BidLock - Construction Estimate Version Control
7/10
Demand Score
One formula error in a bid can mean losing money on an entire project. Contractors report spending 15-20 hours per week on estimates, with 30% of that time spent on revisions and version management.
8/10
Blue Ocean
Competition Level
$149-249
Price/Month
Predicted customer spend
35 days
Time to MVP
Difficulty: Easy
The Problem
Estimating/Bidding: Contractors manually enter material costs, labor, equipment rates, and subcontractor bids, often having to update multiple tabs and formulas for every change.
🔗 Validated by Real User Complaints
This problem has been verified through 1 real user complaints:
Competitor Landscape
- Stack - Full takeoff software, $2000+/year
- PlanSwift - Desktop only, complex
- HCSS HeavyBid - Heavy civil focus, $5000+
- Excel templates - Free but error-prone and no version control
Must-Have Features for MVP
Change tracking with timestamps
Material price API integration
Subcontractor quote portal
Automatic margin calculations
PDF proposal generator
⚠️ Potential Challenges
- Importing existing estimate formats
- Resistance from older estimators
- Varying bid formats by trade
Risk Level: Moderate
🎯 Keys to Success
- Import from Excel/CSV
- Historical bid win/loss tracking
- Mobile access for field updates
- Comparison view for multiple versions
Ready to Build This?
This easy-difficulty project could be your next micro-SaaS success.