Estimating for pile and marine contractors
Upload your plans, specs, and geotech reports. Get an editable draft estimate with the source page for every number.
- Sheet pile
- Bulkheads
- Seawalls
- Docks and piers
- Driven piles
- Drilled shafts
- And more!
Draft only. You check every number and own the bid.
Built by the team behind Pile Buck Magazine (since 1984). Every number shows where it came from.
Free trial: 2 bid packages or 30 days. No credit card.
Try a sample estimate
Click any line to see where the number came from. Change a price or the production rate and the totals update.| Item | Unit price | Total |
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Draft estimate for review. Verify all quantities and prices before bidding. The project, quantities, and prices here are illustrative.
Take the guided tour
Meet Buck, your AI estimator. He walks you through a sample bid package in six short steps. No sign-in, nothing to upload.
Reading a bid package line by line is slow
Plans, specs, bid forms, and geotech reports each hold a piece of the quantity list. Pulling them together by hand takes time you would rather spend pricing and bidding more jobs.
BuckBid does the first pass for you, then gets out of the way. You stay in charge of every number.
From a stack of PDFs to a draft estimate
Upload the bid package
Add the plans, specs, bid form, and geotech report. BuckBid reads them together.
Review what it found
Quantities and requirements appear with the page they came from. Risks, like possible cobbles, are flagged for you.
Edit and price
Set your production rates and unit prices. Labor, equipment, and materials add up as you go.
What BuckBid does, and what it doesn't
A draft you can trust only works if you know where it stops.
BuckBid does
- Read plans, specs, bid forms, and geotech reports
- Pull out quantities and requirements
- Show the source page and the math for every number
- Build an editable estimate with labor, equipment, materials, and production
- Flag risks and add a checklist of common items, like field cutting, hard driving, and restricted access, with quantities you can edit
- Start a new estimate from your last similar bid
- Save the prices you type in and reuse them next time
BuckBid does not
- Calculate bearing capacity, driving stresses, or wave equation analysis. Specialized tools such as PDA, CAPWAP, and GRLWEAP do that.
- Replace your estimator's judgment
- Submit a bid for you
- Hide how it got a number
- Supply material prices or supplier quotes. You enter your own.
- Design sheet pile walls. SPW911 does that.
Who it's for
Owner-estimators at small and mid-size shops
When the owner is also the estimator, a first draft saves the evenings you'd spend on takeoff.
Pile driving and foundation drilling
Driven piles, sheet pile, and drilled shafts, priced with your own production rates.
Marine contractors
Seawalls, bulkheads, docks, and piers, from small waterfront jobs to large port work.
Simple pricing
Try BuckBid free on real bid packages. Subscribe when it earns its place.
2 bid packages or 30 days, whichever comes first
- The full draft estimate, with the source page for every number
- No credit card needed
- Sign up with your email in a minute
Draft only. You check every number and own the bid.
Plus sales tax where it applies
- 8 package reads each billing period
- Everything in the free trial
- Cancel any time from Manage billing. You keep access through the period you paid for.
- Secure checkout by Stripe. We never see your card number.
Draft only. You check every number and own the bid.
A package read is one bid package: all the plans, specs, and reports for one project. Editing an estimate you have already built does not use another read. Unused reads do not roll over. Monthly fees are non-refundable (see the Terms of Use). Need more than 8 packages in a month? Email support@buckbidapp.com.
FAQs
Is the estimate accurate?
It's a draft for you to review. Every line shows its source page and how the number was figured, so you can check it quickly and change anything.
Does it replace my estimator?
No. It does the first pass so your estimator can spend time on judgment, pricing, and risk.
Which jobs does it cover?
BuckBid is built for pile and marine bid packages: sheet pile, bulkheads, seawalls, docks and piers, driven piles, and drilled shafts. Not sure yours fits? Try it free on a real package.
Does it read scanned drawings?
Typed specs, bid schedules, and reports work best. Drawing takeoff improves over time, and you can always correct a quantity.
Are my files private?
Your files are used only to build your estimates and are not shared with other companies. To read your documents, their pages are sent to Anthropic's Claude under commercial terms that do not allow training on your content. See the Privacy Policy.
Will it learn from my past jobs?
That's planned for a later version, where your own production data helps future estimates start closer to how you actually work. For now you can copy a past estimate as a starting point.
Does it include material prices?
No. You type in your own prices, and BuckBid saves them so you don't retype them on the next estimate.
Is it part of SPW911?
No. SPW911 does the engineering design. BuckBid builds the draft estimate. They are separate products.
How does the free trial work?
Create an account and read up to 2 bid packages in your first 30 days, whichever comes first. No credit card is needed. When the trial ends, you can subscribe for $99 a month to keep going.
What does it cost?
BuckBid is $99 a month for 8 package reads each billing period, plus sales tax where it applies. Unused reads do not roll over. You can cancel any time and keep access through the end of the period you paid for. Monthly fees are non-refundable. Your free trial comes first, with no card needed.
Start your next estimate with BuckBid
Upload a bid package and get a draft estimate you can review, edit, and price. Your first 2 packages are free, no credit card.
Draft only. You check every number and own the bid.