Guide
Choosing construction quoting software
The quote is the only document a client reads before choosing you. Yet it usually gets written at night, from memory, in a spreadsheet inherited from an old boss. Here is what a tool should fix — and what it will not.
The four things that actually cost you money
Before comparing features, it helps to name what loses jobs. On site it is almost always the same list.
- Delay. A quote that goes out three days after the visit arrives second. On small residential jobs, first in wins a large share.
- Pricing from memory. An item priced by feel is either too high — you lose — or too low — you win and pay the difference yourself.
- Tax. A pre-tax figure presented as a total ends in an argument at the final invoice.
- Vagueness. "Redo the bathroom" is not a quote. It is a promise the client will interpret their own way, and they will be right to.
What good software does
Useful quoting software is not a word processor with a logo on it. It carries YOUR prices, applies YOUR province's tax, produces a document the client understands, and records their acceptance.
- A price library that is yours: cost and price per item, visible margin, editable in a minute.
- Provincial tax calculated and itemised on the document — not a percentage typed by hand.
- A PDF in the client's language, not in yours.
- Online acceptance with proof: timestamp, IP address, consent. A "yes" by text message is not proof.
- Options: Good / Better / Premium from the same visit. The client picks a level instead of picking another contractor.
- A direct path to the invoice once the job is accepted, with nothing retyped.
What no quoting software does — Devik included
This list matters as much as the previous one, because a tool bought for what it does not do is a tool abandoned in month two.
- No accounting, no bank reconciliation: your accountant keeps their software, you send them an export.
- No project management, no dispatch, no timesheets, no GPS tracking.
- No regulatory compliance: no software files on your behalf and none makes you compliant.
- No market pricing: nobody knows your supplier costs better than you do.
How Devik goes about it
Devik starts at the visit rather than at the desk. You describe the work out loud in front of the job, with photos. The AI structures the quote using your price library, flags what it is unsure about, and lists what is missing instead of inventing it.
You review, you send, the client signs online. If there is a deposit, they pay it in the same motion. And when the job changes mid-course, the change order travels the same path.
FAQ
Do I need to be good with computers?
You need to be able to record a voice message. The rest happens in a review screen where you correct numbers. The mobile app is built to be used with gloves on, in a truck.
Does the AI invent prices?
No. It only uses your library. A quantity that was not dictated becomes an open question, never a plausible-looking number. Lines it is unsure about are flagged before you send anything.
What if the client asks for a change after accepting?
That is a change order: a separate document with its own amount and its own signature, which updates the contract total. An amount can be negative when the change removes work.
Go further
Devik prices it with your rates and taxes. Free 14-day trial.
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