BIM cost estimation software that starts from the model, not a blank sheet
Estimate is BIMCamel's cost estimation section: open an IFC and the quantity schedule is already built — counts, areas and volumes read from the model, grouped by storey with subtotals. Attach your own rates and every row ends in money, with the pricing rule that produced it; skip the rates entirely and you still have a complete, client-ready quantity takeoff. Nothing to install, free to build on every tier.
It is deliberately not a QS suite. Solo architects and small studios use it to answer the cost question early — a feasibility number, a quantity report an estimator can price in PriMus or Excel, a priced bill of quantities for a client review — without buying or learning desktop estimating software.
Try it on the sample building — no signup →
Quantities first — pricing when you want it
Most cost tools make pricing the front door. Estimate makes it the ceiling: the schedule works with zero pricing, exports stay first-class without a single rate, and the pricing panel is one click away when the number matters. That order matches how a small practice actually works — the architect is responsible for correct quantities; the final bill is often someone else's job.
Your price list, three ways in
Import the Excel price list your practice already has (the importer forgives real spreadsheets — header rows found by name, EU decimal commas), paste rows straight from an open sheet, or start from an illustrative starter book and replace the numbers. Rules map elements to rates by class and type, so they keep working on the next revision of the model.
Documents a recipient can check
The Excel export writes live formulas — every amount is quantity × rate the recipient can trace and re-sum — with your rate book on its own sheet. The PDF is a report: cover page with the total, per-line amounts with rate codes, money subtotals per storey, page numbers. Elements no rule priced are counted and named in the document, never silently dropped.
Linked to the model in 3D
The schedule and the 3D view are two views of one model: click a row to see the element, right-click elements to add them to the estimate, and isolate everything a pricing rule catches before you trust it. Estimating stays visual instead of becoming a spreadsheet you cross-reference by hand.
Frequently asked questions
Is BIMCamel's cost estimation free?
Building the estimate is free on every tier — schedule, rates, rules, markups and the 3D link included, with no row cap on the export either. Paid tiers add custom branding: your own logo and title, and the BIMCamel footer removed.
Do I have to enter prices to use it?
No. The quantity schedule is complete without any pricing, and the XLSX/CSV/PDF exports are full quantity-takeoff documents on their own. Pricing is an optional layer on top.
Which models does it work with?
Any IFC 2x3 or IFC4 file, from Revit, Archicad, Tekla, Vectorworks, Allplan and others. Quantities use the model's authored Qto sets where they exist and are measured from geometry where they don't — every row says which.
Is this a replacement for PriMus or CostX?
For a QS running tender packages, no — and it doesn't try to be. For an architect who needs trustworthy quantities and an early priced number from a model that already exists, it replaces the spreadsheet that job usually lands in.