$1,188/yr
Starts at $708 · Per account, billed monthly or annually; Standard $59/mo and Pro $99/mo billed annually, Franchise from $199/mo
Implementation Friction
1/5
Engineering + admin effort required
Value-Position score
out of 5 · model estimate
Full cost breakdown
Mandatory implementation fee
None
Seat tiers
Standard and Pro are single-account; additional Pro users +$9/month; Franchise priced by scope
Add-on costs
- Additional users +$9/month (Pro plan)
- Franchise customization from $199–$249/month depending on scope
Company & support
Who is behind Clear Estimates, and how your team gets help once it is live.
Company
- Founded
- 2005 · 21 yrs in business
- Headquarters
- Ann Arbor, US
How you get support
- PhoneAll plans
- EmailAll plans
- Live chatAll plans
- Support portal / ticketsAll plans
- Community forumNot listed
- Help centre / docsAll plans
- Dedicated account managerNot listed
- In person / on-siteNot listed
- Hours
- Business hours
- Response time
- Not stated
Support team is online Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm Eastern by live chat, phone (800) 540-3935 and [email protected]. Self-serve Help Center, FAQs, tutorials and webinars cover getting started, account and billing.
“Not listed” means the vendor’s public pages don’t mention that channel, not that it is unavailable. Ask about it during evaluation.
Market position
Where Clear Estimates sits against its closest alternatives. Pick any two of cost, speed, friction and buyer score, and up to 9 companies to compare.
Quadrant view
Typical annual cost × Time-to-value
The lines cross at the median of the solutions shown, so about half sit on each side of each line.
Companies on the chart 6 / 10
- Clear Estimates
- ServiceM8
- busybusy
- JobTread
- Service Fusion
- Knowify
Add or change companies
Up to 10 companies including Clear Estimates. Listed closest first.
Stack fit signal
Compatibility with standard B2B ecosystems.
No supported MCP path today, so it cannot be driven from an AI client.
AI & MCP readiness
What Clear Estimates ships in AI, and what it asks of your ecosystem.
AI features shipped
The pricing page lists 'Unlimited AI Estimates' on all plans and 'AI-Powered Image & Plan Uploads' on Pro. No vendor page names a model provider, model key arrangement, AI activity logging or a training-data policy.
Your data & models
- Trains on your data
- Not recorded — ask the vendor
- Runs on
- Not recorded
- AI pricing
- Included in the plan
In your ecosystem
- AI connection
- Not supported
- Model key
- Not recorded
- AI usage audit
- Not recorded
Compliance attestations
* IAPP AIGP certifies individuals, not products. It means named staff hold the credential — not that the platform does.
Bottom line
Clear Estimates is estimating software for residential remodelers, handymen and general contractors. It pairs a 13,000+ line-item cost database with localized pricing for 400+ US areas, updated quarterly, plus 400+ project templates, e-signature, invoicing and branded client proposals. Plans start at $59/month billed annually, with no contract or setup fees and a 30-day free trial. AI assists with estimate generation and with reading uploaded images and plans.
Frequently asked questions
What does Clear Estimates cost per year?
Billed annually, Standard is $59/month ($708/year) and Pro is $99/month ($1,188/year); month-to-month billing is $79 and $119 respectively. The Franchise plan starts at $199/month annually ($249 monthly) and is quoted by customization scope. There is no contract and no setup fee, additional Pro users are $9/month, and a 30-day free trial is offered.
How fast can a remodeling company get value from it?
The product is cloud-based with no implementation fee, so accounts start producing estimates quickly. The vendor advertises 400+ preloaded project templates and says users enter dimensions to generate an itemized estimate with local material and labor rates in minutes. A 30-day free trial covers evaluation.
Does Clear Estimates offer an API or MCP server for AI agents?
No vendor page we reviewed mentions MCP or the Model Context Protocol, and no public API is documented. The published integrations are BuilderTrend and CRM/marketing tools via Zapier, with custom feature development available on the Franchise plan.
Is AI included in the plan price or billed separately?
AI is part of the plan. The pricing page lists 'Unlimited AI Estimates' on every tier, including Standard, and 'AI-Powered Image & Plan Uploads' from Pro upward. No usage-based AI credits or separate AI add-on pricing is published.
What security or compliance certifications does the vendor hold?
Clear Estimates does not publish a security, trust or compliance page among the sources reviewed, and no SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP or other certification is claimed. Buyers with formal vendor-risk requirements should request documentation directly.
Where is the company based and who runs it?
Clear Estimates is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan (420 N. 4th Ave). The company launched its first desktop product in 2005, moved to a cloud system in 2013, released Clear Estimates PRO in 2017 and acquired its data partner RemodelMAX in 2020. Owner and CEO is Nolan Orfield.