What this tool does
A construction cost estimator for Africa, built on locally surveyed prices and calculations that follow the Eurocodes. Here is exactly what it computes, where the figures come from, and what you get out.
Professional take-off
Measure the building, not a ratio. Every quantity follows from the geometry you enter.
Quantities
Best for
Ordering the right amount
Areas, volumes and counts come from real dimensions, with the arithmetic shown beside every line.
- Every quantity shows its arithmetic, with the real numbers in it
- A block that is not in the catalogue still gets measured
- Every line says where its price came from, and a figure you supplied is marked as yours
| — | Qté | Unité | Coût |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grey cement (50 kg bag) | 420 | per bag | $3,550 – $7,550 |
| Cement block 15 × 20 × 40 | 3,600 | each | $3,050 – $4,300 |
| Floor tiles | 125 | per m² | $1,000 – $3,750 |
| Structural timber | 4 | per m³ | $880 – $1,600 |
| Galvanised roofing sheet (2.40 × 0.90 m) | 60 | per sheet | $900 – $1,500 |
The job at a glance
What the work in hand is worth, and what that figure is made of.
Pipeline
Best for
Knowing where you stand
The total of live costings, split by stage: a pipeline nine tenths draft is a different business from one nine tenths quoted.
- Labour, plant and haulage measured, not taken as a percentage
- Every line says where its price came from, and a figure you supplied is marked as yours
- Materials and supplies$64,000
- Labour$18,000
- Contingency and site risk$11,000
- Extras$8,500
- Transport and delivery$7,000
Export-ready documents
A proposal for the client, the full costing for you, a spreadsheet for your accountant.
Proposal
Best for
Getting it signed
The summary, the basis, the exclusions and the two signatures. Without the measured detail, which the client does not need to read.
- Basis, exclusions and measured detail, in the order they are read
- Every line says where its price came from, and a figure you supplied is marked as yours
2026-08-25-cd-kolwezi-bill-of-quantities-bca-20260825-837264-e2-proposal.pdf
Your projects at a glance
Sample- Projects
- 3
- Total area
- 1035 m²
- Combined value
- $1,953,000
Studio or annexe
Matadi · 35 m²
$21,500
$620 / m²
Offices
Boma · 200 m²
$195,000
$970 / m²
Hotel or guesthouse
Kinshasa · 800 m²
$1,736,000
$2,150 / m²
These three estimates were computed just now, at the prices of the country shown. This is not a screenshot, so the page cannot go stale.
Which page to use, and when
8 tools, each for a different moment in a project. Here is which one to open, depending on what you already have.
| Page | What it is for | When to use it | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimator | A full budget from floor area, building type and city. | First, nearly always. Even with no drawings you get a defensible range in three minutes. | A rough floor area and a city. |
| How to use | How the estimator works: what each field changes, and why. | On a first run, or when a figure surprises you and you want to know where it came from. | Nothing. |
| Take-off | A bill of quantities: amounts and costs computed element by element from your real dimensions. | When you have dimensions and are about to order. This is what you take to the merchant. | Lengths, heights and thicknesses, off a drawing or off site. |
| Structure | Preliminary sizing: slab, beam, column, footing, raft, piles, load-bearing wall, stair, and the steel or timber alternative. | Before fixing a span or a structural system, and to check that a quotation you were given holds up. | A span, a storey height and the ground type. |
| Compare | Two or three scenarios side by side, with the difference costed. | When you are torn: one city against another, one finish level against another, one storey more. | Nothing beyond what the estimator needs. |
| Local prices | The unit price of every material and trade, with its standing and its source. | To check a figure before believing it, or to search for a current price where ours is an estimate. | Nothing. |
| Cost guides | Written, sourced benchmarks: what a house costs, material prices, labour. | Before you start, to frame an order of magnitude without entering anything. | Nothing. |
| Countries | The countries covered, their cities and the state of the data. | To see whether your country is handled, and how deeply. | Nothing. |
The flow
Four steps, from bare plot to a quotation you can hand over.
- 01
Describe the project
Building type, floor area, storeys, city and finish level.
- 02
Refine the specification
Foundations, walls, roof, joinery, power and options like a borehole or solar.
- 03
Get the detail
Trade-by-trade budget, cash-flow schedule, material quantities and labour days.
- 04
Turn it into a quotation
Add your margin, swap our prices for your own suppliers’, and print a client-ready summary.
Three ways to start
Depending on what you already have in hand.
From nothing
Building type, floor area, city, finish level. The budget appears immediately and recalculates on every change.
From your drawings
Drop in the architect’s drawings, as PDF or images. Claude reads them, pulls out areas, spans, heights, wall thicknesses and specification, then shows you what it measured and how before you accept any of it.
From measured work
A budget is not an order. Your dimensions become blocks, bags and worker-days you can hand to a merchant. The arithmetic is simple enough that you can check it yourself, or catch a mason asking for twice what the wall needs.
What is actually calculated
Not multipliers: real civil engineering, with the standard cited and the checks shown. Every option in a dropdown has an engine behind it.
| EN 1990:2002+A1:2005 | Basis of structural designLoad combinations and partial factors: 1.35 on permanent actions, 1.5 on variable ones. |
| EN 1991-1-1:2002 | Actions on structures: densities, self-weight and imposed loadsMaterial densities and imposed loads by occupancy category, which is what makes the sizing follow the building’s use. |
| EN 1992-1-1:2004+A1:2014 | Design of concrete structuresSlabs, beams, columns and footings: span/depth ratios, flexure with the 0.167 balanced limit, shear per §6.2.2, bar spacing per §8.2, minimum steel per §9.2.1.1 and §9.3.1.1. |
| EN 1996-1-1:2005+A1:2012 | Design of masonry structuresCharacteristic strength f_k = K·f_b^0.7·f_m^0.3 (§3.6.1.2), slenderness capped at 27 (§5.5.1.4) and vertical load resistance (§6.1.2). |
| EN 1993-1-1:2005+A1:2014 | Design of steel structuresSteel beams and columns: plastic moment resistance §6.2.5, flexural buckling §6.3.1 on curve b, and deflection capped at L/250. |
| EN 1995-1-1:2004+A2:2014 | Design of timber structuresFloor joists: f_m,d = k_mod · f_m,k / γ_M with k_mod 0.8 in service class 2, and deflection capped at L/300. |
| EN 1997-1:2004+A1:2013 | Geotechnical designBored piles: set R4 partial factors (γ_b 2.0, γ_s 1.6), no load testing. The weakest calculation in the tool, and flagged as such. |
- 19
- building types, each with its EN 1991 load category
- 19
- specification groups, from foundations to delivery
- 6
- waterproofing systems, measured separately
- 6
- exposure classes that apply here, of the seven in EN 206
Where the prices come from
Every price states its standing. A test refuses any figure that cannot explain itself.
Sourced
A published survey, with the link and the date. Cement surveys from ACP, Radio Okapi and Zoom Eco, the statutory wage scale, steel importers’ tariffs.
Derived
Computed from sourced prices by a stated formula. A cement block is not a market mystery: it is cement, sand and moulding labour.
Estimated
An inference, with the reasoning written down so you can argue with it. A bare estimate is not allowed.
Local prices · 21 prices sourced, backed by 26 cited references
Built for Africa, not adapted afterwards
The Eurocodes size things; African conditions set the assumptions. The two do not get mixed up.
No frost. The XF exposure classes are deliberately excluded: water does not freeze in a structure here, and carrying them would add cover, cement and an air-entraining admixture for a mechanism that cannot occur.
More cover, not less. Carbonation runs faster in this climate, and the fixing tolerance assumes European site control. Both are corrected upwards.
Masonry is bought locally. Cement, sand, gravel and blocks are bought in the city where you build: freight overtakes the price gap quickly, and it is the local merchant who will cover you.
No grid, no mains. The generator, the solar array and the borehole are sized from your building, because most plots have neither at the boundary.