Project Cost Estimate Software For Agencies & Development Shops

This software works best for medium to large organizations that are planning upcoming projects as a team and need some idea of how long it will take and how much it will cost. It could be an agency that does creative, website, or software development work for clients. Or it could be an internal part of an organization working on a new initiative. With each of these situations you will have many tasks to be done and many people to do them. Sometimes these people are billable at different rates, which causes additional complexity.

Nope, this tool is for estimation only. In our opinion an estimate is not the same thing as an invoice. (Even though many simplistic web tools believe they are!) This estimate tool helps project managers deal with the uncertainty of planning projects with multiple people and moving parts involved. Project planning and estimating is a difficult and amorphous task that tries to predict hours and costs in order to help a project move forward. This tool does not collect funds or signatures for projects, but instead gives you the power to make project decisions more confidently.

Anyone who has used their trusty spreadsheet over and over can attest that it will break down over time. Calculations get missed, items don't get totalled correctly, and styling gets mixed up with all of the copying and pasting going on. Furthermore sharing the document and getting feedback across a whole team can be a challenge. This software estimate tool simplifies the estimation process and allows for simple sharing in a variety of ways.

It's really up to you and how you like to think through a project. A single hourly estimate per task is easiest, but sometimes it's nice to think in ranges. Two point estimation lets you put in a high and a low hourly estimate and we find the average for you. Three point estimation lets you put in low (optimistic), most likely (realistic) and high (pessimistic) hourly estimates and then uses the standard PERT project management formula to give more weight the most likely estimate number and balance them out. This process helps to take uncertainty into account when compiling realistic estimates for projects.

Not yet, we may add integrations with popular project management tools in the future, but that is a challenge because of the wide variety of tools available today. We may also offer an API so that you could gain programmatic access to your estimates and an experienced developer may be able to integrate with your tool of choice. Feel free to contact us and let us know what you use and how this tool could best work with it.