For contractors, not homeowners
Your takeoff says 5.33 yards.
The plant sells 5.5.
Takeoff Desk does material takeoff for twelve trades, prices it from your own supplier price book, and prints a branded proposal. One file. No account, no internet, no subscription.
One payment. Thirty day refund, no questions.
- Works with no signal
- No account
- Your data stays on your device
Order this
5.5 yards
5.33 yd needed, rounded up to the plant's half-yard increment
Every formula is shown in the app, under the result. Nothing hidden.
Every free calculator stops at the count
The count was never the hard part. The free calculators on this site do that. What no calculator tells you is what to actually order and what it costs you.
Supplier order units
Yards, not cubic feet. Bundles, not shingles. Pallets, not square feet. Rounded up to the increment your yard actually sells and raised to their delivery minimum.
Your prices, with a date
Enter your costs once with the order multiple and delivery minimum. Every price carries the day you set it, and goes orange when it is stale, so you never bid off last spring's number.
Labor from production rates
Hours come from quantity divided by a rate you set and adjust as you learn your crew. Not from a feeling on the drive home.
The compaction allowance
Gravel loses roughly a fifth of its loose depth when you compact it. Order by finished depth without allowing for that and you find out with the plate already on site.
A proposal, not a number
Your logo, the scope, the exclusions, an expiry date and a material escalation clause. Print it itemized, grouped, or as a single number depending on the client.
Nothing leaves your device
No server, no account, no analytics, no network call of any kind. Open the file in a text editor and search for "http" if you want to check. You will not find one.
The expensive mistake
A 55% markup is not a 55% margin
Markup is a percentage of your cost. Margin is a percentage of the price you charge. Same number in the box, and on a job that costs you $100 they are $67 apart.
Takeoff Desk shows both at once while you price the job, so you find out before you send the proposal rather than when the year closes.
55% markup on cost
$155.00
$100 × 1.55
55% gross margin
$222.22
$100 ÷ 0.45
On a $100 job cost, the difference is $67.22. Use the wrong one all year and it compounds.
Estimating software with no monthly fee
Published entry prices as of November 2026. Check each vendor's page before you compare, they move.
| Product | Entry price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Joist | $10/mo | Basics caps you at 5 documents a month. Your logo starts at $17/mo. |
| Jobber | $29/mo | Core, one user |
| Contractor Foreman | $49/mo | Basic, one user |
| Housecall Pro | $59/mo | Basic. Price books are an add-on. |
| Knowify | $99/mo | Core, one user |
| Takeoff Desk | $29 | Once. No account, no renewal, no tier that unlocks the feature you needed. |
Your real competition is not Jobber. It is the Excel estimator you built yourself to avoid a recurring bill. If that works, keep it. This is for the case where it mostly works but you would like it to know the waste factors and print something you are not embarrassed to hand across a tailgate.
What the client sees
It prints this, with your name on it
Scope, line items, exclusions, expiry and terms. The exclusions block is the part that saves you the argument in week six.
| Description | Qty | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete, ready-mix | 8 yd | $1,360.00 |
| Rebar #4, 20ft | 45 | $495.00 |
| Concrete place & finish | 16.5 hr | $1,020.52 |
| Epoxy base @ 10 mils | 4 gal | $312.00 |
| Color flake, 40% broadcast | 63 lb | $315.00 |
| Total | $6,954.11 |
Not included: permits and permit fees, concealed damage found after demolition, disposal beyond one load, anything not written above. If a supplier raises a price more than 5% before work starts, that line is re-quoted before we order.
Straight answers
Is this a subscription?
No. One payment, one file, yours. There is no account to keep, nothing to renew, and no tier that unlocks the feature you actually needed.
Does it work without internet?
Yes, that is the point. It is a single HTML file on your own device. Once it is downloaded there is no server involved, so it runs in a basement, a crawlspace, or a lot with no signal.
What happens to my price book if I stop paying?
Nothing, because there is nothing to stop paying. You bought the file. It stays on your device and keeps working.
Which trades does it cover?
Twelve. Concrete, drywall, paint, epoxy, gravel, mulch, sod, pavers, tile, insulation, roofing and fence. Each with its own waste factor, its own order units and the formula printed under the result.
Is it a replacement for Jobber or ServiceTitan?
No. Those are field service platforms with scheduling, dispatch, payments and a CRM. This does takeoff, estimating and the proposal document, and nothing else. If you need dispatch, buy dispatch.
What if a formula is wrong?
Tell me which material, what you entered and what you expected, and I will fix it and send you the updated file. A wrong constant is worth more to me than a polite review. Thirty day refund either way, no questions.
What do I actually download?
A zip with three files. The app itself as one HTML file, a plain README that walks you through setup in about ten minutes, and a changelog. No installer, no dependencies.
Stop bidding off a price from last spring
Twelve trades, your own price book, labor from real production rates, and a proposal with your logo on it. One file that works with no signal and never sends you an invoice.
Get Takeoff Desk $29