Estimating by trade
Insulation estimating software: price the envelope by system
An insulation bid is three different businesses wearing one contract: batts by the cavity, blown product by depth, and spray foam by the board foot — plus the air sealing that inspectors now actually check. BuiltSum ships each as its own assembly, priced with your crew rate, burden and markup. The estimator below is live — load the insulation pack and price a real house.
Live estimator
Batts
Blown
Spray foam
Air sealing
Crawlspace
Removal
Pack v2026.08: starting defaults for a mid-market US crew — edit any unit cost or production rate below to your numbers. Save estimates to your account and these become your own price book.
| Description | Qty | Unit | Mat $/unit | Labor hr/unit | Material | Labor | Price |
|---|
- Material
- $0.00
- Labor hours
- 0
- Labor (burdened)
- $0.00
- Cost
- $0.00
- Markup
- $0.00
- Bid price
- $0.00
The chain: this estimate → schedule of values → monthly AIA-style pay applications. All free, and saved in your browser until you put it in an account.
Batts and blown by R-value
R-13 through R-38 batts, mineral wool sound batts, blown attics to R-38 or R-49 with baffles and depth markers, dense-pack drill-and-fill for closed walls, and net-and-blow for open ones — each with its own rate.
Spray foam priced like you buy it
Closed-cell at 2" and 3", open-cell at 5.5", with chemical cost in the material column where you can reprice it per set, and a masking line for occupied or finished spaces.
Air sealing and crawlspaces counted
Attic-plane sealing by ceiling SF, vent chutes and hatch covers each, 12-mil crawlspace vapor barrier and rigid-board walls, and an insulation-removal line for the jobs that start dirty.
Sound batts pair naturally with the drywall pack on interior packages. For commercial contracts, pair the estimate with the free pay application generator and the schedule of values builder.
Assemblies in this pack
19 assemblies ship in pack 2026.08. Every material cost and labor rate below is a starting default for a mid-market, non-union crew — edit any of them, and your own won jobs become the defaults over time.
Batts
- Fiberglass batt — R-13, 2x4 walls, facedSF
- Fiberglass batt — R-21, 2x6 walls, facedSF
- Fiberglass batt — R-30, floors / vaulted ceilingsSF
- Fiberglass batt — R-38, flat ceilingsSF
- Mineral wool sound batt — interior partitionsSF
Blown
- Blown fiberglass attic — to R-38SF
- Blown fiberglass attic — to R-49SF
- Dense-pack cellulose — closed wall cavities, drill & fillSF
- Net-and-blow fiberglass — open walls, netting stapledSF
Spray foam
- Closed-cell spray foam — 2" walls / rim joistSF
- Closed-cell spray foam — 3" wallsSF
- Open-cell spray foam — 5.5" roof deck / wallsSF
- Spray prep & masking — occupied or finished areasSF
Air sealing
- Air seal attic plane — top plates, penetrations, cansSF
- Vent baffles / chutes at eavesEA
- Attic hatch — insulated cover box + weatherstripEA
Crawlspace
- Crawlspace vapor barrier — 12-mil, taped & pinnedSF
- Crawlspace wall — rigid foam board, glued & sealedSF
Removal
- Remove old attic insulation — vacuum & bag outSF
Frequently asked questions
How do you estimate an insulation job?
By cavity and by system. Walls in SF at the R-value the plans call for, attics in SF at target depth for blown product, rim joists and roof decks in SF of spray foam at specified thickness, and the air-sealing scope counted honestly — top plates, penetrations, baffles, the hatch. The assemblies on this page carry those rates; enter SF and your crew rate, and labor hours, material and price come out.
How is spray foam priced compared to batts?
Per SF at a given thickness, driven by chemical cost — roughly a board-foot basis underneath. The pack carries closed-cell at 2" and 3" and open-cell at 5.5" as separate lines with material and labor split, plus a masking-and-prep line for occupied work, so a hybrid job (foam the rim, batt the walls, blow the lid) prices as three honest systems instead of one blended guess.
Is this for mechanical or industrial insulation?
No — BuiltSum's pack is building-envelope work: walls, attics, floors, crawlspaces and roof decks on residential and commercial buildings. Pipe, duct and vessel insulation is a different trade with its own specialized estimating tools, and pretending otherwise is how bad bids happen.
Can I bill an insulation contract with AIA-style pay applications?
Yes. On multifamily and commercial jobs the GC wants a schedule of values and monthly G702/G703-style pay applications with retainage. An accepted BuiltSum estimate becomes that schedule of values — bill by building or by floor as the work turns over, with change orders on their own lines.
Estimate it once. Bill it every month.
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