Construction Cost Estimating and Project Schedule Platform
A two-tool web portal for Verona Building Partners, an architecture and construction firm. The Estimator turns a project scope and a complexity level for each of 17 CSI divisions into a ballpark budget range with a branded PDF. The Project Schedule tool, added in October 2026, builds a phase-by-phase timeline backwards from the move-in date in business days. Both sit behind a shared access password, with an admin area for rates, schedule templates, holidays and leads.
The Challenge
Verona Building Partners spent hours producing ballpark construction costs across 17 CSI trade divisions from inconsistent spreadsheet rate tables, and had no quick way to answer the question that follows every budget: when could the project be finished? They needed estimates in minutes, a schedule that respected working days and holidays, and one place where invited clients and staff could run both.
The Solution
Phase one (March 2026) rebuilt the estimating workbooks as a web Estimator: scope, a complexity level for each of the 17 divisions, and an instant low-to-high range with a branded PDF, backed by an admin rate manager holding 204 rates. Phase two (October 2026) added a Project Schedule tool that plans backwards from a move-in date across five phases in business days, skipping weekends and holidays, with list and Gantt views and PDF export, plus admin screens for schedule templates, holiday calendars and the working week. A shared access password keeps both tools invite-only.
Results & Impact
Ballpark estimates that took 2 to 3 hours are produced in under 5 minutes, with every division priced from one consistent rate table. Project schedules are generated in seconds from three inputs, flag move-in dates that cannot be met and suggest the earliest achievable one. The platform is covered by 171 automated tests with 768 assertions, up from 82 and 320 at launch.
Key Features
Two-step ballpark estimator across 17 CSI divisions
Project schedule planned backwards from move-in in business days
List and Gantt views with print and PDF export
Holiday calendars with US and Canada presets
Admin rate manager (204 rates) and schedule template editor
Shared access password, branded PDFs behind signed links
Project Deep Dive
The project began with a set of Excel estimation sheets, one per project type (Tenant Improvements, Commercial Ground-Up, Multi-Family Remodel), each pricing the same 17 CSI trade divisions at four complexity levels. Those sheets became the Estimator: 204 rates in an admin-managed table, a two-step wizard (scope, then a complexity level per division) and a result page that shows the ballpark range, cost per square foot and a division breakdown, with a branded PDF behind a signed link.
The calculation engine handles both acre-based site work and square-footage divisions, applies per-line multipliers and an overall adjustment, suggests markup from four cost bands, and reports a range of plus or minus 20 percent. Older estimates keep the range they were priced with, and links sent to clients before the update still open. All of it matches the firm's original Excel methodology, checked side by side against the workbook.
The October 2026 Update: a Second Tool
Seven months after launch the firm came back with the next question every budget raises: when could the project be finished? The Project Schedule tool answers it from three inputs: project type (Retail, Industrial or Office), move-in date and square footage. It plans backwards from move-in in business days across five phases: Design, Pre-Construction, Construction, Testing and Commissioning, and Handover. Tasks can start at the phase start, after another task finishes, or alongside another task with a lag, and the construction trades roll up into one build-out line for the client view. Weekends and holidays are skipped automatically, and if the move-in date cannot be met the tool says so and suggests the earliest achievable date.
Staff maintain the schedule logic without a developer: templates per project type and size band, with a preview before saving; holiday calendars with one-click United States and Canada federal presets; and the working week itself. The estimator lost its contact step in the same release, so users go straight to their number, with a schedule-a-consultation button on the result instead.
Both tools now sit behind one shared access password on a single home page, so invited clients and staff can run a schedule, an estimate, or both. The suite is covered by 171 automated tests with 768 assertions, up from 82 tests and 320 assertions at the March launch.
Technologies Used
"We went from spending half a day putting together a ballpark number to having the wizard do it in real time. And the leads come in with all the project context attached - our close rate jumped because we can respond with a detailed quote the same day."
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