§ Why siding pros in Raleigh use Estimate.Pro
THE BID ENGINE.
## Siding estimates in Raleigh move fast — your bid process should too
Raleigh's construction market has been running hot for years. The Triangle added over 50,000 new residents between 2020 and 2023, and that population pressure translates directly into siding work: new builds in Wendell Falls and Briar Chapel, re-sides in older Cary and North Hills neighborhoods, and storm-repair cycles every spring after severe weather rolls through Wake County.
That volume is good news. The downside is that you are competing against a deep bench of siding contractors who know this market well. A slow bid — or a vague one — loses the job.
Estimate.Pro is built to cut your time from walkthrough to sendable bid to 8 minutes.
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## What makes siding estimating different in Raleigh
**Climate-driven material decisions.** Raleigh sits in IECC Climate Zone 3A. That zone influences what your customers should be putting on their walls: fiber cement handles the humid summers better than vinyl in many applications, and your estimate needs to reflect the labor difference between the two. Estimate.Pro lets you price fiber cement, vinyl, engineered wood, and stucco in the same workspace and swap between them without rebuilding the whole estimate.
**Wake County permit requirements.** Any exterior re-side that changes the weather-resistive barrier or adds continuous insulation requires a building permit through Wake County Inspections. Permit fees run on a valuation-based schedule. Missing that line item in your bid either eats your margin or surprises the homeowner at the contract stage — neither is good.
**HOA specs.** A significant share of Raleigh's residential stock sits inside HOAs — particularly in master-planned communities in Apex, Holly Springs, and Morrisville. Color restrictions, material approvals, and required sample submissions can add days to a project timeline. Build that coordination time into your labor estimate.
**Wind zone exposure.** Wake County falls within a 90 mph basic wind speed zone under ASCE 7. Specify nail pattern and fastener schedule in your scope-of-work so the inspector does not flag the installation.
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## How Estimate.Pro works for siding
**1. Walk the job and measure.** On supported devices, the AR measurement tool uses ONNX-assisted live detection to capture wall faces, gable ends, and window cutouts. On any device, you photograph the elevation and the app marks the output as an estimate. Either way, you are not sketching on a notepad.
**2. AI scope-of-work generation.** The app reads your measurements and generates a line-item scope: sheathing, WRB, starter strip, field panels, trim, inside and outside corners, J-channel, caulk, fasteners, waste factor. You review it, adjust for the specifics of the job, and move on.
**3. Price against your saved cost data.** Your material costs live in a workspace you control. Update fiber cement board pricing when your supplier adjusts the sheet price; every future estimate pulls the current number automatically.
**4. Send the bid.** The client gets a professional, itemized estimate. You get a record of exactly what you priced and why.
Median time from walkthrough start to sendable bid: 8 minutes.
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## Plans
Estimate.Pro offers a **free forever tier** — no credit card, no trial clock. When your volume grows:
- **Pro** — $39/seat/month
- **Elite** — $79/seat/month (adds Stripe Connect invoicing with 0% platform fee and invoice exports)
- **Crew** — $399/month flat for unlimited seats
Stripe Connect is available on Elite and Crew. The Free and Pro tiers carry a 3% platform fee on payments processed through the app.
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## Built for 25 trades, sharp on siding
Estimate.Pro supports 25 trades. The siding workflow is specific: it knows the difference between a lap siding run and a vertical board-and-batten run, it accounts for waste differently on each, and it includes trim linear footage as a separate line item so nothing gets buried in a lump-sum materials number.
If you are a siding contractor in Raleigh bidding three jobs a week, the math on time saved is straightforward. Run the free tier through your next bid and see the number yourself.