Estimating Software for Kitchen and Bathroom Renovators
Estimating software for kitchen and bathroom renovators is a tool that turns uploaded plans into measured quantities and a priced quote across every trade on the job — demolition, waterproofing, tiling, cabinetry, plumbing and electrical fit-off — instead of a calculator built for a single trade. My Trade Hub does this by combining automated quantity takeoff with an editable rates library and disclosed prime cost (PC) item allowances, so a renovation business can put together a professional quote and bill of quantities across every trade in a fraction of the time it takes to build one by hand.
Key takeaways
- Kitchen and bathroom renovations are sold as one fixed-price job but priced across five or more separate trades, so an error in any single trade rate eats into the whole margin.
- Prime cost (PC) items for tapware, fixtures and appliances should be quoted as disclosed allowances, not buried into a lump sum — this is where most renovation quote disputes start.
- Automated quantity takeoff from uploaded plans measures tiled areas, waterproofing membrane and similar quantities in minutes, even on small renovation jobs that are usually not worth hand-scaling.
- An editable rates library applies your own labour, material and plant rates across every trade on the job, from demolition through to electrical fit-off, instead of juggling separate rate cards.
- Preparing a priced renovation tender through My Trade Hub is 60–75% faster than doing it manually — creating a My Trade Hub account is free, while quantity takeoff and quote preparation sit on paid plans.
Why renovation quoting is different from a single-trade job
A kitchen and bathroom renovation is priced as one fixed-price job for the client, even though it is really five or six separate trade packages stitched together on a tight, occupied site. A tiler, a plumber, a cabinetmaker, an electrician and a waterproofer all have to be priced, sequenced and margined as a single number the client signs off on — long before the existing walls come off and the real scope is known.
That combination is what makes renovation estimating harder than pricing a new-build room of the same size. There is no clean set of as-built plans for what sits behind existing tiles, an old vanity or a tired shower base, so every trade component carries its own risk of variation, and every trade component has to be priced against a rate you actually trust rather than a rough guess.
The trades you are coordinating on one fixed-price job
A typical bathroom-and-kitchen renovation quote has to price out demolition and strip-out, waterproofing, floor and wall tiling, cabinetry and benchtops, plumbing fit-off and electrical fit-off — often against five or six different rate cards and five or six different trade contractors, before it ever becomes one number on a page.
- Demolition and strip-out — removing existing fixtures, tiles and cabinetry, plus waste disposal
- Waterproofing — membrane to wet areas, measured in square metres, priced before tiling starts
- Tiling — floor and wall areas measured separately, with wastage and pattern allowances
- Cabinetry and benchtops — kitchen joinery and bathroom vanities, usually quoted as a package
- Plumbing fit-off — tapware, mixers, waste connections and appliance hook-ups
- Electrical fit-off — power, lighting, exhaust fans and appliance circuits
Latent conditions: pricing what you cannot see yet
Renovation work happens behind existing walls, floors and ceilings, and what is actually behind them only becomes clear once demolition starts — deteriorated framing, non-compliant old wiring, a slow leak under a shower base, or dated sheeting that needs testing before it is disturbed. A quote that does not separate the known, measurable scope from the conditions-dependent scope puts the whole job margin at risk on day one of demolition.
The usual fix is to quote the visible scope as firm pricing, and flag latent-condition risk explicitly — either as a provisional sum or as a clearly worded assumption in the quote — rather than trying to absorb an unknown into a single fixed number and hoping it does not surface.
Where prime cost items trip up renovation quotes
Tapware, sanitaryware, kitchen appliances and light fittings are almost always chosen by the client, often well after the quote has already been signed — which is exactly what a prime cost (PC) item exists for. A PC item is a disclosed dollar allowance, not a guess baked into your lump sum, and it is where most renovation quote disputes actually start.
If a $1,200 tapware allowance turns into a $2,800 tapware selection once the client visits the showroom, they need to see that variance measured against the allowance you quoted — not against a number they never saw in the first place. Listing PC items as their own line items, tied to the trade they sit under, keeps that conversation straightforward instead of adversarial.
A PC item is a promise about scope, not a promise about price
Naming an allowance for tapware, fixtures or appliances tells the client exactly what is included and what happens if they choose something dearer, rather than leaving it as an assumption buried in the total. See our prime cost item glossary entry for how renovation quotes usually word this.
How My Trade Hub speeds up renovation estimating
My Trade Hub is built to quote a multi-trade renovation the way it actually gets priced — one job, several trades, one rates library. Upload the plans and the automated quantity takeoff measures tiled areas, waterproofing membrane and similar quantities directly from the drawings, instead of you scaling a PDF by hand for a kitchen and a bathroom on the same job.
Every measured quantity is then priced against your own editable rates library — your labour, material and plant rates for demolition, tiling, cabinetry, plumbing and electrical — with PC item allowances for tapware, fixtures and appliances sitting alongside them as their own disclosed line items. The result is a professional bill of quantities and quote, built for a renovation business coordinating multiple trades on a fixed-price job, prepared 60–75% faster than putting the same quote together manually.
Creating a My Trade Hub account is free, and that covers the contractor marketplace — posting jobs, receiving quotes from other tradies and browsing tenders at no cost. Quantity takeoff, the rates library and tender or quote preparation sit on the paid Starter, Scale and Professional plans, priced in AUD with no lock-in contracts.
A worked example: pricing a combined kitchen and bathroom renovation
The figures below are an illustrative example only, built to show how a renovation quote lines up once every trade is priced against its own rate — they are not a typical job cost, an average, or a quote generated by My Trade Hub. Your own rates library will produce different numbers for your business, your suppliers and your region.
| Line item | Quantity | Example rate | Example line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demolition and strip-out | 1 job | $2,800 lump sum | $2,800 |
| Waterproofing (bathroom) | 18 m² | $65 per m² | $1,170 |
| Tiling — floor and wall | 42 m² | $95 per m² | $3,990 |
| Cabinetry and benchtops | 1 kitchen + 1 vanity | $11,500 lump sum | $11,500 |
| Plumbing fit-off | 1 job | $3,200 lump sum | $3,200 |
| Electrical fit-off | 1 job | $2,450 lump sum | $2,450 |
| PC item allowance — tapware, fixtures, appliances | Provisional | $6,000 allowance | $6,000 |
| Preliminaries and margin | — | 18% | $5,562 |
| Indicative total (ex GST) | — | — | $36,672 |
Sequencing and lead times: quoting a realistic program
A kitchen and bathroom renovation only comes together if the trades turn up in the right order — strip-out before waterproofing, waterproofing before tiling, cabinetry after tiling, plumbing and electrical fit-off last. Lead times on cabinetry, benchtops and special-order tapware are usually the longest items on the whole program, and they need to be locked in before demolition starts, not after.
A quote that prices the work correctly but ignores the sequence still sets the client up to expect a two-week turnaround on a job that realistically needs six once joinery and fit-off lead times are accounted for.
Getting your renovation business set up on My Trade Hub
Setting up does not mean changing how you already quote — it means putting the rates you already use into one editable library, once, so they apply automatically across every renovation job afterwards. Demolition rates, tiling rates, cabinetry allowances and PC item defaults for tapware and fixtures all sit in the same place, ready to apply the next time you upload a set of plans.
A free My Trade Hub account gets a renovation business onto the contractor marketplace to post jobs and receive quotes from other tradies. Quantity takeoff, the rates library and full quote and bill of quantities preparation are part of the paid plans — see the pricing page for current tiers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best software for kitchen and bathroom renovation quoting?
The best option for a renovation business is software that prices the whole multi-trade job — not just one trade — from one set of plans and one rates library. My Trade Hub combines automated quantity takeoff with an editable rates library across trades, PC item allowances and bill of quantities generation, so a kitchen-and-bathroom renovation can be quoted as the single fixed-price job it is actually sold as.
How do renovation builders handle prime cost items in a quote?
Prime cost (PC) items — usually tapware, sanitaryware, appliances and light fittings — are quoted as a disclosed dollar allowance rather than folded into a lump sum, since the client typically selects the exact product after the quote is signed. My Trade Hub lets you list PC allowances as their own line items against the trade they sit under, so any difference between the allowance and the client’s final selection is visible and easy to invoice.
Can one rates library cover every trade on a renovation job?
Yes — a renovation business is coordinating several trades on one job, and My Trade Hub’s rates library holds labour, material and plant rates for all of them, including demolition, waterproofing, tiling, cabinetry, plumbing and electrical, in one place. Every rate stays editable, so quantities measured off the plans are priced against your numbers, not a generic default.
How much faster is estimating software than quoting a renovation manually?
Preparing a priced tender through My Trade Hub is 60–75% faster than doing the same job manually, largely because the steps that normally take the longest on a renovation — measuring tiled and waterproofed areas, matching them to rates across several trades, then building a bill of quantities — are done from the uploaded plans rather than by hand.
Does My Trade Hub have a free trial for estimating renovation jobs?
No — My Trade Hub does not run a time-limited free trial. Creating an account is free, and that covers the contractor marketplace: posting jobs, receiving quotes and browsing tenders. Quantity takeoff, the rates library and tender or quote preparation are part of the paid Starter, Scale and Professional plans.
How should latent conditions behind old walls be quoted in a renovation?
Latent conditions — deteriorated framing, old wiring, a hidden leak — cannot be measured from a plan before demolition starts, so they are usually quoted as a provisional sum or a clearly worded assumption sitting alongside the firm, measurable scope, rather than absorbed silently into the fixed price.
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