Excavation estimating software helps dirt work contractors create accurate bids for grading, site prep, land clearing, and demolition jobs. ThePocketBoss lets you build professional estimates with job-type templates, equipment and material cost tracking, labor breakdowns, and profit margin previews — so every bid protects your bottom line. Plans from $19.99/month.
Excavation and earthwork bidding has too many cost variables to estimate on paper. Equipment hours, material yards, hauling loads, disposal fees, labor rates — miss one line and you're working for free. General contractor estimating software helps, but you need a system built for how excavation bids actually work.
A spreadsheet can't remind you to include equipment mobilization, fuel surcharges, or dump fees. Every forgotten line item comes straight out of your profit.
GCs compare your handwritten estimate to a competitor's branded PDF with clear line items. Professional presentation wins when pricing is close.
Templates for every job type, equipment cost tracking, hauling calculations, change order management, and margin previews — all from your phone between jobs.
Accurate estimates are just the start. Once you win the job, use excavation scheduling software to coordinate crews across sites, job management tools to track costs as work progresses, and progress invoicing to get paid by phase. Preview your margin using the contractor profit calculator before sending any bid.
Excavation and earthwork estimating is harder than most trades because every job has different site conditions, material volumes, and equipment requirements. Here's how ThePocketBoss solves the problems that eat your margins.
The problem: Mobilization, hauling, disposal, permits, labor, and material costs are easy to omit when every bid starts with a blank page.
How ThePocketBoss helps: Build your own reusable templates with the cost categories and line items your company uses. Pocket Boss applies the quantities and rates you enter and shows the projected margin for review.
The problem: The GC needs a number by end of day. You're on the machine until 5pm. Then you go home, pull out a legal pad, try to remember what you saw on the walk-through, and scratch out an estimate at the kitchen table. By the time you send it the next morning, they already gave it to the other guy who sent a number that afternoon.
How ThePocketBoss helps: Build estimates from a phone or computer, start from a saved template, enter the measured quantities and rates, and send a professional proposal when it is ready.
The problem: "That wasn't in the original scope" — but you never documented what was in the original scope. The GC asked you to move 200 extra yards of fill, you did it, and now nobody can agree on who said what. You eat the cost or fight about it for weeks.
How ThePocketBoss helps: When scope changes, create a change order in ThePocketBoss with the additional line items, pricing, and a clear description of the new work. Send it for digital approval before you move a bucket of dirt. Every change is documented with a timestamp and signature.
The problem: You charge one customer $45/yard for grading and another $55/yard for the same work, depending on who estimated it and what mood they were in. Your foreman prices jobs differently than you do. There's no standard rate sheet, so every estimate is a guess.
How ThePocketBoss helps: Save standard cost and selling rates in reusable templates or price-book items. Estimators can start from the same baseline and adjust quantities or scope for the site.
The problem: Re-entering approved estimate line items into a separate invoice adds work and creates another opportunity for a billing error.
How ThePocketBoss helps: Convert the approved estimate to an invoice, then review quantities, scope changes, and pricing before sending the final bill.
The problem: You hand the GC a handwritten estimate on a piece of paper. The other excavation company sends a branded PDF with itemized line items, their logo, and a digital signature line. Guess who looks more professional? Guess who gets the benefit of the doubt when pricing is close?
How ThePocketBoss helps: ThePocketBoss generates professional PDF estimates with your company branding, clear line item breakdowns, and digital approval. You look like a well-run operation that knows exactly what the job costs — because you do.
From site walk to signed estimate, here's how ThePocketBoss streamlines your entire excavation bidding process. Use the contractor profit calculator to verify your margins before sending any bid, and check the markup vs margin calculator to make sure your pricing covers costs and profit.
Take site photos and notes for your job record. Measure volumes, haul distance, access limits, and other site conditions with the methods your company trusts.
Choose a reusable template you built for grading, site prep, land clearing, demolition, drainage, or another recurring scope.
Enter the quantities you calculated, such as cubic yards, equipment hours, crew hours, or hauling loads, and apply saved or job-specific rates.
Before you send anything, see your estimated profit margin. If the numbers don't work, adjust pricing or find where costs can come down. Never send a bid that loses money because you didn't run the numbers.
Email a branded PDF estimate to the GC or property owner. They can review line items, ask questions, and approve digitally. No printing, no driving across town to drop off paper.
After approval, convert the estimate to an invoice, document later scope changes with change orders, and send any agreed deposit request before mobilization.
One app replaces your spreadsheets, legal pads, and guesswork with a professional excavation bidding system built for dirt work, grading, and site prep contractors.
Build reusable templates for grading, site prep, land clearing, demolition, and drainage jobs. Each template includes the line items you always need — so you stop rebuilding estimates from scratch every time a GC calls with a new project.
Enter the quantities and rates you have already calculated for fill, gravel, removal, trucking, disposal, and delivery. Pocket Boss totals the estimate; it does not calculate site volumes or haul distance for you.
Save cost and selling rates for excavators, skid steers, dump trucks, compactors, and mobilization as reusable estimate line items.
Enter operator and laborer quantities, rates, costs, and selling prices as separate line items so the crew plan is reflected in the estimate.
When the GC changes scope mid-job — and they will — create a documented change order with line items, pricing, and customer approval. No more "that wasn't in the original bid" arguments that cost you thousands.
Send branded estimates with your logo, itemized line items, and clear pricing that customers actually understand. Look like a professional operation — not a guy with a backhoe and a handwritten quote on a napkin.
Core platform in every plan, from $19.99/month. No per-estimate fees.
Pocket Boss helps you standardize the parts of estimating that software can support while leaving field measurements and production assumptions in your hands.
Build templates with the mobilization, disposal, hauling, labor, and permit items your company regularly prices.
Review the projected margin created by the costs, quantities, and prices you entered before the estimate is sent.
Keep approved scope, pricing, signatures, and later change orders tied to the customer and project.
Bottom line: The software organizes your pricing inputs and approvals. Estimate accuracy still depends on your measurements, production assumptions, and final review.
The practical tools to know about creating accurate excavation estimates with ThePocketBoss.
Yes. Build reusable templates for grading, land clearing, site prep, demolition, drainage, utility trenching, and other recurring work. You decide which line items, rates, and cost categories each template contains, then adjust the quantities and scope for the new site.
Yes. Add quantity-and-rate line items for trucking, disposal, and material delivery. Pocket Boss totals the quantities and rates you enter, but it does not calculate cubic-yard volume, haul distance, or production rates for you.
Yes. Send estimates via email and customers can review, approve, and sign digitally from their phone or computer. You get a timestamp and signature record for every approval — which matters when scope changes come up later and you need to prove what was originally agreed.
Yes. Convert an approved estimate into an invoice with its line items, quantities, and pricing, then review actual quantities and approved scope changes before sending.
Yes. When the scope changes — additional grading, unexpected rock removal, extra hauling — create a documented change order with new line items, pricing, and a description of the changed work. Send it for customer approval before doing the work. Every change is tracked with timestamps and digital signatures.
Yes. Enter cost and selling-price values for equipment, labor, materials, hauling, and subcontractor line items. Pocket Boss shows the estimate totals and projected margin so you can review the price before sending it.
Join excavation contractors who've upgraded from spreadsheets and legal pads to professional estimating. Self-serve setup and bid your next job with confidence.
From $19.99/month - Core platform in every plan - No contracts - Cancel anytime