OneBookPlus
Build a builder's estimate in minutes, priced from your own costs
Describe or speak the job and a sectioned estimate streams in, priced from your own recent supplier bills, with AI estimating included, not a paid add-on.
Construction estimating software for Australian residential builders. Describe or speak the job and a sectioned estimate streams in, priced from your own cost catalogue and calibrated to what you actually paid suppliers recently. Recipes, markup and margin, PC/PS allowances and wastage, then an AI reviewer catches what's missing before the estimate becomes an accepted quote and a contract job. $99/mo, unlimited users, AI included.
Replaces Buildxact estimating, Databuild, Cubit, Excel
What's included
Everything in OneBookPlus Construction Estimating
Describe or speak the job
Type or dictate what you're building: 'single-storey extension, 48m² slab, timber frame, two bathrooms': and a sectioned estimate streams in line by line. It's a first draft you edit and approve, not a fixed quote sent to anyone.
Priced from your own costs
Every line is costed from your cost catalogue and calibrated to what you actually paid suppliers recently, using your own paid bills: not a generic national price book. Your last real Reece or Bunnings invoice is a truer number than a list price, and the estimate uses it.
Cost catalogue with CSV import
Load your materials and labour rates by CSV and keep them as your single source of cost. Import once, price every estimate from it, and update rates in one place.
Recipes and assemblies
Save assemblies like a stud wall per lineal metre or a slab per m²: materials plus labour bundled: so one quantity explodes into every component. Build the recipe once and reuse it on every job.
Markup AND margin
Toggle between markup and true margin at the item, section or whole-estimate level. Buildxact is markup-only and builders regularly complain about it: apply a 25% margin and see the sell price that actually returns it.
PC and PS allowances plus wastage
Add prime-cost and provisional-sum allowances for undecided items, and set wastage percentages on materials, so the estimate reflects how a real build is priced: not a tidy fiction.
AI estimate reviewer
An AI reviewer reads the estimate and flags what a good QS would: missing trades or items, pricing outliers, and AU compliance gaps. Anything it finds, you can add to the estimate with one tap: or ignore. It suggests; you decide.
AI assembly assistant
Ask the AI to build an assembly from a plain-English description and it drafts the component list for you to check and save. A faster way to grow your recipe library without spreadsheet grunt work.
Estimate to quote to contract
Turn the finished estimate into a branded quote your client accepts online, then convert the accepted quote into a contract job with its schedule of values ready for progress claims: no re-keying between steps.
Minutes
To draft a sectioned builder's estimate from a description
Your costs
Priced from what you actually paid suppliers recently, not a generic list
Markup + margin
Both, at item or section level, Buildxact is markup-only
Included
AI estimating is in the $99/mo app, not a $99 to $149/mo add-on
Simple setup
How OneBookPlus Construction Estimating works
Describe or speak the job
Type or dictate the scope and let the AI draft a sectioned estimate: trade by trade: into your review queue. Nothing is sent; it's yours to shape.
Price it from your own costs
Each line is costed from your catalogue and calibrated to your recent supplier bills. Swap in recipes for repeated assemblies so quantities explode into components automatically.
Tune markup, margin and allowances
Set markup or true margin at item or section level, add PC/PS allowances for undecided items, and apply wastage: until the numbers match how you actually build.
Review, then quote and contract
Run the AI reviewer to catch missing items and outliers, add anything you agree with in one tap, then send the quote for online acceptance and convert it into a contract job.
Construction Estimating Software for Australian Builders
The best construction estimating software australia builders can run isn't the one with the biggest price book, it's the one priced from your costs. OneBookPlus Construction Estimating lets you describe or speak the job and watch a sectioned estimate stream in, trade by trade, costed from your own catalogue and calibrated to what you actually paid suppliers recently. A generic national rate is a guess; your last real supplier bill is a fact, and this building estimating software prices from the fact. Everything the AI drafts lands in a review queue you edit and approve, it's a first draft, never a quote sent behind your back.
Residential builder estimating lives and dies on the details tools get wrong. OneBookPlus does markup and true margin, toggle either at item or section level, where Buildxact is markup-only and builders complain about the mental arithmetic. It handles PC and PS allowances for undecided items, wastage percentages on materials, and recipes that explode a stud wall or a slab into every component from one quantity. Then an AI reviewer reads the estimate like a QS, flags missing items, pricing outliers and AU compliance gaps, and lets you add anything you agree with in a single tap.
Crucially, the AI is included, not a paid add-on. Buildxact meters its Blu AI estimate generator and reviewer as extras on top of a subscription that starts at $199/mo and reaches $599/mo, and it's tax-exclusive only. OneBookPlus bundles AI estimating, GST-inclusive pricing, quotes accepted online, progress-claim invoicing and online payment into a single $99/mo builder-suite with unlimited users and free data export. Your estimate becomes a quote the client accepts online, then a contract job with a schedule of values ready to claim against, one thread, no re-keying.
Estimating sits at the centre of the OneBookPlus builder suite — you can feed it measured quantities from digital plan takeoff, bill the won job as progress claims, compare the estimating engine to Buildxact, or explore OneBookPlus for builders.
How we compare
Construction Estimating vs the competition
See how OneBookPlus compares to the tools you might already be using.
| Feature | OneBookPlus | Buildxact | Databuild | Excel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI drafts the estimate from a description | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| AI estimating included, not a paid add-on | Yes | No | No | No |
| Priced from your own recent supplier bills | Yes | No | No | No |
| Markup AND true margin toggle | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Recipes / assemblies | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| PC / PS allowances and wastage | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| AI reviewer for missing items & outliers | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| GST-inclusive pricing (AU) | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Estimate to accepted quote to invoice to online payment | Yes | No | No | No |
| Native mobile app | Yes | No | No | No |
| Flat price, unlimited users | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Price | $99/mo | $199 to $599/mo + Blu add-ons | Quote only | $0 (spreadsheet) |
Example walkthrough
A day with OneBookPlus Construction Estimating
A worked example, an Adelaide builder pricing a single-storey extension after the site visit
Priya walks the site for a rear extension in the morning and, sitting in the ute afterwards, dictates the scope into the app: 'single-storey extension, 42m² slab on ground, timber frame, Colorbond roof, one bathroom, repaint the adjoining rooms.' A sectioned estimate streams in, sitework, concrete, framing, roofing, wet areas, painting, line by line.
Each line is priced from her own catalogue and calibrated to her recent supplier bills, so the slab and the framing timber reflect what she actually paid last month, not a list price. She drops in a saved stud-wall recipe for the new walls, sets a 22% margin on the whole job, not a markup she'd have to reverse-engineer, and adds a $6,000 PS allowance for the bathroom fit-out the client hasn't chosen yet.
Before she sends anything, she runs the AI reviewer. It flags two things: no allowance for waterproofing to the wet area, and a downpipe count that looks light against the roof area. Both are fair. She taps to add the waterproofing line, fixes the downpipes herself, and ignores a third suggestion she knows is already covered. Fifteen minutes after leaving site she turns the estimate into a quote the owners accept that evening, and it converts to a contract job with a schedule of values ready to claim against.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about OneBookPlus Construction Estimating.
Is the AI estimating an extra cost?
No. AI estimate generation, the AI reviewer and the assembly assistant are all included in the $99/mo builder-suite. Buildxact charges for its Blu AI, the estimate generator is roughly +$99/mo on the entry tier and the estimate reviewer around +$149/mo, on top of a subscription that starts higher than ours.
How does the pricing stay accurate?
Estimates are priced from your own cost catalogue and calibrated to what you actually paid suppliers recently, drawn from your own paid bills. That means the number reflects your real buying, not a national list price, and you can override any line before it goes out.
Can I use margin, or only markup?
Both. You can toggle between markup and true margin at the item, section or whole-estimate level. This is a common Buildxact frustration, it's markup-only, so builders who think in margin end up doing mental arithmetic. OneBookPlus shows you the sell price that returns the margin you actually want.
Can I import my existing price list?
Yes. Bring your materials and labour rates in by CSV, then save recipes and assemblies on top so a stud wall or a slab prices as one line. Update a rate once and it flows through every estimate that uses it.
What does the AI reviewer actually check?
It reads the estimate the way a careful QS would and flags likely missing items or trades, pricing that looks like an outlier, and AU compliance gaps. Each finding is a suggestion, you can add it to the estimate with one tap or dismiss it. Nothing changes the estimate without your say-so.
How does this compare to Buildxact, Databuild or Excel?
Excel has no recipes, no AI and no live pricing. Databuild is a capable but heavier volume-builder package sold on quote. Buildxact has mature estimating but is markup-only, tax-exclusive, and gates its AI behind paid add-ons and higher tiers. OneBookPlus gives you AI estimating, margin support, GST-inclusive pricing, quoting, invoicing and online payment in one $99/mo app.
Australian Owned
Built in Melbourne, AU
GST Compliant
ATO-ready from day one
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Free Plan Available
No credit card needed
Works great with
Other OneBookPlus products that pair naturally with Construction Estimating.
About the author
Bishal Shrestha
Founder & CEO, OneBookPlus
Bishal spent a decade running digital projects for Australian small businesses before founding OneBookPlus. He writes and maintains these pages, and publishes what OneBookPlus does not do alongside what it does.
Read the founder bioStart with OneBookPlus Construction Estimating
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Reviewed by Bishal Shrestha