New York, NY
FOUNDATIONS ESTIMATING.

## Foundation Estimating in New York Is Its Own Category New York City foundation work does not resemble foundation work anywhere else. You are dealing with Manhattan schist at varying depths, soft Holocene clays in Queens and Brooklyn, fill soils across former industrial waterfronts, and a Department of Buildings that requires a licensed PE on most structural drawings before a permit moves. Add landmark district restrictions, party wall agreements in brownstone neighborhoods, and crane-swing easements on tight lots, and a foundation bid that takes a day to produce in Houston can take three days here. Estimate.Pro cuts that production time down. Median time from walkthrough to a sendable bid is 8 minutes. You do the site read. The app handles the math. --- ## What the App Actually Does for Foundation Contractors **AR-assisted measurement on supported devices.** Walk the excavation footprint or the existing foundation perimeter. The ONNX-assisted live AR measurement engine captures dimensions in real time. On devices without LiDAR, measurements from photos are flagged as estimates so your scope stays honest. **AI scope-of-work generation.** After the walkthrough, describe the conditions: depth to bearing, soil classification, presence of groundwater, whether you are doing new footings, underpinning, helical piers, or slab-on-grade. The AI drafts the scope-of-work line items. You review and edit before anything goes to the client. **Your own material cost workspace.** Concrete unit prices in New York fluctuate with batch plant capacity and diesel surcharges. Ready-mix in the outer boroughs runs differently than a Manhattan pour requiring a pump truck and a night delivery window. Save your current material costs in Estimate.Pro and the estimate reflects your actual numbers, not national averages. **Priced estimate to client in one tap.** The finished bid leaves your phone or desktop as a professional document. No reformatting in Excel, no waiting until you are back at the office. --- ## Scopes the Foundation Calculator Covers - Strip footings and spread footings (residential and light commercial) - Reinforced concrete foundation walls (ICF and conventional forming) - Slab-on-grade with vapor barrier and sub-base - Basement excavation and shoring cost inputs - Underpinning: mass concrete pit underpinning and mini-pile - Helical pier installation (load capacity inputs, torque correlation) - Grade beam and pile cap scopes - Waterproofing membrane and drainage board (exterior and interior) - Crack injection and structural repair line items - Soil disposal allowances (critical in NYC where contaminated fill triggers regulated disposal) --- ## NYC-Specific Conditions That Affect Your Bid **Rock excavation.** Bedrock in Manhattan can sit at 15 feet or 150 feet depending on block. Blasting is effectively prohibited below 96th Street in most scenarios. Hydraulic hammering and rock-wheel costs need their own line item, not a contingency percentage. **Underpinning adjacent structures.** NYC Building Code Chapter 33 governs protection of adjacent property. Any excavation deeper than the existing footings of a neighbor requires an underpinning or sheeting-and-bracing plan stamped by a PE. Your bid needs to price the underpinning sequence in discrete stages, because DOB inspects between stages. **Soil borings and geotechnical reports.** DOB typically requires a soil boring log and geotechnical report for new buildings and significant additions. Budget this as a direct cost or an owner-furnished item, and flag it explicitly in your scope so it does not become a dispute at payout. **Dewatering.** The water table across much of Brooklyn and Queens sits within 5 to 15 feet of grade. A pump and discharge permit from DEP adds cost and lead time. Estimate.Pro lets you add dewatering as a line item with daily equipment rate and fuel allowance. --- ## Pricing That Works for Small Crews and Large Firms Estimate.Pro is free to start, no credit card required. The Free tier gives you access to the core estimating workflow. When you are ready to add Stripe Connect invoicing and export integrations, Pro is $39 per seat per month. Elite at $79 per seat per month adds advanced invoice exports and the full Stripe Connect suite with 0% platform fee. Multi-crew shops use the Crew plan at $399 flat per month. There is no per-bid charge. Run 40 estimates in a month or 4. The cost is the same. --- ## Start Before Your Next Site Visit Create a free account, build your first foundation estimate on the next job, and see what 8 minutes actually looks like on a New York bid. No sales call required.