Clear Estimates vs Bolster

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Contractor Foreman

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Compare Clear Estimates and Bolster based on features, pricing, verified reviews, integrations & more on GetApp. Find out which software is best for your business in 2026.

Houzz Pro

Houzz Pro is a cloud and mobile-based solution for construction and design industry, offering AI tools to win projects, manage clients and teams, and run business efficiently.

Handoff

Handoff is an AI-enabled construction estimating solution for residential remodelers, handymen, and fix and flippers. Users describe their projects, and Handoff generates fast and accurate estimates using local, proprietary data. Estimates can later be turned into proposals, invoices, and payments.

ConstructionOnline

UDA ConstructionOnline is a web-based software that helps businesses in the construction industry streamline project management, scheduling, and client communications. It allows remodelers and home builders to utilize a centralized dashboard to track updates and changes across projects.

Windows-based estimating software that generates bids and proposals while managing a part/customer database.

Accounting Integration

Audit Trail

Bid Management

Billing & Invoicing

Change Order Management

Contractor Management

Cost Database

Cost Estimating

Customizable Branding

Customizable Fields

Customizable Templates

Data Import/Export

For AEC Industry

For Residential

Historical Database

Job Costing

Mobile Access

Projections

Project Management

Proposal Generation

Quotes/Estimates

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Third-Party Integrations

What-if Analysis

Clear Estimates

Web-based

Windows

iPad

iPhone

Standard

Franchise

Remodeling Contractor

So you can set up your pricing and just plug in the quantities for the tasks you do most often. And for the tasks you don't often do, the program provides pricing.

Owner

the pre made parts are very close to the real cost, the templates are fairly extensive in both the number of types but also contents of each

Price is expensive if you are not a large company that doesn't use all the bells and whistles.

This has been reported but not corrected.

owner

I still needed to scale blueprints or use another program.

Customer service is responsive and easy to reach.

Material costs are inaccurate and have not been updated.

estimator

Ease of use, able to change line item information, updated pricing.

Project Manager

This software is locked into one cost code system. And the time I would have taken me to readjust all the job cost lines to match a Masterformat Division cost code system (which is what all my other software is set up as), was way to costly from the aspect of time to even think about Clear Estimates being an option.

grant@leviathanremodels.com

Once you modify the provided tasks to fit the projects you do and the way you bid your work, Clear Estimates allows you to bid out the standard components of a project by the piece or by area. If you track the actual time and materials required to complete a particular component over many jobs and get an accurate figure for the per piece or per square foot cost, this method of bidding can save you a huge amount of time by allowing you to extrapolate from the number of pieces/area of the installation to an accurate estimate of the time and materials required. Once the library of pieces has been built out or adapted, you can create a finished estimate in a few minutes.

Project Manager 

The way you can see if your pricing is competitive as it gives your local market info pertaining to labor and correct amount of time required, etc.

I used Contractor Foreman previously and Clear Estimates may not include as many project management-related features, but it is far and away the better choice for putting together estimates, quotes, and project proposals.

Owner 

No internal calculations to figure out square figure of walls and flooring based on user inputting room dimensions.  

Good price point, updates to pricing list based on area you're working, template usage

Sr. Property Specialist

It also comes with handyman repairs that are especially helpful for estimating repairs.

The training videos are extremely helpful. If I can use this software to generate professional quotes anyone can.  

Ability to write more accurate estimates instead of "guessing" and ballparking.

Engineering Manager

Standard Sections as reusable components on top of those parts makes it easy to create any estimate from scratch.

Owner /operator

Any questions I had either my teenager would figure it out for me or an email to Support and they are back with you that day sometimes within the hour.

Before using Clear Estimates, I would routinely underestimate the cost of materials and time necessary to complete a project.   

When I set up a proposal it was difficult trying to remove a portion of it, but I chalked it up to not really going thru the training.

I would also like a way to see more than 4 items on my list at a time.

President

real time data and being able to use it to make better estimates

Contractor 

Some of the pricing is inaccurate or not updated to current market pricing.

This program makes estimating jobs much much easier and saves a bunch of time.

President and CEO

Estimate/bid forms are difficult to format.

trying to simplify estimating, so far the learning curve has been tough for me but I'm still holding out hope.

Account Manager 

Right now it’s gets all jumbled at the top of e proposals.

I love the fact that it prices the materials & labor for me.

president

Here are some of the filter options I need.

Thank you for the free.trial thank you for writing a program I can learn on the fly .

I save a lot of time, now that I have learned how to navigate the software.  

Clear Estimates has saved me countless hours over the past few months.

It has more than paid for itself in the past couple of months I have been using it.  

Anytime I have needed personal assistance over the phone they were always there for me.

Honestly the cons are all pointing at me the operator.

ease of use and software ease, the ease of putting together solid bids

Very friendly and they speak on my level.

Estimates

Pricing

Training and Learning Curve

Features

Reports

Customer Support

Labor Rates

Proposals

Bids

Project Saving

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Large Enterprises

Freelancers

Most users consider Clear Estimates to offer strong value for money, highlighting its affordable pricing, frequent updates to pricing data, and the inclusion of useful features like templates, a customer database, and integration with QuickBooks. They appreciate the ability to customize pricing and the flexibility to adjust line items. Reviewers indicate that the software’s cost is justified by time savings and increased efficiency. Some users report concerns about occasional inaccuracies or outdated pricing data and note that the cost may be high for very small businesses. A few reviewers mention limitations in the cost code system.

Contractor Foreman is an all-in-one construction management software designed for small to medium-sized contractors. It offers a range of features, including project management, financial tracking, team collaboration, and document management, all in an easy-to-use and affordable platform.

STACK

STACK is the best, cloud-based takeoff and estimating software for construction contractors. STACK software is easy-to-use, Mac & PC compatible, and has powerful, time-saving AI features.

Jobber

Jobber is field service management software that helps home service businesses stay organized and deliver great customer experiences. With AI tools like Jobber Copilot and automated marketing features, teams can manage more work while delivering five-star service.

CostCertified is a web-based construction estimating software that helps residential contractors quickly generate interactive proposals, allowing customers to upgrade, downgrade, modify, or add items to quotations in real-time.

Activity Dashboard

Calendar Management

Client Management

Cost Tracking

Document Storage

Electrical Estimating

Financial Management

HVAC Estimating

Invoice Management

Job Management

Job Scheduling

Lead Management

Materials Management

Payment Processing

Plumbing Estimating

Progress Tracking

Real-Time Updates

Scheduling

Subcontractor Management

Takeoff

Task Management

Task Scheduling

Visual Assemblies

Bolster

Bolster Essentials

 Bolster Pro

 Bolster Premium

 Bolster Enterprise

With that said, there are some hassles we’ve learned to navigate when creating a proposal; when clicking the “clear changes” button, just know it will get rid of ALL work including anything saved, and when changing the theme (cover photo) of an estimate - while inside the preview layout - it will automatically change it on ALL other proposals currently using that same theme, without warning.

Bolster’s estimating software has many useful tools, and when building an estimate, we have ENDLESS options including a prebuilt library of items we can edit to fit our needs.

The speed with which it helps me create estimates of all sizes and the job calculations (pricing, scheduling and tracking)

In similar products, you have a lot more freedom to change the way your pipeline looks, IE- more columns, split by groups/region, etc.

Sales and Design

Love that I am able to tailor pricing to meet my company's needs. With the template features the turnaround time has sped up immensly.

Systems Engineer

Bolster allows the clients to make specific decisions regarding the choice of the finishes as well as options that have an equivalent immediate impact on the cost.

Office manager

We love that it speeds up the process for quoting by using templates that we are able to create, specific to our type of projects.  

With any software program, there are unpredictable bugs that have halted our progress at times, requiring some flexibility on our part.

Owner-Project Manager-Estimator

Our customers love the format that allows them to selection different options for items i.e. plumbing fixtures, flooring types etc.

Sales coordinator

The professional proposals that we accurately and quickly get to clients where they have options right within the system. How easily it customizes to our niche business and makes the process clean from start to finish.

Consultant

The presentations, options upgrades and selections are the number one feature.

Good software for quoting and winning jobs, we are able to win higher jobs with the same amount of customers for our small construction business.

Its a great software to boost sales with presentations and options, and upgrades.

Owner and office manager

You only get one user for the $4000 and have to pay extra for additional users, this made it challenging for 3 of us to use the software for estimating, reporting and assigning tasks.

The interactive capabilities for the clients to build their own budget

The automation and reporting tools help save time and keep everything organized.

We took about 2 months to fully implement everything and put all our supplier pricing in the software.

the support team at Bolster is very responsive and they work hard to resolve system glitches.

manager

The estimating and bidding was also a nice feature

Digital creator

The pricing feels a bit high for smaller teams.

We liked that the customer could interact with the estimate, upgrade or downgrade to make the project fit their wants/needs and their budget.

Overall, Bolster is a solid platform that improves sales visibility and efficiency.

General Manager

The only thing that perhaps can be listed as a downside is the issue of package synchronization.

Office Administrator

Our relationship manager worked closely with us to build our system base and helped us become familiar with using the software.

Founder CEO

The ability to visualize upgrades in the estimating process was the most attractive feature.

CEO and designer

Everything I liked everything from the overall experience to the way things are and I like how they are all related to each other

The pipe line keeps all the clients and projects and invoices all in one place. Once setup the system is very easy to learn / use.

The first couple months bids will be slow as your building up your items & assemblies. But once that's done, bids get a lot faster.

Over the past few years, this app has saved me hundreds of hours.

I really like Bolsters estimating capabilities.  

After 7 or so hour long meetings, we were increasingly feeling like this was going to take more time/energy and money (we were paying our guy to set the things up that the Bolster team should have been doing).

I would like to see the Change Order component populate as a separate summary from the originally signed estimate.  

Showed up to an onboarding webinar where there employee basically tells you good luck your on your own. if you need help they expect you to just watch a video.

Estimate creation is easy, learning curve is short

That way the client and crew doesn't have to sift throught the entire original estimate to find the changes.

The PDF format that I print out for the hardcopy is quite lengthy.  

Business Owner

It is a great concept but it is a huge load on the company to get the information to Bolster to get the software up and running.

Clear Estimates vs Bolster Comparison (2026)

Clear Estimates

Bolster

Overview

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