An excavation bid is won or lost in the proposal: unit prices, exclusions for rock and utilities, and a signature before the machine mobilizes. We compared 10 tools on pricing, proposal quality, scope control, and job costing, using vendor pages checked on October 5, 2026.
The best proposal software for excavation contractors in 2026 is QuoteIQ. It turns an estimate into a branded proposal with photos, options, and terms, collects an e-signature and a deposit, and tracks what the job actually earned, starting at $29.99 a month. HCSS HeavyBid goes deeper on heavy civil bid estimating. Foreman and JobTread add budgeting and takeoff for larger builds. Jobber, Housecall Pro, PandaDoc, and Joist cover lighter quote-and-sign needs. Pricing was checked on vendor pages on October 5, 2026.
| Rank | Platform | Starting Price | Best For | Standout for Excavation Proposals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | QuoteIQ | $29.99/mo | Owner-operators and crews up to about 20 people | Proposal+, e-signatures, deposits, and job costing in one app |
| #2 | Foreman | $249/mo + $20 per extra seat | Contractors bidding plan-based site and building work | Budget-first estimating, takeoff, and branded proposals |
| #3 | JobTread | $199/mo + $20 per extra user | Builders and GCs who manage dirt work inside larger projects | One plan: estimating, takeoff, e-sign contracts, job costing |
| #4 | HCSS HeavyBid | Custom (contact sales) | Heavy civil contractors bidding $100,000+ work | Heavy civil bid estimating with proposals |
| #5 | Buildertrend | Custom quote | Home builders and remodelers | Estimates and proposals inside project management |
| #6 | Contractor Foreman | From $49/mo | Budget-minded contractors and subs | Estimates and bid management on every plan |
| #7 | Jobber | From $29/mo billed annually ($49 monthly) | Small crews sending many small quotes | Customizable quote templates; richer quotes on Grow |
| #8 | Housecall Pro | From $59/mo billed annually ($79 monthly) | Service-style crews already on Housecall Pro | Sales Proposal tool on the MAX plan |
| #9 | PandaDoc | Free; paid from $19/seat/mo | Crews that only need polished proposals and signatures | E-signature and templates on every plan |
| #10 | Joist | From $10/mo | Solo and part-time operators | Low-cost estimates, e-signature, and payments |
Prices are list prices from each vendor’s own pages, checked October 5, 2026. Where a vendor shows both annual and monthly billing we show both. Vendors change pricing often, so confirm on their site before you buy. Takeoff and quantity tools such as AGTEK Gradework, InSite Elevation Pro, and PlanSwift focus on calculating quantities rather than sending proposals, so they sit outside this ranking.
We’re QuoteIQ. We made this list. We also picked our own platform as #1 — here’s exactly why, with the trade-offs each tool brings to the table. Five criteria drove every ranking decision:
Our sources were each vendor’s own pricing and product pages (checked October 5, 2026), QuoteIQ’s plan documentation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OSHA, IBISWorld, and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). We did not test the competing products hands-on, and we did not pull Capterra or G2 review scores for this ranking, so where a tool’s pros and cons go beyond what its own pages say, we describe them as our read. Capterra’s earthwork-estimating category is made up mostly of estimating, takeoff, and quantity tools, which is why we kept the focus on products that send and sign proposals.
Market context shaped the criteria too. IBISWorld puts U.S. excavation contractor revenue at about $203.1 billion in 2025, essentially flat after years of growth, and AGC’s 2026 survey found that most construction firms are struggling to hire. When revenue is flat and labor is tight, the contractors who win are the ones who turn more of their bids into signed jobs without adding office staff. That is what proposal software is for.
“The fix is to set the expectation clearly at the quoting stage: this estimate covers this exact scope, anything outside of it gets priced separately.”
— Justin Rogers, Co-Founder of QuoteIQ
QuoteIQ is the platform we built for contractors who win work with a clear, fast, signed proposal. For an excavation business that means one workflow: build the estimate, send it as a branded proposal, collect the e-signature and a deposit, schedule the job, and see whether it made money. You stop juggling a quoting app, a document-signing tool, a payment processor, and a spreadsheet.
The proposal is where excavation bids get won or lost, so that is where QuoteIQ spends its effort. Proposal+ turns any estimate into a branded proposal with your company story, services, photo gallery, supporting documents, and customer reviews, and the customer reads it as one scrolling page with a side menu that jumps to each section. You can spell out the exclusions that matter on dirt work, such as rock, buried utilities, and haul-off, and the customer signs online. Options estimates let you present good, better, and best scopes, for example a standard building pad against a pad with imported structural fill, instead of one take-it-or-leave-it number.
Here is how one excavation proposal moves through QuoteIQ. Outline the pad, driveway, or lot in MapMeasure Pro and take pre-dig photos with QuoteIQ Cam. Build the estimate with quantities and sub-items, and put your exclusions and conditions in the terms. Switch to an Options estimate if the customer has a real choice to make, then send it as a Proposal+ by text or email. The customer signs online and pays the deposit. When the job is approved, schedule it, track time and expenses against it, and let Job Costing show the margin before you quote the next one.
Plan sizing is straightforward. Essentials ($29.99/mo) includes 1 user, Beginner ($74.99/mo) includes 2, Pro ($149.99/mo) includes 4, Elite ($299/mo) includes 10, and Max ($699/mo) includes 20. Any paid plan can add seats for $25 per person per month. Annual billing gives two months free. Most solo excavators start on Beginner for measuring and photo tools, small crews that want job costing move to Pro, and 5–10 person companies tend to land on Elite. Every plan carries a 14-day free trial, and proposals are free to use during the trial.
Best for: owner-operators and small crews, up to roughly 20 people, doing site prep, grading, trenching, drainage, and foundation dig-outs who want to send proposals the same day and keep every document in one place.
Pros
Cons
“Don’t look at the neighborhood and decide what they can afford. Price the work. Every time you price the customer instead of the work, you’re guessing at someone else’s wallet and losing track of your own numbers.”
— Mike Vidan, Co-Founder of QuoteIQ
Verdict: If you run a one-to-twenty person excavation company and your bids go out as texts, PDFs, and Word files, QuoteIQ replaces that stack for $29.99 to $699 a month and shows you which jobs paid. Owners who bid heavy civil work off plan sets should pair QuoteIQ with a takeoff tool or look at HeavyBid below.
Foreman is construction-management software that starts from the budget. You upload plans, its AI takes a first-pass measurement, you build a budget with cost codes tied to quantities, and the proposal is generated from that budget. Clients review, sign, and accept in the browser. Foreman’s pricing page lists budgets and proposals with e-signature, invoicing, scheduling, plan markup and measurement tools, a two-way QuickBooks integration, and an unlimited AI assistant in a single plan.
Excavation appears on Foreman’s site as a customer testimonial (Blair Excavation) rather than a dedicated product page, and its homepage lists general contractors, home builders, remodelers, roofers, and commercial contractors as its core trades. Foreman describes its AI takeoff as “a first pass done in seconds” and leaves the estimator responsible for the result, which is the right way to treat any AI measurement. One pricing note: Foreman’s blog quotes $199.99 a month billed annually, while the pricing page shows $249, so confirm the term before you sign.
Against QuoteIQ: Foreman wins when a bid starts from a plan set and needs takeoff-driven quantities and a cost-coded budget. QuoteIQ wins when the proposal has to go out the same day from a phone, with options, photos, an e-signature, and a deposit, at a fraction of the monthly cost.
Best for: excavation and site-work contractors who bid plan-based projects, want the proposal tied to a cost-coded budget, and have office time to maintain one.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: A strong pick when your excavation work is plan-driven and you want takeoff, budgets, and proposals in a construction platform. For owner-operators who send most proposals from a truck, it is more system than the job needs.
JobTread is a single-plan construction-management platform. Its pricing page lists estimating, takeoff, a cost catalog, and contracts with e-signatures under estimating and sales; tasks, scheduling, time tracking, daily logs, forms, and a mobile app under project management; budgeting, change orders, job costing, and purchase orders under job finances; and customer portals with online payment collection. Unlimited jobs, documents, files, and external portal users are included, and implementation, training, and support carry no extra charge.
JobTread says it serves 13,000+ construction businesses and lists home builders, remodelers, pool builders, outdoor living contractors, roofers, specialty contractors, and commercial contractors on its homepage. We found no excavation or site-work mentions on the pages we reviewed, so an excavator would be adapting a builder-oriented tool to dirt work. Seats add up: five internal users cost $279 a month on monthly billing ($199 plus four at $20), and ten cost $379.
Against QuoteIQ: JobTread brings budgets, purchase orders, and plan takeoff that QuoteIQ doesn’t. QuoteIQ costs less for a small crew ($149.99 a month covers four users on Pro) and puts Proposal+, e-signatures, deposits, and financing in every paid plan, so a one-to-four person excavation company isn’t paying for a full construction suite.
Best for: general contractors and builders who self-perform or manage excavation as one phase of a larger build and want a single system for estimates, budgets, and job costing.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: Worth a demo if you are a builder or GC for whom excavation is one phase of many. A site-work specialist sending dozens of smaller proposals will pay for more suite than the work requires.
HeavyBid is the heavy civil specialist. HCSS describes its typical customer as a self-performing civil or infrastructure contractor with crews and heavy equipment, bidding anything from $100,000+ projects to multi-billion-dollar programs. HCSS says more than 50,000 estimators use it, including 43 of the ENR top 50 heavy civil contractors.
On proposals, the product page says HeavyBid includes a dedicated proposals feature for professional-looking proposals that meet owner specifications, plus handoff of estimates into budgets and accounting systems. Estimating is the focus: customizable templates, automated cost entry, and historical data for pricing decisions. The page we reviewed doesn’t describe customer follow-up, scheduling, or consumer financing, and it doesn’t publish prices.
Against QuoteIQ: HeavyBid is deeper on heavy civil estimating and historical cost data, while QuoteIQ is faster for the smaller proposals that fill a calendar between big bids. A contractor who does both kinds of work could reasonably use each where it fits.
Best for: site-work and heavy civil contractors who bid public or large private work, run equipment fleets, and employ a dedicated estimator.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: If your bids start near $100,000 and an estimator lives inside the bid, HeavyBid belongs on your shortlist. For a small site-work company sending dozens of smaller proposals a month, it is the wrong size.
Buildertrend publishes no dollar figures. Its pricing page says pricing is tailored and quoted through the sales team based on business type and annual revenue, with unlimited users and a limited-time 10% discount on annual subscriptions paid upfront. The feature list shows an Estimates tool under financial management and a Proposals tool, marked “Recommended,” under sales management.
The pricing page doesn’t name e-signature or financing, though they may appear elsewhere on the product. Buildertrend is known for residential construction project management, so its proposal tools sit inside a larger system. For an excavation contractor that is a plus if you manage whole projects for homeowners, and overhead if you mainly sell excavation as a standalone service.
Against QuoteIQ: Buildertrend quotes its price and places proposals inside project management. QuoteIQ publishes every price, which lets a one-to-ten person excavation company decide in a single sitting instead of after a demo cycle, and all five plans carry a 14-day free trial.
Best for: home builders and remodelers who want proposals as one part of full project management and are comfortable buying through a sales team.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: A fit for builders who want estimating, proposals, and project management under one roof. If you want to see a price tonight and send a proposal tomorrow, it is a slower path than the published-price options above.
Contractor Foreman prices by user count rather than by feature tier. Its pricing page lists estimates and bid management, online payments, and change-order requests that clients can approve by electronic signature on every plan, and each plan starts with a 30-day free trial. The homepage highlights estimates, takeoffs, side-by-side bid comparison, and change orders for general contractors, subcontractors, trade contractors, and service contractors.
The user-count pricing is a real draw for a growing crew. Eight users cost $166 a month on Plus, which is less than QuoteIQ Elite at $299 for up to 10. The question is how deep the proposal tools go. The homepage we reviewed doesn’t name proposals or e-signature as headline features, and excavation isn’t among its listed trade categories.
Against QuoteIQ: Contractor Foreman is cheaper per user as the team grows, while QuoteIQ puts Proposal+, options estimates, e-signatures, deposits, and financing in one flow. Decide whether you need a branded proposal the customer signs or mainly an internal system for tracking bids.
Best for: cost-conscious contractors, including excavators who bid for general contractors, who want estimating and bid tracking at a low monthly price.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: A budget-friendly way to track estimates and bids if you mostly need internal organization. If the goal is a branded proposal a homeowner or GC signs and pays a deposit on, check that the product does what you need before committing.
Jobber is a general field-service platform. Every plan includes quotes from customizable templates, invoicing, and payment collection, and the pricing page mentions signature approvals within quoting. The upgrade that matters for proposals is Grow, which adds advanced quote customization with images, reviews, and other content, plus optional add-ons and markups.
For an excavation contractor, Jobber is a reasonable fit when the work looks like service work: small grading jobs, drainage fixes, driveway repairs, and repeat customers. It isn’t construction-management software, so expect to handle bid takeoffs and complex scope tracking elsewhere. Card payments are listed at 2.9% + 30¢ and ACH at 1%.
Against QuoteIQ: Both are field-service apps with quotes, invoices, and payments. QuoteIQ’s Options estimates and Proposal+ come with every paid plan (with the credit cost noted above on the lower three), while Jobber’s richer quotes arrive on Grow at $149–$199 a month. Compare the total for your team size, not the entry price.
Best for: small excavation and site-service crews that send many small quotes and want a polished field-service app.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: A solid choice for small crews whose work resembles service calls. If your bids carry unknown conditions and need written exclusions and options, compare it against purpose-built proposal tools first.
Housecall Pro’s pricing page lists online booking and consumer financing on all three plans. The Sales Proposal tool, listed with a $40-a-month value, appears only on MAX. Basic includes 1 user, Essentials 5, and MAX 8.
That placement matters for excavation. A contractor who wants branded proposals on Housecall Pro is on the $299-to-$329 plan. E-signature wasn’t listed on the pricing page we reviewed. Housecall Pro is a mature service-business platform, and for crews that already dispatch and invoice through it, adding the proposal tool is simpler than switching.
Against QuoteIQ: Housecall Pro’s proposal tool is MAX-only, so its cheapest route to a proposal is $299 a month on annual billing. QuoteIQ includes Proposal+ from Essentials at $29.99 a month, plus scheduling and invoicing on every plan.
Best for: service-style excavation and site-service crews that already run on Housecall Pro for booking and dispatch and want a proposal add-on.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: Makes sense if you’re already on Housecall Pro and ready to pay for MAX. If proposals are the main reason you’re shopping, a platform with proposals on every plan costs less.
PandaDoc is a document-automation tool, not a contractor CRM. E-signatures are included on every plan, including Free, which allows 5 documents per month. Templates are capped at 5 on Free and Starter and unlimited on Business, and payments arrive with Business. The page also mentions AI assistants via MCP (ChatGPT, Claude), currently at no extra cost during a beta period.
For an excavation contractor, PandaDoc is a polished way to produce and sign a proposal, and it works for any trade. It won’t schedule crews, track job costs, or hold your customer records the way a field-service tool does, so most excavators pair it with something else. Check the billing term (monthly or annual) shown on the pricing page before you compare per-seat prices.
Against QuoteIQ: PandaDoc is a document tool you would pair with an estimating tool. QuoteIQ already includes estimates, proposals, e-signatures, and payments, and QuoteIQ Sign handles standalone documents such as a change authorization or site-access agreement.
Best for: contractors who already have estimating and scheduling in place and only need better-looking proposals and signatures.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: A good add-on if your estimating and scheduling are already handled. If you are looking for one system for the whole job, it is only a piece.
Joist covers estimates and invoices for small contractors. Basics allows up to 5 estimates and invoices a month, while Pro and Elite are unlimited. Every plan lists in-app e-signatures, online payments, estimate-to-invoice conversion, and homeowner financing. Change orders arrive with Elite, and job scheduling arrives only with the Run plan, which is $70 a month at its regular price and shown with a 30%-off introductory offer.
It is the cheapest way in this list to send a signed estimate. The pages we reviewed don’t describe branded proposal pages or job costing, and scheduling doesn’t arrive until Run, so a growing excavation company will likely outgrow it.
Against QuoteIQ: Both are priced for small contractors, and Joist is cheaper at the bottom ($10 against $29.99). QuoteIQ adds Proposal+, Options estimates, MapMeasure Pro, and job costing as you move up, and scheduling is part of every plan rather than reserved for a top tier.
Best for: solo and part-time excavators who send a handful of signed estimates a month.
Pros
Cons
Verdict: A sensible starting point for a one-machine operator who needs signatures and payments. As you add crews and bigger jobs, you will want proposals, scheduling, and job costing in one place.
IBISWorld puts U.S. excavation at $203.1 billion in 2025, after growing at an average of 7.1% a year from 2020 to 2025, though 2025 itself came in about 0.2% lower. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 534,100 construction equipment operator jobs, with a median pay of $59,600 in 2025, and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) reports in its July–August 2026 survey of 1,830 firms that hiring remains hard. In a flat market with tight labor, the practical lever is win rate: more of the bids you send turn into signed work, without hiring someone to chase them.
The BLS occupation group is the closest public proxy for the operator side of excavation work, not a count of excavation companies. IBISWorld’s business-count figure is behind its membership wall, so we left it out rather than guess.
Start with QuoteIQ Essentials at $29.99 a month, or Beginner at $74.99 if you want MapMeasure Pro to size pads and driveways from satellite imagery and QuoteIQ Cam for site photos. If all you need is a signed estimate and you’ll never schedule anyone else, Joist from $10 a month is the cheapest path. Either way, send the proposal before you leave the customer’s property. A bid that lands while the customer is still standing in the yard tends to face fewer competing bids than one that arrives three days later.
QuoteIQ Pro ($149.99 a month, 4 users) is the sweet spot, because it adds Job Costing to proposals and e-signatures, so after the first few jobs you can see which bids earned a margin and which didn’t. That feedback loop is how a small crew learns what a cubic yard of haul-off or an hour of rock really costs. Contractor Foreman Standard ($105 a month for 3 users) is a cheaper option if you mainly need bid tracking.
QuoteIQ Elite is $299 a month with 10 users included. JobTread would run $279 a month for five users and $379 for ten on monthly billing, and brings plan takeoff and construction budgeting that QuoteIQ doesn’t. Choose by how your bids come in: plan sets and GC bid packages favor JobTread or Foreman, private site work favors QuoteIQ. Run the same real bid through two trials before you commit, because the way each tool handles your exclusions and unit prices will tell you more than a feature list.
Look at HCSS HeavyBid if you employ a dedicated estimator and bid at $100,000 and up, or Foreman if you want a lighter construction suite with takeoff and proposals together. Some contractors in this position keep a heavy bid tool for the big bids and use a faster proposal tool, like QuoteIQ, for the residential and small commercial work that fills the gaps. The fast tool pays for itself in bids you would otherwise never get around to writing.
JobTread and Buildertrend are built for that shape of business: one system for estimates, budgets, change orders, and client communication across the whole project. Compare their pricing against what you actually need from the dirt-work portion, and ask each vendor how a subcontractor-heavy scope like excavation is handled inside a project. QuoteIQ’s JobTread comparison and Buildertrend comparison lay out where each tool fits.
PandaDoc’s free plan handles five documents a month with e-signature, and Joist’s Pro plan at $17 a month handles unlimited estimates. Both are fine for occasional bids. The moment you want job costing, scheduling, or deposit and financing options in the same place, you’ll start adding tools, which is when an all-in-one starts to cost less than a stack of single-purpose subscriptions.
You’re paying for a field-service app that may gate proposals: Jobber’s richer quotes sit on Grow ($149 annual, $199 monthly) and Housecall Pro’s Sales Proposal tool sits on MAX. Price the upgrade, then compare it with a platform where Proposal+ is on every paid plan. QuoteIQ’s AI-assisted CSV import accepts exports from Jobber and Housecall Pro, so switching doesn’t mean retyping your customer list. Keep the old app running for a week on open bids, then retire it.
Defined what an excavation proposal has to do. We started with the job, not the software. A good excavation proposal states the scope in writing, lists exclusions for rock, groundwater, and buried utilities, prices unknowns by the unit, requires a deposit before mobilization, and gets a signature. Every tool was judged against that list.
Built the shortlist from tools that send and sign proposals. We reviewed software roundups and Capterra’s earthwork-estimating category, then separated takeoff and quantity tools from products that produce customer-facing proposals. Takeoff-only tools stayed out, and the remaining pool was narrowed to 10 across construction suites, field-service apps, and document tools.
Verified pricing on each vendor’s own page on October 5, 2026. We recorded plan names, monthly and annual prices, user limits, and which tier unlocks proposals and e-signature. Where a vendor doesn’t publish prices, such as HCSS HeavyBid and Buildertrend, we say so instead of estimating.
Scored each tool on five criteria. Pricing transparency, proposal quality and scope control, fit for excavation workflows, field speed, and total cost for a one-to-ten person company. We did not test the competing products hands-on, and we did not pull Capterra or G2 review scores for this ranking.
Added operator perspective and disclosed our bias. We drew on the published operator guidance of QuoteIQ co-founders Mike Vidan and Justin Rogers, such as pricing the work and setting scope at the quoting stage, to shape the criteria, and we stated up front that QuoteIQ is the publisher and the #1 pick. Where a pro or con goes beyond a vendor’s own pages, we label it as our read.
“The estimate maker looks so professional even my customer was impressed and the fact i can send photos with that estimate is a plus for me.”
“But the best part is having a tool to give estimates immediately, and assisting in everything contractors need in dealing with clients.”
“Really good application format to implement easy quotes and invoices for your small business.”
Our review database has no entries tagged excavation, so these three five-star reviews come from contractors in other trades whose comments are about quoting and estimates. Reviewer names and quotes are verbatim from App Store, Google Play, and Google Business Profile reviews.
Mike co-founded QuoteIQ and is a 20+ year home service business owner. His writing on the insights page is blunt about pricing the work instead of the customer, sending the estimate fast, and following up once within 48 hours, which is the same discipline an excavation proposal needs.
Read Mike’s insights →Justin co-founded QuoteIQ and focuses on the operating side of contractor businesses: how a job moves from inquiry to quote, schedule, finished work, and payment, and how to measure whether pricing, scheduling, and operations are working. His scope-boundary advice shaped how we judged proposal tools.
Read Justin’s insights →QuoteIQ is the best proposal software for most excavation contractors in 2026. It sends branded proposals with photos, options, and written exclusions, collects e-signatures and deposits, and tracks job profit in the same app, with plans from $29.99 to $699 a month. HCSS HeavyBid is the stronger choice for heavy civil bidding with a dedicated estimator, and Foreman and JobTread suit contractors who want budgets and takeoff inside a construction-management suite.
Prices in this ranking run from $10 a month to custom quotes. Joist starts at $10, Jobber at $29 billed annually, QuoteIQ at $29.99, and Contractor Foreman at $49. JobTread is $199 a month plus $20 per extra user, Foreman is $249 plus $20 per extra seat, and HeavyBid and Buildertrend are quoted individually. Most one-to-ten person excavation companies typically land between about $30 and $300 a month. All prices were checked October 5, 2026.
There is no full-featured free option built for excavation. PandaDoc has a free plan with e-signatures for five documents a month, which covers occasional proposals but not job costing or scheduling. Every QuoteIQ plan includes a 14-day free trial, and proposals are free to use during the trial. Paid QuoteIQ plans start at $29.99 a month.
For a one-machine operator, QuoteIQ Essentials ($29.99/mo) covers estimates, e-signatures, deposits, and payments for one user. Beginner ($74.99/mo, 2 users) adds MapMeasure Pro and QuoteIQ Cam for measuring and site photos. Joist, from $10 a month, is the cheapest way to send signed estimates if that is all you need.
QuoteIQ Pro ($149.99/mo, 4 users) suits most two-to-five person crews because it adds Job Costing to proposals and e-signatures, and a fifth person is another $25 a month. JobTread costs $279 a month for five users, and Contractor Foreman Standard is $105 a month for three users. Compare the proposal features, not just the sticker price.
Larger companies split into two paths. If you bid plan sets and public work with a dedicated estimator, HCSS HeavyBid is built for that. If your bids are mostly private site work, QuoteIQ Elite ($299/mo, 10 users) and Max ($699/mo, 20 users) keep proposals, scheduling, and job costing in one platform. Contractor Foreman Unlimited is $332 a month for unlimited users.
Yes. QuoteIQ has iOS and Android apps with a 4.7-star average across 4,103+ App Store and Google Play reviews, and JobTread lists a mobile app on its pricing page. Confirm the mobile experience of any tool before committing, since excavation proposals usually get written on a jobsite. A free trial is the fastest way to test it.
Several tools do. QuoteIQ includes e-signatures on every plan, PandaDoc and Joist include them on every plan, and JobTread and Foreman list signable contracts and proposals. Under the federal E-SIGN Act, a signature or contract may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form (15 U.S.C. § 7001(a)), though consumer-consent rules apply to some disclosures. This isn’t legal advice, so ask a local attorney about your contract terms.
Put the scope in writing and price the unknowns separately. State what the price includes, such as clearing, stripping, rough grade, and haul-off, then list exclusions like rock, groundwater, unmarked utilities, and unsuitable soils, with unit prices for extra work. Name the trench protection your price assumes, since OSHA points to sloping or benching, shoring, and shielding under 29 CFR 1926.650–652. Have the customer sign before you mobilize.
Yes, with the right tool. QuoteIQ’s Options estimates present good, better, and best tiers on every plan, for example a base pad, a pad with imported fill, and a pad with fill plus drainage. Package estimates bundle services together. Jobber’s Grow plan adds optional add-ons and markups, which gives a similar upsell path.
Yes. QuoteIQ lets you require a deposit on the estimate, accept online payment, and convert the approved estimate to an invoice on every plan. JobTread, Contractor Foreman, and Joist list online payments, PandaDoc offers payments on Business, and Jobber collects payments on every plan. A deposit tied to mobilization keeps the machine from moving unpaid.
For job costing on a small-company budget, QuoteIQ Pro ($149.99/mo) calculates profit per job as price minus labor minus expenses, with time tracking feeding the labor number. JobTread includes job costing, budgets, change orders, and purchase orders in its single plan, and Foreman ties a cost-coded budget to quantities. Dedicated takeoff tools and HeavyBid go deeper on plan quantities and large-bid estimating.
Yes. QuoteIQ offers Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay at online checkout on every plan, and the contractor is paid upfront minus processing fees, while terms and approval are set by the provider. Housecall Pro lists consumer financing on all plans and Joist lists homeowner financing on all tiers. Financing helps most on larger residential jobs such as pads, drainage, and driveway work.
Export your customers, services, and any estimates and invoices from Jobber as CSV files, then import them into the new tool. QuoteIQ’s AI-assisted import accepts exports from Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan, and others, maps the columns for you to review, shows a preview, and flags duplicates. Run both systems side by side for a week on live bids, then cut over.
If you’re on Housecall Pro mainly for the Sales Proposal tool, which is on MAX at $299 annual or $329 monthly, QuoteIQ includes Proposal+ on every paid plan from $29.99 a month. Essentials, Beginner, and Pro pay 100 IQ Credits per estimate, and Elite and Max include it. Jobber is the other familiar field-service option, with richer quotes on Grow.
Yes. JobTread starts at $199 a month and Foreman at $249 before extra users and seats. QuoteIQ starts at $29.99, and Pro ($149.99/mo) adds job costing for four users. Contractor Foreman starts at $49 and prices by user count. JobTread and Foreman include plan takeoff and construction budgeting that QuoteIQ doesn’t, so the cheaper option depends on how plan-based your bids are.
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For most excavation contractors in 2026, QuoteIQ is the best proposal software because it keeps the whole path from bid to payment in one place: an estimate you can send the same day, a branded proposal with options and written exclusions, an e-signature and deposit before the machine mobilizes, and a job-costing report that shows what the work earned. Plans run from $29.99 to $699 a month, with users included and a 14-day free trial on every plan.
Other tools earn a place on specific shortlists. HCSS HeavyBid is the right choice when your bids start near $100,000 and an estimator owns them. Foreman and JobTread make sense when your work is plan-based or part of a larger build. Buildertrend suits builders who want proposals inside project management. Contractor Foreman is a low-cost way to track bids, Jobber and Housecall Pro fit service-style crews, and PandaDoc and Joist cover signatures on a minimal budget.
Excavation is moving the same way as other trades: customers expect a clear, professional proposal quickly and a way to approve and pay online, while labor stays tight and revenue growth has flattened. The contractors who build a repeatable proposal process now will spend less time chasing bids and more time on the machine. QuoteIQ is built for that workflow, and the free trial costs nothing to test on your next real bid.
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Create and complete inspection reports.
MapMeasure Pro
Measure and price properties instantly.
Business Analytics
Real-time insight into your performance.
EmployeeHub
Assign, schedule & pay employees.
Virtual Call Team
Never miss a call with 24/7 AJ, assistant.
ClientHub
Send and keep messages inside QuoteIQ.
InstaQuote
Allow customers to create estimates themselves.
InstaSchedule
Let clients schedule appointments themselves.
Facebook User Group
Connect with and get advice from other QuoteIQ users.
Competitor Comparisons
See how QuoteIQ compares to it’s top competitors.
QuoteIQ Partners
Work with trusted partners that support your growth.
Earn 40% commissions by sharing QuoteIQ with others.
Press & Media
Brand assets and coverage about QuoteIQ’s journey.
