The software construction economists use in 2026

Measurement on paper or on a drawing file has largely been replaced by digital measurement packages allowing measurement directly on the file, whether PDF or drawing format, with integrated dimensioning, counting and area tools.

The French market reference	Allows measurement on drawing or PDF files, production of the quantified schedule and export to the estimating package. Used in the great majority of French cost consultancies.
Integrated measurement and estimating packages	Strong on the technical packages. Allow quantities to be calculated and the pricing schedule to be issued directly.
International measurement tools	American packages well established in France on large projects. A two-dimensional interface on PDF, with export to spreadsheet.
PDF mark-up tools	Widely used for annotating drawings. Basic measurement functions, but amply sufficient for simple projects.
Drafting software with measurement extensions	For teams already equipped. Specialist extensions allow measurement directly on the drawing file, though less ergonomically than dedicated tools.

These packages structure estimates by package and by elementary item, take in the quantities from the measurement, apply the unit rates and generate the output documents.

Integrated construction management systems	A construction business management solution with a cost module covering estimating, the pricing schedule, offer analysis and financial monitoring. Strongly established in small and medium firms.
Estimating packages for craft firms	Oriented to craft firms and small finishing trades, incorporating the national price database. Widely used for renovation quotations.
Construction enterprise systems	Covering estimating, quotation, site monitoring and accounting.
Spreadsheets	The reality in many design practices: estimates on structured spreadsheets, sometimes with internally developed macros. Flexible but time-consuming and error-prone.
Quostra	A platform dedicated to the automated production of construction cost deliverables: estimates, pricing schedules, appraisals. Generates in minutes the documents an economist produces manually in hours.

No estimating package is worth more than the quality of the price database it uses. Construction economists rely on regularly updated commercial databases and on their own statistical data drawn from completed site accounts.

The national commercial database	The national reference. Several thousand elementary items by package, with price build-ups covering materials, labour and plant, and regionalised unit rates. Updated annually. Indispensable for any estimating professional.
The national statistical indices	Monthly index series published for each family of works. Used to bring estimates forward and to calculate contractual price revisions.
Regional construction cost publications	Regional publications of construction costs by building type. Less detailed than the commercial database but useful for macro estimates at concept stage.
Internal databases	The most precise source: data from the firm's or the consultancy's own site accounts. Far more reliable than any commercial database, being adapted to the region, the usual suppliers and the firm's practices.

Building information modelling is profoundly transforming the economist's practice. In a mature modelled project, the three-dimensional model holds the geometric information, dimensions, areas, volumes, and the material properties that allow quantities to be extracted automatically, without manual measurement.

The principal architectural and structural modelling packages	The standard for modelled design in France. Quantities are extracted through parametric schedules. Effective for geometrically simple elements; limited on complex or unmodelled ones.
Alternative modelling packages	Strong in architecture, with area schedules and connectors to estimating software.
Coordination and checking tools	Allow clash detection and quantity calculation from several aggregated models.
Specialist model-based estimating software	Extracts quantities from open-format models, cross-referenced with a price database. Standard on large international projects.
Extraction through the open exchange format	The neutral exchange format of building information modelling. Most modern estimating packages can import it to extract quantities.

ℹ The current limits of modelling in cost work The quality of the quantities extracted from a model depends directly on the quality of the modelling. A badly structured or incomplete model generates wrong quantities. In practice, economists always verify extracted quantities through ratios and manual coherence checks. Modelling does not replace professional judgement; it accelerates it.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to enter construction estimating, first on simple functions, recognising rooms on a drawing to extract their area, then progressively on more complex ones. The first specialist generative platforms already produce outline estimates from a scanned drawing or a description of the project.

Quostra sits within that trend by automating the production of construction cost deliverables, estimates, pricing schedules, appraisals, from the project's basic data. The objective is not to replace the economist but to eliminate the repetitive, time-consuming tasks so they can concentrate on the decisions that add value.

Articles liés : Construction economist or measurer · Engineering consultancies · How a construction tender works

Cost estimates, pricing schedules, development appraisals, summary notes. Produce in minutes the deliverables you prepare manually today. First project free. → quostra.com

The software cited is that available on the French market in 2026. Market shares and competitive positions move rapidly in this sector. This page is not a purchase recommendation.