Cincinnati, OH
FOUNDATIONS ESTIMATING.

## Foundation Estimating in Cincinnati Is Not a Generic Problem Cincinnati sits on a thick layer of glacial till and Ohio River floodplain deposits. That geology drives your job costs in ways that a generic spreadsheet will never capture. Bearing capacity varies block to block across the West Side, Hyde Park, and the river bottoms. You price one job tight, then hit unexpected clay expansion on the next and eat the margin. Estimate.Pro is built for the 25 trades that do real field work — foundation contractors included. You walk the site, capture dimensions with AR measurement on supported devices, and the app builds a priced scope-of-work in a median of 8 minutes. --- ## What the App Does for Foundation Work **AR measurement on-site.** On supported devices, the ONNX-assisted live AR tool measures footprint dimensions, wall heights, and step-down elevations as you walk. Camera or photo measurements are flagged as estimates so you always know what's verified versus approximated. **Scope builder trained on real foundation work.** Poured concrete footings, CMU block walls, poured walls, helical piers, push piers, epoxy crack injection, drain tile systems, interior and exterior waterproofing membranes — the scope items are there. You select, adjust quantities, and the line items populate against your saved material cost workspace. **Your material costs, saved.** Cincinnati-area concrete pricing moves with the local ready-mix market. You store your current unit costs once. Every estimate after that pulls your numbers, not a national average that has no bearing on a pour off Colerain Avenue. **Bid delivery in the field.** Send a professional, itemized bid to the homeowner or GC before you leave the driveway. No going back to the office to rekey notes. --- ## Cincinnati-Specific Conditions That Affect Your Numbers **Frost depth.** Ohio Building Code requires footings at a minimum 36-inch depth in Hamilton County to get below the frost line. That's non-negotiable. Your estimate needs to account for the full excavation depth on every footing job, not just the wall height the customer sees. **Soil conditions.** The Mill Creek valley and lower neighborhoods near the Ohio River routinely show fill material or saturated soils. Jobs there carry a real risk of requiring over-excavation and engineered fill. Build that contingency into your scope notes, not your margin. **Waterproofing demand.** Cincinnati averages around 42 inches of annual precipitation. Basement waterproofing — both interior drain tile and exterior membrane systems — is a consistent pull from homeowners in the hillside neighborhoods where lots shed water toward the foundation. A full waterproofing scope can add $8,000–$20,000 to a job. Your estimate needs those line items ready to add or remove without rebuilding from scratch. **Hillside lots.** Price Creek, Columbia Township, and parts of Mount Adams have steeply sloped lots where stepped footings or daylight basement configurations are common. AR measurement of those elevation changes cuts the time you spend calculating step-down depths on a tilted grade. --- ## Permits and Licensing in Hamilton County Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati both issue building permits for foundation work. For structural foundation repair or new foundation pours, a licensed contractor is required. Ohio does not have a single statewide specialty contractor license for foundation work, but the local building departments require a licensed contractor of record with proof of insurance and may require engineer-stamped drawings for underpinning or pier installation. Permit fees in Cincinnati are calculated on project valuation. A typical full basement waterproofing or foundation repair permit runs $150–$450 depending on declared value. New foundation pours on additions or detached structures are higher. Budget that cost into every bid you send — customers ask about it, and it should be a named line item, not buried. --- ## Pricing Estimate.Pro has a free forever tier. No credit card required to start. When your volume grows: - **Pro** — $39 per seat per month. Core estimating, AR measurement, saved cost workspace. - **Elite** — $79 per seat per month. Adds Stripe Connect invoicing (0% platform fee), invoice exports, and advanced workflows. - **Crew** — $399 per month flat for unlimited seats. Built for crews running multiple estimators. On the Free tier, Stripe Connect payments carry a 3% platform fee. Pro and above pay 0%. --- ## Start Without Risk Sign up free. No credit card. Run your next Cincinnati foundation estimate through the app and compare the time it takes against your current process. The 8-minute median is a real number from real jobs — not a marketing target.