Kev makes some very valid points.
For me, I've been in the restoration/insurance repair biz since the late 70's (was a an Adjuster and Claims Manager until the early 90's) and for many smaller jobs I can look at most and tell if it's a half day job, full day or 5 day, etc and then add up the materials to get my price.
I also will use unit cost pricing on some jobs and the predominant estimating software used for that in North America is an estimating platform called Xactimate which can cost a couple thousand dollars per year for the license. Also, my client base uses the same program and I'm often given a budget for most simple tasks, while the specialty cabinetry things I do aren't properly addressed so it's usually a bid item.
Xactimate's database MAY work better for those in the US where it's based as they say they do market research to come up with their unit prices and they adjust pricing where labour or materials are different due to market conditions. Also, there is a feedback system in place that takes into account uploaded estimates ands have variances over time will affect the unit pricing modelling.
Xactimate says they do the same market research and modelling as above here in Canada as they do in the States, but that's a crock of s&it. As mentioned, I've been in this industry LONG time and I've yet to meet ANY contractor that actually does restoration work having been asked by Xactimate how much they'd charge for different tasks. In fact, a Canadian National restoration industry association about 2 years ago hired Deloitte a major accounting firm to conduct a review on how the "industry" decides on its pricing models and last I heard they've not yet found any restoration industry subs of note that provided pricing.... Hmmm, Xactimate has ownership ties to the Insurance industry in the US. You draw your own conclusions.
The Insurance industry is so fixated on this computer estimating model and they think that it's reality when often it's not even close on some line items. You also have Adjusters and Claims Manager that think that just because you enter a SF or LF price for the line item that a good trade who's insured, has WCB, etc should do it for a low price and warranty the repair that that is reality. Virtually all the people producing the estimates have never swung a hammer before, let alone as a living having to make payroll, pay taxes, waited to get paid for months on end, etc...
Okay...I'm done on the rant...sorry about that!
In the joistapp.com that I'm using I've created the most common line items that I use with the pricing per LF, SF or whatever and it's easy to recall them when doing an estimate/invoice. The program lets you add photos from your library or will let you attach a new photo right from your phone/tablet. You can also add a contract, sketch or whatever.
You email the completed estimate/invoice right from your device while within the app and it's sent as a pdf. You also can see if the recipient opened the pdf on a list viewable on your device of choice. As mentioned, the App is free and you could set up a test company and play around with it for a while before you use it for real.
Is the program perfect? Well, no but it is more than sufficient for my needs and the developers do make changes to the app to the good as time goes on. In my somewhat recent past, I developed a fairly major ERP software program for a restoration firm that linked through API's all of the other business software(accounting, payroll, communication) through one central point ERP so I can see the value in this straight forward and simple App for small companies like mine.
