AI cost-breakdown assistant

10× better than Claude/ChatGPT
for construction rates.

Ask for a rate and get a FULL EXCEL BREAKDOWN OF THE RATE.

The editable build-up a QS would assemble from first principles — labour, plant, equipment, materials, outputs, waste and the full fee-on-fee ladder to a main-contractor budget rate. Your rates go in; every figure is yours to change; the fee-on-fee is shown, never hidden.

Start free — then £10 or £30/mo See it beside ChatGPT ↓

82 published budget rates · reconciled to the penny · every rate an editable workbook

The same question · two answers

One gives you a number.
The other gives you the build-up.

A general chat model scrapes a figure. Estimate Anything constructs the rate from a live cost & productivity database — and hands you the editable sheet behind it.

Ask a rateC25/30 structural concrete — budget rate per m³? Ask

ChatGPT / Claude

scans the internet quickly

↓

returns a single figure

£190?

one number — no working shown

no breakdown
little validation
accuracy unknown
nothing to edit or defend

Illustrative of the form of the answer, not a quote.

Estimate Anything AI

draws on a large item COST database + PRODUCTIVITY database

↓

builds the rate from FIRST PRINCIPLES

↓

C25/30 concrete — build-up£ / m³

Cost component	Rate £	Cost
Labour
Skilled operative (concretor)	190.00	£18.10
General operative	155.00	£14.76
Equipment
Poker, tamp beam, barrows, PPE	62.00	£5.90
Net resources (labour + plant)		£38.76
Materials
C25/30 ready-mix (£120.00/m³)	120.00	£123.60
+5% market · +20% sub O&P (on L&P)		→
Subcontract rate		£177.87
+10% main-contractor O&P		→
BUDGET RATE / m³		£195.65
Budget band (−10% / +16%)		£176–£227

Every blue figure is yours to overwrite — the budget recomputes as you type.

What it’s for

A credible budget rate, instantly.
80% of the way to an accurate rate — you just update the major components with your own local rates.

The right-hand build-up is a live published rate (C25/30 structural concrete, mass / trench fill, per m³). The figures reconcile to the penny across the assistant, the web page and the downloadable workbook.

The proof

The full fee-on-fee build-up — nothing hidden

Because these are main-contractor budget rates, the whole fee-on-fee ladder sits on the face of every rate — exactly where a QS pricing at main-contract level needs the figure. Here it is in full for the C25/30 rate above.

Ladder stage (per m³)	Typical
Net subcontract cost (full-ladder resources)	£38.76
Productivity conservatism ÷ (1 − 10%)	£43.07
Market / inflation uplift (+5%)	£45.22
Subcontractor overhead & profit (+20%)	£54.27
Bulk material at cost (MC own account — rejoins here)	£123.60
Subcontract rate (price the trade charges the MC)	£177.87
Main-contractor O&P (+10%) → BUDGET RATE	£195.65
Budget band (−10% / +16%)	£176.09 – £226.95

Scope: a budget rate. Preliminaries, scaffold, main-contractor lifting / craneage and VAT are excluded and stated as such on every rate.

How it works

Describe it. Get the build-up. Make it yours.

Describe the activity

In normal estimating language — BoQ-style item, unit (m²/m³/m/nr), grade and spec.

Get the build-up

Itemised resources, quantities, outputs, waste, the fee-on-fee ladder, the budget rate and the band — every default price dated and sourced.

Make it yours

Download the editable Excel build-up. Every blue cell is yours to change; the budget rate recomputes as you type.

Why estimators trust it

Not “accurate rates”. The structure that makes a rate defensible.

82 published budget rates and growing, across nine work categories — buildings, carpentry, civils, drainage, external works, finishes, groundworks, roofing and structure.
An editable Excel build-up for every rate — the workbook, not a locked PDF. Every default recomputes when you overwrite it.
Reconciled to the penny. The number the assistant quotes, the number on the page and the number in your workbook are the same number (within £0.10).
The ladder is shown, not hidden — fee-on-fee visible on every rate, as a main-contract budget rate needs it.
Local prices move; we sell the structure — quantities, waste, gangs, outputs, ladder logic and exclusions — with a sourced, dated default in every cell you replace with your own.

Scope

What a budget rate excludes

Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare
Scaffold supply
Main-contractor lifting / craneage & material distribution
VAT

Pricing

Try three free. Then £10 or £30 a month.

Every plan — including the free taste — hands you the full editable Excel build-up. No metered downloads, no rollover, cancel any time.

Step 1 · free

Free taste

£0

3 messages per email, ever

Full-fat answers and the editable Excel on all three. Magic-link sign-in — no card.

Step 2 · keep going

Starter

£10/mo

100 messages a month

Every published rate and every new one, with its workbook.

5× the messages

Step 3 · at pace

Professional

£30/mo

500 messages a month

Five times the Starter allowance — a real day-rate tool for a busy desk.

Start free — then £10 or £30/mo

The build-up in seconds. Your rates. Your judgement.

Ask for any UK construction rate and get the full editable Excel breakdown — the structure a QS trusts, with a sourced default in every cell you overwrite.