Joist is one of the most widely downloaded contractor apps on the App Store. It's cheap, it's fast, and for a lot of one-person operations it's genuinely enough.
Estimation Builder is not cheap. It's $75/month to Joist's ~$13-16 Pro tier. So if you're comparing them, the first honest question is: does the extra $60/month pay for itself? For some contractors, yes. For plenty of others, no. This post walks through exactly when each one is the right call.
Joist in one paragraph
Joist (owned by EverCommerce) is a mobile-first estimating and invoicing app aimed at handymen, painters, plumbers, and small contractors. Free tier gets you basic estimates and invoices. The Pro tier adds client signatures, payments via credit card, and a few polish features. The product is deliberately simple — that's its appeal and its ceiling.
Estimation Builder in one paragraph
Estimation Builder is purpose-built for contractors whose bids have multiple line items priced by different units — square feet, cubic feet, quantity, flat rate, per foot, per hour. It handles the full bid-to-bill lifecycle: estimates → accepted → change orders → invoices → QuickBooks export. Same $75/month, all features, no tiers.
Side by side
| Feature | Joist Pro | Estimation Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~$13-16/mo | $75/mo |
| Free trial | Free tier available | 30 days, full access, no card required |
| Mobile-first workflow | Yes | Yes |
| Professional PDF estimates | Yes | Yes, with reusable signature and company branding |
| Change order management | Limited / workaround | First-class, tracked against original estimate |
| Charge types | Basic (qty × price) | 6 types: sq ft, cu ft, qty, flat, per foot, per hour |
| Reusable item catalog | Limited | Full catalog with per-item charge type |
| Convert estimate → invoice | Yes | Yes, one tap |
| QuickBooks Online export | No native export | Monthly CSV export |
| QuickBooks Desktop (IIF) | No | Monthly IIF export |
| Customer payments via CC | Built-in (fees apply) | Not built-in (use Stripe or QB separately) |
| Account model | Solo operator / single user | Solo operator / single user |
When Joist is the right call
- You're a solo operator and your bids rarely run more than 3-4 line items.
- You rarely deal with change orders. When scope changes, you verbally agree and adjust the invoice.
- You want customers to pay the invoice via credit card inside the app (Joist has this built in; EB does not).
- You don't use QuickBooks or you use a different accounting system.
- $75/month is real money to you and the simpler tool honestly gets the job done.
Don't feel bad about picking Joist here. It's a well-built app for this use case.
When Estimation Builder is the right call
- Your bids have 10+ line items across different charge types (square feet for flooring, per-foot for trim, flat rate for demolition).
- Change orders are a real part of your business — remodels, additions, anything where scope shifts mid-job.
- You use QuickBooks and you're tired of re-typing data at the end of every month.
- You have a reusable catalog of materials/services and you want to stop re-entering them on every estimate.
- You want the polish of a purpose-built construction tool (branded PDFs, change orders, QB export) and the $75/mo is easy math against one extra won bid per month.
The honest pricing math
$75 - $16 = $59/month. That's about $710/year. You need Estimation Builder to save you one hour per month of re-keying QuickBooks data, or help you win one extra small job per year, for the price difference to pay off. Most contractors who bid more than 4-5 jobs a month clear that bar easily. Solo handymen doing 1-2 jobs a month probably don't.
What we don't have that Joist does
- In-app credit card payments. We don't process payments. Your customers pay via invoice, ACH, check, or whatever you set up separately.
- A free tier. We offer a 30-day trial with full access, no card required, but there's no "free forever" option.
- The App Store presence. Joist has apps. Estimation Builder runs in a mobile browser — responsive, fast, but not a native app.
The verdict
- Solo operator, simple bids, want payment processing built in: Joist.
- Multiple trades, real change orders, QuickBooks user, reusable catalog matters: Estimation Builder.
Not sure which camp you're in? Start a free 30-day Estimation Builder trial — if the full feature set doesn't obviously pay for itself within the first month, you're probably a Joist contractor. No credit card needed either way.