New Orleans, LA
OTHER (DECKS, FLATWORK) ESTIMATING.

## Deck and Flatwork Estimating in New Orleans Is Not Standard Work New Orleans sits at or below sea level across most of its footprint. That fact drives every decision you make on a deck or flatwork job. Soil bearing capacity varies block by block. Expansive clay soils in Gentilly and Lakeview move seasonally, which means your slab and footing specs—and your pricing—cannot be copied from a Phoenix or Atlanta template. You are also working under the New Orleans Building Code, which adopts the International Building Code with Louisiana state amendments. Wind exposure category matters here: Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish both carry significant wind load requirements tied to hurricane risk. When you miss those line items in a bid, you eat the cost on change orders or you walk away from the job short. Estimate.Pro is built for exactly this kind of environment. --- ## What the App Does for Deck Contractors Here **Walkthrough to bid in 8 minutes.** You record a site walkthrough—or upload photos—and the app's AR measurement tools capture dimensions on supported devices. Camera and photo measurements are marked as estimates so you know what needs a field check before you finalize. From that walkthrough, the AI generates a scope-of-work draft broken down by task: demo, footing excavation, concrete flatwork, framing, decking surface, railings, and finishing. **Material cost workspace you control.** Lumber pricing in the Gulf Coast swings with storm season and supply chain hits. You save your own material costs in Estimate.Pro rather than relying on a national average that was accurate six months ago in Minneapolis. Your saved workspace reflects your actual supplier relationships—whether that's a Metairie lumber yard or a direct account with a treated-wood distributor. **Code line items built into scope.** The app prompts for the variables that matter in this market: footing depth relative to soil bearing, wind load uplift hardware, moisture-resistant framing specifications, and drainage slope on flatwork. You are not starting from a blank spec sheet every time. **Stripe Connect invoicing on Pro+ plans.** Once the bid is accepted, you convert it to an invoice and collect payment through Stripe Connect with 0% platform fee on Pro and Elite plans. Free plan carries a 3% platform fee. --- ## Why New Orleans Flatwork Is Its Own Discipline Poured concrete flatwork in Orleans Parish requires attention to a few realities that estimating software built for dry climates skips entirely. First, the water table. On many lots in the Lower Garden District, Bywater, or Tremé, you are working inches above saturation in a wet season. Subbase prep, vapor barrier spec, and drainage planning are not optional line items—they are the difference between a slab that lasts and a callback in eighteen months. Second, settlement. Post-Katrina remediation changed soil conditions on thousands of lots. On fill-heavy areas, you need geotextile or compacted gravel sub-layers priced into every flatwork bid. Contractors who skip this step lose on warranty claims. Third, permitting timelines. The New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits processes deck and flatwork permits through its online LAMA system. Lead times for residential structural permits typically run two to four weeks. Your bid needs to account for that schedule gap so clients understand when work actually starts. --- ## Pricing Estimate.Pro runs on three paid tiers and one free tier. - **Free:** No credit card. Core estimating, AR-assisted measurement, scope drafts. - **Pro:** $39 per seat per month. Saved cost workspaces, full estimate history. - **Elite:** $79 per seat per month. Stripe Connect invoicing, invoice exports, advanced workflows. - **Crew:** $399 per month flat. Covers unlimited seats—built for multi-crew operations across multiple job sites. If you are running a two-person deck crew in Algiers or a five-person flatwork operation across the metro, there is a tier that fits without a platform fee cutting into your margin on Pro+. --- ## Start Without Committing Anything The free tier costs nothing and requires no credit card. You can run a complete estimate on your next deck or flatwork job—scope, material costs, labor, and a sendable bid document—before you decide whether a paid plan fits your operation. Deck contractors in New Orleans deal with enough variables on every job. Your estimating software should handle the paperwork side in minutes, not hours.