Our Story

Why TradePilot Exists

The handyman and residential remodeling space has always had a software problem. Most options on the market were originally built for service businesses — HVAC techs running 8 calls a day, cleaning companies doing recurring appointments, plumbing crews with dispatchers and multiple trucks. Those tools weren't designed for project-based remodeling work where every job is a custom scope, every estimate has to reflect real overhead, and the person doing the estimating is also the one doing the work.

That left handymen and residential remodelers with three bad options: pay $150+/month for software designed for someone else's business, juggle a handful of disconnected apps for estimating, invoicing, and scheduling, or stay on spreadsheets and notes apps that look unprofessional when the homeowner gets the quote.

TradePilot exists to be the right option for that contractor — the solo operator, the small crew, the new handyman just getting started, and the remodeler who's tired of paying for software that wasn't built for them.

What We Heard from Real Contractors

TradePilot was shaped by conversations with working handymen and residential remodelers — the people who would actually use it. A few themes came up over and over:

• Pricing the work is harder than doing the work. Most contractors aren't sure if they're charging enough. They've got a rough hourly rate they pulled out of the air years ago, and no real confidence it covers their actual costs and pays them what they need.
• Generic AI estimates don't fit. A wave of AI estimating tools have launched, but most of them generate estimates from national averages and generic price databases. The numbers come out close but never quite right, so contractors end up rebuilding every estimate manually anyway.
• Bouncing between apps wastes hours. Notes for scope, calculator for math, spreadsheet for pricing, QuickBooks for invoicing, Google Calendar for scheduling, phone contacts for customers. None of it talks to anything else, so the contractor ends up doing manual work to bridge the gaps.
• Existing software wasn't built for residential remodeling work. Field service apps like Jobber and Housecall Pro are great at scheduling and dispatch — for service businesses with recurring jobs. They fall short for project-based remodeling where the estimating side is the hardest part.

Those conversations shaped what TradePilot is — and what it isn't.

What We Built

TradePilot is an AI-powered iOS app for handymen and residential remodeling contractors. It combines the things contractors told us mattered most:

• A Rate Calculator that figures out what you should actually be charging based on your overhead, costs, and profit goals — so you stop guessing.
• Pilot AI for estimating, grounded in a built-in price book you can edit and your real labor rate from the Rate Calculator. The estimates come out reflecting your business, not generic AI averages.
• FieldScan — LiDAR room scanning for the bigger jobs (bathroom and kitchen remodels) where measurements matter.
• Invoicing, scheduling, and customer tracking built into the same workflow, so the estimate becomes the proposal becomes the invoice without retyping anything.
• Honest, transparent pricing — $29/mo Starter or $59/mo Pro for the first 100 founding members, locked in for life. Pro plan includes 1 user with optional add-on seats up to 3 users total.

Who TradePilot Is For

TradePilot is built specifically for residential handymen and remodeling contractors. That includes:

• New handymen just starting their business, picking software for the first time, who want a tool that doesn't require a learning curve.
• Solo handymen and remodelers running everything themselves from one truck.
• Small crews of 2–3 people where the owner is still doing estimates and customer communication.
• Bathroom and kitchen remodelers who need real measurement tools and detailed estimating for project work.
• Tile, paint, drywall, carpentry, and flooring contractors doing residential project work.

What TradePilot is not built for: large field service operations with dispatchers and multiple crews, generic service businesses like HVAC or cleaning companies, or 20-person design-build firms with office staff. Those operations have different needs that other tools serve well.

What's Next

TradePilot is launching Spring 2026. The first 100 founding members lock in their pricing for life — $29/mo for Starter or $59/mo for Pro. After launch, pricing will move up to public rates. Founding members keep their original pricing as long as they keep their account active.

We're building this app for the long term. The roadmap includes more trade-specific features, deeper integrations, and continued improvements to Pilot AI as the price book grows. The goal is for TradePilot to be the software a residential remodeler or handyman picks on day one of their business — and never has to switch from.

Get in Touch

Questions, feedback, or feature ideas? We want to hear from working contractors. The best feedback comes from the people actually doing the work — so if you've got something to say about what TradePilot should or shouldn't do, reach out through the waitlist signup form and we'll get back to you.