Austin, TX
HARDSCAPING / PAVERS ESTIMATING.

## Hardscape Estimating Built for Austin's Market Austin's outdoor living boom is real. From Georgetown to Buda, homeowners are pouring money into patios, pergola pads, retaining walls, and full outdoor kitchens. That work is good. Bidding it by hand on a tablet at the kitchen table at 10 p.m. is not. Estimate.Pro gets you from a site walkthrough to a sendable bid in 8 minutes. That's not a marketing number — it's the median time contractors log after they stop guessing and start using the app. --- ## What Makes Hardscape Estimating Different in Austin **Caliche and clay soils.** Austin sits on a mix of expansive black clay in the east and hard caliche limestone in the Hill Country west. Both kill base prep assumptions. A standard 4-inch compacted base that works in Houston won't hold a paver field on Barton Creek Boulevard through a Texas freeze-thaw cycle. Your estimate needs to account for deeper excavation, extra base aggregate, and geotextile fabric on reactive soils — costs that national estimating templates ignore. **Drainage grade requirements.** The City of Austin Land Development Code and its companion Drainage Criteria Manual impose specific impervious cover caps and runoff management rules. Many homeowners in the ETJ don't realize that a large paver patio can push them over their lot's impervious cover allowance. If you're quoting permeable paver systems — ICPI-compliant open-graded base, edge restraints, jointing aggregate — you need to price those differently from standard mortared or sand-set work. Estimate.Pro's hardscape trade templates separate permeable and conventional paver scopes so you're not hacking a line-item spreadsheet every time. **Heat and scheduling.** Austin summers run 90°F-plus from late May through September. Polymeric sand and sealers need to be applied within specific temperature windows. Scheduling installation to avoid mid-afternoon heat is a real labor cost. Estimate.Pro lets you attach scope notes and condition flags directly to line items so your crew and your client both know what the bid assumes. **Outdoor kitchens and hardscape add-ons.** Austin homeowners spec outdoor kitchens, fire pits, and shade structures alongside paver work at a higher rate than most Texas metros. That means your average ticket is larger and your scope is more complex. The app covers 25 trades, so when a patio job grows into a gas rough-in or a low-voltage lighting scope, you don't lose control of the estimate. --- ## How the App Works on a Hardscape Job 1. **Walk the site.** Use AR measurement on a supported device to capture patio dimensions, wall lengths, and grade changes. Camera and photo measurements are flagged as estimates — you know exactly where to verify before you commit to a price. 2. **Confirm the scope.** The AI scope-of-work builder prompts you for base type, edge restraint spec, drainage structures, sealant, and any vertical element work. It follows ICPI installation guidelines by default. 3. **Apply your material costs.** Your saved material cost workspace holds your supplier prices from Austin-area suppliers. Update them once; they populate every future estimate automatically. 4. **Send the bid.** The client gets a professional, itemized proposal. On Pro+ plans, the platform fee on payments collected through Stripe Connect drops to 0%. --- ## Pricing - **Free forever** — no credit card, no time limit. Start estimating today. - **Pro — $39/seat/month.** Custom branding, unlimited estimates. - **Elite — $79/seat/month.** Stripe Connect invoicing, export workflows. - **Crew — $399/month flat.** One price for the whole company. If you're running two or three crews through an Austin summer, the Crew plan pays for itself the first week you stop losing bids to slow turnaround. --- ## Built for the Way Austin Hardscape Jobs Actually Work You're not estimating swimming pools in Phoenix. You're dealing with cedar elm roots, Hill Country limestone outcroppings, City of Austin impervious cover math, and clients who want a full outdoor room by Memorial Day. Your estimating tool should know the difference. Estimate.Pro does. Start free — no card required.