§ Why siding pros in Columbus use Estimate.Pro
THE BID ENGINE.
## Siding Estimates in Columbus Move Fast — Your Bids Need To Match
Columbus is one of the fastest-growing metros in the Midwest. New construction in Westerville, Dublin, and Powell keeps siding contractors busy, while aging housing stock in Clintonville, Bexley, and the Short North drives a steady stream of re-siding and repair work. That mix of new builds and older homes means your estimates need to cover everything from LP SmartSide and fiber cement on new frames to vinyl replacement on 1950s ranch houses — sometimes in the same week.
Manual takeoffs slow you down. A Columbus homeowner who gets three bids in 48 hours is not waiting on yours.
## What Makes Siding Estimating Different Here
**Weather exposure is real.** Central Ohio gets freeze-thaw cycles through late March, and summer humidity is high enough that improper installation of house wrap causes callbacks. Your scope of work needs to call out vapor barrier spec, starter strip height above grade, and flashing details at windows and doors — not as boilerplate, but as line items the homeowner can see and approve.
**Ohio code matters.** The Ohio Building Code adopts the International Residential Code with Ohio amendments. For siding jobs, that means water-resistive barrier requirements under IRC R703 apply to all re-siding work, not just new construction. Inspectors in Franklin County enforce this. Your bid document should reference it.
**Permit thresholds catch contractors off guard.** Franklin County and the City of Columbus both require permits for full re-siding projects on non-owner-occupied properties. Missing that line in the estimate creates a change order conversation you did not plan for.
## How Estimate.Pro Handles Siding Takeoffs
You walk the job. You open the app. You use the AR measurement tool — powered by an on-device ONNX model — to measure wall faces, gable ends, and dormers directly from your phone on supported devices. On older devices, photo measurement gives you estimates flagged clearly as such, so you know what to verify with a tape.
The AI reads your walkthrough notes and generates a scope of work: wall prep, WRB installation, starter strip, siding panels, J-channel, trim, caulk, and haul-off. You review it, adjust quantities against your takeoff, and the app prices it against your saved material cost workspace — your actual supplier pricing from ABC Supply or 84 Lumber, not a national average that doesn't reflect Columbus-area pricing.
Median time from walkthrough to sendable bid: 8 minutes.
## Keeping Your Material Costs Accurate
Fiber cement pricing shifts. LP SmartSide trim board costs are not what they were two years ago. Estimate.Pro lets you maintain a saved material cost workspace so your line-item prices reflect what you are actually paying at your Columbus supplier today, not a stale default. Update it when your rep sends a new price sheet. Every future estimate pulls from that workspace automatically.
## Sending the Bid and Getting Paid
On the Free tier, you pay no platform fee on estimates. On Pro+ plans, Stripe Connect is built in and the platform fee is $0 — you keep what you bill. Send the estimate as a professional document, collect a deposit, and invoice from the same place you built the bid.
Pro is $39 per seat per month. Elite is $79 per seat per month and adds Stripe Connect and invoice exports. Crew is $399 per month flat for multi-crew operations running multiple estimators. There is a free forever tier with no credit card required to start.
## Built for 25 Trades, Dialed In for Siding
Estimate.Pro supports 25 trades. The siding workflow covers vinyl, fiber cement, engineered wood, and metal panel systems. Scope templates include common Columbus job types: full re-side on a ranch, gable-end repair, soffit and fascia replacement, and new construction panel installation. You start from a template that fits the job, not from a blank sheet.
If you are running siding jobs in Columbus and your bid process still involves a spreadsheet and a copy-paste from last month's job, the gap between what you are spending on estimating and what Estimate.Pro costs is the margin you are leaving on the table.