Builder Squad

Plans in. Quote pack out. You sign off.

Builder Squad reads your plans, subbie quotes and selections, applies your rate card and margin, and hands back a tender-ready quote pack in about the time it takes to have a smoko. You stay on the tools. It does the grind.

01What it is

The estimator that never knocks off early.

Builder Squad is the trades arm of SquadHQ: agent-native estimating for Australian builders and trades. Agents absorb the plans, do the takeoffs, price on your rate card and current market rates, and assemble the full quote pack: working number, itemised register, exclusions, variation triggers and the client decisions still to lock.

Your name only goes on a number you have reviewed, adjusted and signed off.

02How it works

Three steps. One tender-ready pack.

01

Drop in the job

Plans, subbie quotes, client selections. PDFs, scans, photos, the lot. The squad reads them.

02

It does the takeoff

Your rate card, carpentry hours, market rates and margin, built into a cost model with allowances, PC items and provisional sums included.

03

You review and sign off

A full quote pack comes back: working number, itemised register, exclusions and variation triggers. You check it, tweak it, put your name to it.

What comes back: the quote pack

quote pack · ready for reviewawaiting your sign-off
Cost build (trades + materials)$247,300
Statutory / pass-through$18,450
Marginapplied at your rate
Working number (inc GST)$316,900

Open items to lock

  • Tapware and fixtures: allowance $4,200
  • Excavation in rock: provisional sum $2,800
  • Benchtop material: selection pending

Every line shows its working.

Headline budget with margin, statutory and pass-through costs and GST broken out. An itemised register per package: strip-out and structure, services and rough-in, finishes and fit-off. What is in, what is provisional, and what still needs confirming.

Figures shown are illustrative demo content

03Division of labour

Agents do the grind. You make the call.

Agents
  • Read plans, drawings and specs
  • Measure takeoffs line by line
  • Price on your rate card and market rates
  • Build allowances, PC items and provisional sums
  • Assemble the tender-ready pack
You
  • Review every line before it goes out
  • Adjust rates, margin and inclusions
  • Decide what is in and what is excluded
  • Sign off with your name on it
  • Own the client relationship

It does the grind. Nothing leaves without you.

04In production

Priced against a real estimator. It held.

The estimating agent absorbed a full set of plans for a four-unit development, applied the builder's own rate card and returned an itemised quote pack, checked against the number the in-house estimator produced. Connected by API into Xero and BuildXact.

~20 minPlans in to quote pack out
4 unitsPriced on a ~$16M development
±$5kAgainst the in-house estimator
Visit the Builder Agent site
05Who it is for

For the person whose name is on the quote.

Builders

You price to win the job, then live with the number. Get the full pack back the same morning and spend your judgement where it pays.

Trades pricing their own work

Sparkies, plumbers, chippies. Anyone quoting off plans without an estimator on the payroll gets one that never knocks off.

Estimating teams

Your senior estimator stops burning hours on takeoffs and starts reviewing them. More tenders out, same headcount.

Honest fit check: if you price one small job a month, the setup will not earn its keep. If quoting is what stands between you and more work, book the demo.

06FAQs

Straight answers.

  • It prices on your rate card and current market rates, and shows its working on every line. In production it landed within $5k of the in-house estimator on a multi-unit development, and you review every line before anything goes out.

  • No. It does the grind: reading plans, takeoffs, pricing and assembly. You review, adjust and sign off. Nothing leaves without you.

  • Plans, any subbie quotes, and your rates. That is it. The squad is set up on your rate card, your templates and your own plans through the system.

  • It connects by API into Xero and BuildXact today, with your quoting templates carried across. Bring whatever your workflow runs on and we will map it on the demo.

Put your next set of plans through it.

Book a demo and we will run a real job through the squad, on your rates, and put the pack beside your last quote.