Guide
How much does custom contractor software cost?
Ask a software company what a project costs and you usually get a discovery call, a proposal, and a number three weeks later with a range wide enough to park a trailer in. Here are our numbers up front.
The short version
Automation audit
$1,500–3,000 fixed
A day or two in your shop, with a written plan delivered within the week.
About a week
One targeted fix
$5,000–12,000 fixed
A quote generator, supplier-invoice parsing, a dashboard, or glue between two tools that don't talk.
2–6 weeks
A system that runs the business
$12,000–25,000 fixed scope, phased
Quoting, job tracking, scheduling, and invoicing in one place.
2–4 months, with the first working phase sooner
Hosting and care after launch
Monthly, quoted with the build
Hosting, monitoring, updates, and ongoing improvements.
Ongoing
All prices are in Canadian dollars. The number moves only if the scope does, and you approve any change before it costs anything.
Where your project lands in the range
Toward the low end
- One workflow, clearly understood. “Our quotes live in Excel and take 40 minutes each” is a low-end project.
- Your data already lives somewhere reachable: a spreadsheet, QuickBooks, an existing CRM.
- One or two people use it, and they sit close enough to shout feedback.
Toward the high end
- Several workflows that hand off to each other. Quoting that flows into scheduling that flows into invoicing is three systems agreeing with each other.
- Crews in the field. Phone-first screens, patchy signal, and photo uploads all add scope.
- Integrations with software that fights back. Some accounting and supplier systems have good doors in; some have a mail slot.
- Years of history to carry over. Old data is worth keeping, and cleaning it takes time.
Why the numbers are this low
We quote after the audit or a scoping call, so we're pricing work we understand. And AI tools now do most of the typing in programming. We pass that saving on as speed and a firm price, where a lot of shops still bill the hours the job took in 2019. The work itself stays here, with the same people from the first call to launch.
What it costs after launch
Software you own still has to live somewhere. After launch we host it, monitor it, apply updates, and keep improving it for a monthly amount quoted alongside the build and sized to the system. You own the code and the data either way, so if you ever want it hosted elsewhere, it moves with you.
To see what a full system looks like at the top of the range, read how we built one system from first call to final payment for an exteriors contractor. To put a number on what your current setup costs, try the spreadsheet cost calculator.
Where to start
If you already know exactly what hurts, ask for a quote on that. If you know the shop loses hours but couldn't point to the one fix, the audit is built for that. It costs $1,500–3,000, and the plan it produces is yours whether or not we build anything from it.