A classic. And it drives like one.
On-Screen Takeoff practically invented digital takeoff, and a loyal base in the commercial interior trades has stayed with it for thirty years. It is also Windows-only, sells estimating as a second product, and will not publish a price.
Choose On-Screen Takeoff if you are a commercial interiors contractor whose bid pipeline runs through OST, Quick Bid and eQuotes and it is working — that workflow is genuinely deep and nothing here replaces the supplier network. Choose Groundwork Takeoff if you want takeoff and estimating in one modern app on Mac or Windows, and a price you can read without a sales cycle.
| Checked September 20, 2026 | Groundwork Takeoff | On-Screen Takeoff (ConstructConnect) |
|---|---|---|
| Price, per seat, per year — checked September 20, 2026 | ||
| What the vendor publishes | $590 a year or $59 a month, every feature on it | Quote-only — ConstructConnect publishes no price |
| Cheapest tier that does what one Groundwork seat does | $590 — there is only one tier | Quote-only — No published price to compare |
| Volume discount | 3+ seats −15%, 5+ seats −25%, applied at checkout | Not published on the vendor's pricing page |
| Perpetual license | $2,500 once, first year of updates included; $295/yr after that gates new versions, never access | Not published |
| AI takeoff included | Every seat, including trial seats | Not published |
| Native Mac app | Apple silicon and Intel | Windows only |
| Platforms | ||
| Windows native | Modern native app | Long-standing .NET desktop app |
| iPad | Home-screen app | No |
| Browser access | Yes | No |
| Takeoff & estimating | ||
| Measuring tools | 6 measuring tools — Linear, Segment, Perimeter, Area, Volume, Count | Deep multi-condition takeoff — its reputation is earned |
| Estimating in the same product | Assemblies and a live estimate grid, included | Quick Bid is a separate purchase |
| Works on the PDF directly | Direct PDF, compression, PDF/A | Drawings are converted on the way in |
| Where On-Screen Takeoff is ahead | ||
| Supplier pricing network | A materials catalog instead | eQuotes, via Quick Bid |
| Commercial interiors depth | General-purpose conditions | Thirty years of drywall and ceilings workflow |
Competitor figures are read off that vendor's own pricing page on September 20, 2026; the sources are listed at the foot of this page. A vendor who publishes no price gets no number here — the empty cell is the finding.
There is no saving figure on this page. On-Screen Takeoff publishes no comparable price, so there is nothing to subtract a Groundwork seat from. A number here would be somebody's estimate wearing a vendor's name.
The price we are not going to print
ConstructConnect publishes no price for On-Screen Takeoff. Buyers are directed to contact sales.
You will find numbers for it anyway — a figure in the region of $995 standalone, or around $1,850 paired with Quick Bid, circulates on comparison pages across this category. We are not using them, and it is worth saying why. That range traces back to BuzzBID's own published price list, quoted on a competitor's comparison page. It was never On-Screen Takeoff's number, and repeating it would have made this page one more link in the chain that made it look like one.
So the row in the table above says quote-only and carries no figure. That is the finding. A product whose price you cannot look up is a product you cannot compare on price, and the absence tells you something about how the sale is going to go.
What you are buying, and what you are buying separately
On-Screen Takeoff does takeoff. Estimating is Quick Bid, which is a separate purchase, and the supplier pricing network is eQuotes, which arrives through Quick Bid. The three together are a deep and genuinely proven pipeline. They are also three products, three line items and three things to keep in step.
Groundwork is one seat: measure, assemble, price, export, in the same window.
Thirty years in the commercial interior trades is not nothing
OST has been in use since 1995 and it shows in the good ways as well as the dated ones: deep multi-condition takeoff, a proven plan overlay, and real strength in drywall and walls-and-ceilings work where its conditions model fits the trade exactly. Paired with Quick Bid and eQuotes, the full ConstructConnect workflow reaches further into procurement than we do, and its long-time users know every corner of it. If that is your pipeline and it is working, switching is a cost, not a saving.
Sources
Product scope and the absence of published pricing: constructconnect.com/products/on-screen-takeoff, read September 20, 2026 — buyers are directed to contact ConstructConnect for pricing. The $995–$1,850 range in circulation is BuzzBID's published price list and is deliberately not quoted here.
On-Screen Takeoff®, Quick Bid® and eQuotes® are trademarks of ConstructConnect. Check current details with the vendor.
Check it against your own set.
The fastest way to settle a comparison page is to open your own plans in both. Ours takes a week and no card.