Spreadsheets vs. estimating software for tile contractors: an honest comparison

Full disclosure, since you're reading this on our site: I'm the founder of BidCraft, which is estimating and project software for tile contractors. So I'm biased. I'll try to be fair anyway, because a spreadsheet is a genuinely good tool, and a lot of the contractors I've worked with over the last three years built theirs with real care.

What does a spreadsheet do well for tile estimating?

More than software companies like to admit.

• It's yours. Your formulas, your categories, your way of thinking about a job. Nobody's opinion is baked in.
• It's flexible. Weird job? Add a row. New pricing idea? Add a column. No waiting for a feature.
• It's cheap or free. You probably already pay for it.
• It's transparent. You can see every number and every formula. Nothing is a black box.
• It works offline, on the laptop you already own.

If your spreadsheet reflects your real costs, you keep it updated and you're not drowning in bids, there's a real case for leaving it alone.

Where do spreadsheets start to cost you?

Not in the math. In everything around the math.

Time. The spreadsheet prices the job, but someone still has to turn the walkthrough into rows, then turn the rows into something a homeowner can read. That someone is you, at night, after a full day on the tools.

The proposal itself. A spreadsheet is a calculator, not a proposal. So you copy numbers into a Word doc or an email, and every proposal ends up looking a little different. Line descriptions get shorter as the week gets longer. Exclusions get forgotten.

Errors you can't see. A formula that points at the wrong cell, a rate you updated in one tab but not another, a row you deleted that a total still depended on. Spreadsheets fail quietly.

Everything after the price. A spreadsheet doesn't send the proposal, collect a signature, take a deposit, tell you the homeowner opened it, write up a change order or send the next invoice. Each of those is a separate tool or a separate chore.

Getting stuck in one head. If the spreadsheet only makes sense to you, nobody else in the business can bid a job.

None of this matters at three bids a month. It matters a lot at fifteen.

What should estimating software do for a tile contractor?

If you're going to pay for something, hold it to a high bar. Here's what I'd expect, in order of importance:

1. Price from your numbers. Your day rate, your rates, your minimum, your markup. If the software's built-in estimate disagrees with you, you should win, every time.
2. Speak tile. Tile size, pattern, who supplies the tile, niches and benches priced by the piece, trim by the foot. Generic construction software makes you teach it all of that.
3. Start from the field. You bid from the job site on your phone. The software should take photos, video and voice notes and do the typing, not hand you a blank form.
4. Produce a proposal you're proud of. Real line descriptions, material notes, exclusions and a payment schedule, with your logo on it.
5. Close the loop. E-signature, a deposit invoice, a way to see if it was opened, change orders, invoices and payments.
6. Let you keep your paperwork. You should be able to download your proposals as PDFs.

If a product can't do the first two, a good spreadsheet is probably better for you.

Spreadsheet vs. software: side by side

When should you stick with a spreadsheet?

Keep it if most of these are true:

• You send a small number of bids a month and they don't take long.
• Your close rate is where you want it.
• Your spreadsheet reflects what a crew day actually costs you. (If you're not sure, read how to price a shower remodel using your own numbers.)
• You already have a simple way to get signatures and deposits.
• Nobody else needs to bid jobs.

There's no prize for buying software you don't need.

When is it time to switch?

Look for the signs that the spreadsheet is now the slow part:

• Bids sit for days because you don't have an evening free to write them.
• You've lost jobs to a contractor who got their proposal out first.
• Your proposals look different depending on how tired you were.
• You've forgotten an exclusion and ended up eating the cost.
• You have no idea whether a homeowner opened your bid or ghosted you.
• You're juggling a spreadsheet, a doc template, a signing app and an invoicing app for every job.

If three or four of those sound familiar, the spreadsheet is costing you more than a subscription would.

How do you switch without losing your numbers?

Your numbers are the valuable part. Don't let a switch throw them away.

1. Write down your rates first. Day rate, square-foot rates, add-on prices, minimum, how you charge for materials.
2. Enter them before you bid anything. Any software you try should be priced from these, not from its defaults.
3. Run both side by side. Price your next three to five real jobs in the spreadsheet and in the software. Compare the totals line by line.
4. Fix the gaps. Where they disagree, figure out why, and correct the setting, not just the one bid.
5. Retire the spreadsheet once the software consistently lands where you would.

Where BidCraft fits

Since I'm biased, here's exactly what BidCraft is, and you can judge for yourself.

It's built only for tile and bath contractors. You capture the job from your phone (photos, a walkthrough video, voice notes, plans), and BidCraft turns that into a scope and a priced proposal with line descriptions, plus exclusions and material notes on the styles that show them. It prices from your rate card, and your numbers win over the AI's estimates on anything you've set a price for. You can ask Biddy, the assistant built in, to edit the proposal in plain words. Then it handles e-signature, change orders, invoicing and payments, scheduling, crew time and a client portal, so the job doesn't leave the app after the price is done. It ships with the Schluter and Laticrete catalogs built in.

Every plan includes the Growth Community: the private chat inside the app and the Tuesday BidCraft call.

If you've got a spreadsheet you trust, run it side by side with BidCraft on a few real jobs during the 14-day free trial (card required). The pricing page has the details. If the spreadsheet wins, keep the spreadsheet.