If you run a remodeling, building or design business, you have seen Houzz Pro. Houzz built the marketplace where homeowners find pros, then built the software those pros run the business on: CRM, estimates, invoices, payments, a schedule, a 3D floor planner, a client dashboard and, in its Custom plan, a Takeoffs tool with an AI assistant called AutoMate. The interface is friendly, the demo canvas needs no login, and for a residential remodel it does a great deal in one place.
Bildrix was built for a different shop and a different job. Our customer is the owner-estimator at a 1 to 15 person electrical sub or small GC, bidding commercial and TI work from PDF plan sets in the US and Canada. That person needs device counts they can defend, wire runs they can edit, circuits grouped the way an estimate needs them, and a way to turn all of that into a priced estimate, a signed change order and an invoice without retyping a number. They also want to see the price before they talk to anyone, and try the product before they pay.
We could just tell you Bildrix is the better choice for that shop and leave it there. Instead we compared the two properly: the takeoff itself, electrical depth, what happens after the takeoff, revisions, getting started, and price. One ground rule. Everything we say about Houzz Pro comes from Houzz's own website, read on August 19, 2026, and we link the page each time. Where Houzz's pages are silent, we say "not described" rather than guessing.
TL;DR: Bildrix vs Houzz Pro
| Feature | Bildrix | Houzz Pro | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Electrical subs and small GCs with 1 to 15 people, bidding plan-set work in the US and Canada. | Residential remodelers and designers who want one business suite. | Depends on the shop. For a small electrical sub, Bildrix. |
| Starting price | $397 per month billed annually for the whole workspace, 5 teammates included. Founding rate $149 per month for the first 100 customers. | No plan price printed; Get a Demo. | Bildrix, for a visible price. |
| Free trial | Yes. 15 AI detection pages, no credit card, plus a free first takeoff. | Yes. 30-day trial on Pro; Takeoffs sit under Custom. | Both. For the takeoff, Bildrix. |
| Electrical takeoff | Devices counted from the legend, editable wire runs, circuits grouped. | Symbol search from an example. No wire runs or circuits described. | Bildrix |
| After the takeoff | Priced estimate, e-sign, change orders, invoices, QuickBooks-ready CSV. | Estimates, change orders, invoices, payments, QuickBooks Online integration. | Bildrix for plan-set bids; Houzz Pro is wider. |
| Revisions and change orders | Compare two sets, then stage the difference as an AIA G701 format change order. | Change orders from the estimate. No plan comparison described. | Bildrix |
| Review of the AI's output | Confidence level on every detection, uncertain items flagged, everything editable. | Hover, click to confirm. No confidence flag described. | Bildrix |
| Business suite | Up to 5 teammates; client share page for estimates. | CRM, Houzz leads, schedule, 3D floor plans, payments. | Houzz Pro |
| Overall winner | Small electrical subs and GCs who want the whole bid in one thread. | Remodelers who want one suite for marketing and billing. | Bildrix, for the shops this guide is written for. |
Bildrix vs Houzz Pro at a glance
Both products read a PDF plan, measure it with AI and turn the quantities into an estimate the client can sign online. Both run in the browser, let you correct what the AI found, and export to a spreadsheet. The differences start with what the AI is looking for, who each product was built for, and how far the numbers travel afterwards. Here is the short version of each.
Houzz Pro
- An all-in-one platform for home building, remodeling and design pros: CRM, estimates, invoices, payments, schedule
- Leads, a profile and advertising on the Houzz marketplace
- Takeoffs as one feature in the Custom plan: AutoMate AI on simplified floor plans and elevations
- Estimates, change orders, invoices, payments, one-way QuickBooks Online integration
- A 30-day trial on Pro; no plan price printed
- PDF only for takeoffs
Bildrix
- Built for electrical subs and small GCs in the US and Canada who bid from PDF plan sets
- Counts electrical devices against the sheet's own legend
- Draws wire runs with a live footage readout, or suggests them run by run for you to accept, reject or reshape
- Groups circuits, devices and wire on separate ledgers
- Puts a confidence level on every detection and flags the uncertain ones, so you check a minority instead of recounting the sheet
- Carries the same quantities into the estimate, the signed proposal, the AIA G701 format change order and the invoice
- Turns a plan revision into a priced change order, reductions included as credits
- One flat published price for the whole workspace, up to 5 teammates included
- Free trial of 15 AI detection pages, no credit card, plus a free first takeoff
- Covers architectural and electrical in depth, plumbing fixture counts on demand, and says what it does not cover yet
Quick verdict
If you only read one table, read this one.
| If you want… | Choose |
|---|---|
| One suite for leads, CRM and billing | Houzz Pro |
| Electrical takeoff with wire runs and circuits | Bildrix |
| A takeoff that becomes the estimate, change order and invoice | Bildrix |
| A price you can read without a demo | Bildrix |
| Room and door counts on a simple floor plan | Bildrix or Houzz Pro |
Feature comparison
A friendly interface gets you through the demo. Features get you through bid week. So this is where we go category by category: the takeoff experience, electrical depth, what happens after the takeoff, revisions, and how you get started. In each category we show what each product does, in a table, and call a winner. Houzz Pro set a high bar for how much of a residential business one login can run. But Houzz Pro was built to run a remodeling or design firm end to end, with a takeoff tool inside it, and Bildrix was built to get a small electrical shop from a plan set to a signed bid. Those are different jobs, and it shows. Every Houzz Pro statement links to the page it came from.
Takeoff experience
An AI takeoff tool's first job is to read the plan set and give you something better than a blank sheet. Houzz Pro's takeoffs page promises AI-read plans with area, length and count measurements; its AutoMate AI help article explains how. Not every page qualifies: AutoMate runs on "simplified floor plans and elevations only at this time", and a toggle shows which pages are eligible. On those pages you hover over a room, the AI detects it, and you click to confirm. The rest is manual tools.
Bildrix starts from the whole set, not the pages that qualify. Upload a PDF plan set and let Detect All run trade by trade. Every detection carries a confidence level. Uncertain detections are flagged and queued for review, so you verify the flagged minority instead of rechecking the sheet. Every count, boundary and wire route is editable on the drawing, and what the AI misses you count or draw in the same takeoff. Messy scans and sparse sheets are labeled as such, not reported as confident zeros. The complete guide walks through the first pass.
Bildrix flags the detections it is not sure about, so you review the flagged minority instead of the whole sheet.
| Feature | Bildrix | Houzz Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Upload and sheet naming | PDF plan sets. Pages detected and named; names and scales editable. | PDF only; scale set per page. |
| What the AI detects | Rooms, doors, windows, walls, electrical devices, wire runs, circuits. | Areas, lengths and counts on simplified plans and elevations. |
| Counting symbols | Matched against the sheet's legend; symbol search from a cropped symbol. | Hover-to-count for six object types; symbol recognition from an example. |
| Measuring areas and lengths | Areas, wall lengths and wire footage, with a live readout while you draw. | Hover and click to confirm; lengths by separation type or all at once. |
| Editing the AI's output | ✅ Every count, boundary and route is editable in the canvas. | ✅ Move tool exposes the plotted points to drag. |
| Knowing what to double-check | ✅ Confidence level on every detection. Uncertain items flagged and queued. | ❌ No confidence flag or review queue described. |
| Scans and messy sets | Read visually; labeled messy or sparse rather than reported as certain. | Ineligible pages fall back to manual tools. |
Winner: Bildrix
Houzz Pro's hover-to-detect is a pleasant way to measure a kitchen. We call this one for Bildrix because of scope. A commercial set is not a simplified floor plan, and a tool that runs only on the pages that qualify leaves the rest to you. A first pass that tells you which twenty detections to look at has saved you the evening.
Electrical takeoff
This is the category Bildrix was built around, so we will be specific. An electrical estimator needs three things from a takeoff: device counts that match the legend, wire footage per run, and circuits grouped so the estimate can price them. A room count does not bid a TI fit-out.
Houzz Pro has an electrician page (electrical contracting is one of many trades on its Who We Serve page), and it is a business-suite page: takeoffs "up to 10x faster", an estimate builder, change orders and more. The electrical detail lives in the AutoMate article: symbol recognition that counts outlets, switches and light fixtures on electrical or MEP plans. You box a clean example, the system finds similar symbols, shows direct and possible matches, and you confirm them into a count. Nothing on these pages describes a legend, wire runs, homeruns, circuits or an electrical estimate.
Bildrix reads the electrical sheets the way your estimator does. It finds the legend first and counts devices against it, so a recessed can is a recessed can and a GFCI is a GFCI. You draw wire runs that snap to devices and elbow orthogonally with a live footage readout, or let the AI suggest switch legs, receptacle chains and homeruns, reviewed one by one: accept, reject or reshape. Circuits are grouped, devices and wire land on separate ledgers, and a built-in price catalog prices the counts. It all flows into a division-26 estimate; the electrical page shows each step.
Wire runs in Bildrix snap to devices and elbow orthogonally, with footage updating as you draw. AI-suggested runs are reviewed one at a time.
| Feature | Bildrix | Houzz Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Device counts | ✅ Counted against the legend, totals by type and room. | ✅ Symbol recognition from an example; manual count tool. |
| Legend matching | ✅ Symbols read from the sheet's own legend. | ❌ Not described. Search works from an example you box. |
| Wire runs | ✅ Drawn with a live footage readout or AI-suggested run by run, editable. | ❌ Not described. |
| Circuits and homeruns | ✅ Circuits grouped, homeruns suggested and reviewed, separate ledgers. | ❌ Not described. |
| Electrical price catalog | ✅ Built-in catalog prices device counts. Your own price book applies too. | ✅ General cost catalogs for labor and material; not described as electrical-specific. |
| Panel schedules | ✅ Read from the sheet after upload into an editable Panel Editor; devices link to circuits and homeruns group by panel. | ❌ Not described. |
| Built for | Electrical subs and small GCs in the US and Canada. | Home building, remodeling and design pros; electrical contracting is one of many trades listed. |
Winner: Bildrix
There is no contest here, and that is not a knock on Houzz Pro. Its electrician page is the same suite pointed at a new audience. Bildrix's electrical takeoff is the product. If your bids are devices, wire and circuits, the gap shows on the first sheet, and again when the counts drop into a priced division-26 estimate with no spreadsheet in between. If your work is a kitchen remodel with a few new circuits, Houzz Pro's breadth may serve you better.
From takeoff to estimate, change order and invoice
A takeoff is not the job. The job is a signed bid, a change order and a paid invoice. Houzz Pro does not stop at measurement. Its estimates convert takeoff measurements into line items; change orders come off approved estimates with e-signatures; invoices run in stages with deposits; payments arrive by card or bank transfer; and a one-way integration sends it all to QuickBooks Online.
That is a real financial suite, wider than ours for a remodeler. The difference is what the numbers stay tied to: Houzz's pages describe no provenance on a line and no signature bound to a plan revision.
Bildrix keeps the quantities' identity. The measured takeoff becomes a priced estimate with provenance on every line: library price, AI price or AI quantity. The client signs on a share page, sealed with a SHA-256 fingerprint and bound to the plan revision. Payment schedules, deposit and progress invoices, retainage, online payment, and QuickBooks-ready CSVs close the loop.
Every line in a Bildrix estimate shows where its number came from: your price book, an AI price, or an AI quantity.
| Feature | Bildrix | Houzz Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Priced estimate | ✅ Drafted from the takeoff, per-line provenance, option sets. | ✅ From takeoff measurements or an AI prompt; no provenance described. |
| Assemblies | ✅ Your price book or AI auto-assign, plus an electrical catalog. | ✅ Reusable assemblies and cost catalogs. |
| Client proposal and e-sign | ✅ Share page, comments, e-sign sealed to the revision. | ✅ Client dashboard approvals and e-signatures. |
| Change orders | ✅ Revision diff staged as an AIA G701 format change order. | ✅ From the approved estimate, with e-sign. |
| Invoices and payments | ✅ Deposit, progress, final, retainage. Online payment. | ✅ Progressive invoicing, deposits, card and bank transfer. |
| Accounting export | ✅ QuickBooks-ready invoice CSVs. | ✅ One-way integration into QuickBooks Online. |
| Exports | ✅ Excel, PDF and CSV with sheet references and provenance. | ✅ Takeoff to Excel. |
Winner: Bildrix
This is the closest category. Houzz Pro's billing suite is broad, and its QuickBooks Online integration is native where ours is a CSV you import. We call it for Bildrix on the plan-set bid because of identity: a device counted on sheet E-201 is the device the client signed for. If Houzz Pro runs your CRM and payments, its estimating may do. If the bid is the job, one thread is the point.
Revisions and plan comparison
Drawings change. An addendum lands two days before the bid, a bulletin lands after award, and the cost of a missed wall is yours. Both products have a change order, so let us be precise about what feeds it.
Houzz Pro's change orders page is thorough on the document: change orders from approved estimates, the difference between planned and updated costs calculated, original values preserved, e-signatures, only the difference invoiced. Its takeoffs page says measurements can be modified as plans change. Nothing on either page describes comparing two plan sets or pairing revised sheets.
Bildrix treats the revision as the start of a document. Upload the revised set and the sheets pair by drawing number. Compare Pages overlays any two sheets. Then the diff is staged as a change order in AIA G701 format, added scope priced from your estimate and reductions booked as credits, ready for the client to sign against the revision it references. It is sealed like the original proposal, so nobody argues later about which drawing it was based on.
The revision diff becomes a priced change order in AIA G701 format, with reductions booked as credits.
| Feature | Bildrix | Houzz Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Comparing two sets | ✅ Compare Pages overlays any two sheets. | ❌ Not described. Measurements are edited as plans change. |
| Sheet matching | ✅ Revised sheets pair by drawing number automatically. | Not described. |
| What the diff becomes | ✅ A priced change order in AIA G701 format. | A change order built from the approved estimate. |
| Credits for removed scope | ✅ Reductions book as credits on the change order. | Difference billed; credits not described as such. |
| Document trail | ✅ Signed, sealed and bound to the plan revision. | ✅ E-signatures and approval tracking. Revision binding not described. |
| Addenda before the bid | ✅ Re-run detection on the new sheets; a processed page re-runs free. | Edit the measurements; totals update. |
Winner: Bildrix
Houzz Pro's change order is a good document, and for a client who changed their mind about the tile it is the right one. Bildrix wins because of the step before it. When the architect issues revised sheets, a change order typed from memory is an argument waiting to happen. Staging it straight from the diff, credits already booked and the signature bound to the revision, saves you more.
Getting started: trial, sign-up and support
This is where the two products differ in a way that tells you who they were built for.
Houzz Pro is easier to try than most of this category. Its pricing page lists Pro, Custom and Enterprise. Pro has a Start Free Trial button and a 30-day free trial, after which the annual subscription begins, plus a Free Plan with no credit card required. Custom and Enterprise say Get a Demo, with Takeoffs under those two. Takeoffs accept PDF only, per its help article. The services terms say plans renew for 12-month terms unless you give notice first.
Bildrix assumes you would rather try it than talk about it. Start free in the app with no credit card and run the AI on 15 pages of your own plan set. Viewing, measuring by hand and exporting never count against that cap. If you would rather have our eyes on it, book a call and we will run your first takeoff free and walk the results with you. Live chat is staffed Monday to Friday. The price is on the pricing page. Nobody has to qualify you first.
| Feature | Bildrix | Houzz Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | ✅ 15 AI detection pages, no credit card. | ✅ 30-day trial on Pro; Free Plan, no credit card. |
| Free first takeoff | ✅ Your plan set, our walkthrough, free. | A no-login demo canvas. No review call described. |
| Sign-up | ✅ Start in the app today. | Start Free Trial on Pro; Get a Demo otherwise. |
| Seats | ✅ Up to 5 teammates in one flat price. | Pro: 1 seat, $60 per extra user per month. |
| Cancellation | ✅ Annual billing, cancel renewal any time. | 12-month terms renew unless you give notice first. |
| Onboarding and support | ✅ Live chat Monday to Friday, email, the review call. | ✅ Chat, email, and phone Monday to Friday 6am to 5pm PT. |
| Where it's built for | US and Canadian projects. USD, NEC, imperial units. | Region not stated on the pages we read. |
| File types | PDF plan sets only. | PDF only for takeoffs. |
Winner: Bildrix
Credit to Houzz Pro: a 30-day trial, a free plan and a no-login demo canvas are more than most AI takeoff vendors offer. The plan that carries Takeoffs is the one that says Get a Demo, and no plan shows a price. Uploading your own set tonight and deciding with a number in front of you beats a polished walkthrough.
Pricing comparison
Bildrix publishes its price. Houzz Pro publishes its plans, and as of August 19, 2026 its pricing page prints no price on any of them; each card says Get a Demo. Here is what each page says, from Houzz's and from ours.
| Houzz Pro | Bildrix |
|---|---|
| Pro: no price printed; Get a Demo or Start Free Trial. 1 seat included, additional users $60 per user per month. | Pro: $397 per month, billed annually. $4,764 a year for the whole workspace, up to 5 teammates, no per-seat charges. |
| Custom (recommended) and Enterprise: Get a Demo. Custom adds Takeoffs and Change Orders; no price printed. | Founding rate: $149 per month, billed annually, for the first 100 customers. That is $1,788 for the year. |
| Trial: 30-day free trial on Pro, then the annual subscription begins. Free Plan, no credit card. | Trial: 15 AI detection pages free, no credit card. First takeoff free with a review call. |
| Cancellation: 12-month terms renew unless you give notice before the term ends. Non-refundable. | Cancellation: cancel renewal any time. The year is charged up front. |
We cannot compare in dollars, because Houzz prints no plan price. The plan carrying Takeoffs has no self-serve trial, and the advertising package starts at $499 per month on top. Bildrix is one number for the whole workspace. Prices change, so check both pages. The right price is still the price of the tool that does your job.
Houzz Pro advantages
We said at the top that Houzz Pro runs a great deal of a residential business from one login. Here is what that means, stated as plainly as the verdicts above. A comparison that cannot name the other side's strengths is not worth reading.
- Breadth of the business suite: a CRM, proposals, estimates, contracts with e-signatures, a schedule with Gantt views, daily logs, a client dashboard, progressive invoicing, online payments by card, bank transfer and Apple Pay, financial reports and a one-way QuickBooks Online integration. Bildrix covers takeoff, estimate, change order and invoice, and nothing else.
- Leads from the Houzz marketplace: a premium profile, lead generation and advertising in front of what Houzz calls a "global community of over 65 million homeowners". If homeowners are your clients, that is a channel no takeoff tool has.
- Consumer-grade takeoff UX: hover to detect a room and click to confirm, Plot All Automatically for wall lengths, symbol recognition from a boxed example, a 3D floor plan that converts into a takeoff, Excel export, and a demo canvas that needs no login. For a simplified residential plan it is quick to learn.
- Maturity and support trim: "3 Million+ Contractors and Design Pros" on its pages, phone, chat and email support, onboarding hours on every plan, a certification course, a 30-day trial and a free plan. Bildrix is newer and says so.
Bildrix advantages
Bildrix was designed for the part of the job that starts after the counting, and for the shop where the owner is also the estimator. Every advantage below comes from that decision. None of them is a feature for the demo. They are for the night before a bid is due.
- Review-first AI across the whole set: Detect All runs trade by trade across the plan set, and every detection carries a confidence level, with the uncertain ones flagged for review, so you verify the flagged minority instead of recounting the sheet. We publish no accuracy percentage; our research page explains why no vendor's number should be taken at face value. Houzz Pro's AutoMate runs on simplified floor plans and elevations.
- Electrical depth built for subs: devices counted from the legend, wire runs drawn or AI-suggested and edited run by run, circuits grouped with devices and wire on separate ledgers, a built-in price catalog, and a division-26 estimate at the end. Houzz Pro's pages describe symbol recognition from an example; they describe no wire runs, circuits or legend.
- One thread from plan set to invoice: a priced estimate with per-line provenance, client e-sign sealed to the revision, change orders in AIA G701 format staged from the revision diff with credits, invoices with retainage and online payment, and QuickBooks-ready CSVs. The quantities never leave the system, so they never get retyped wrong. The product page lays the thread out trade by trade.
- A price you can see and a trial you can start: one flat workspace price on the pricing page, 5 teammates included, a founding rate for the first 100 customers, 15 free AI detection pages with no card, and a free first takeoff with a review call. Houzz Pro's takeoff sits in a plan that says Get a Demo.
Which platform should you choose?
It comes down to what you bid and what else the software must run:
Choose Houzz Pro if you…
- Run a remodeling or design firm and want one suite for marketing, CRM and billing
- Want leads from the Houzz marketplace
- Need selections, daily logs, 3D floor plans and a client dashboard
- Take homeowner card payments in the same system
Choose Bildrix if you…
- Are an electrical sub or small GC in the US or Canada
- Need device counts, wire runs and circuits, not just rooms
- Want the takeoff to become the estimate, change order and invoice
- Want the AI to say which numbers to double-check
- Want to read the price and try it today
- Want one flat workspace price instead of a price per seat
That is the framework. Pick the one that matches your Tuesday.
Conclusion
Both are real tools, honest about what they are. Houzz Pro is a business platform for remodelers and designers with a takeoff tool inside it. Bildrix takes a small electrical shop from plan set to signed, invoiced job and tells you where to look.
For the shops this guide is written for, Bildrix comes out ahead where a bid is decided: electrical depth, the review queue, the thread to invoice, revisions, and a price you can read. Houzz Pro keeps the edge on breadth, leads and payments.
If that sounds like your shop, try it on your own plans. Start free in the app, no credit card, 15 AI detection pages. Or book a free first takeoff review.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Bildrix better than Houzz Pro?
For a 1 to 15 person electrical sub or small GC bidding plan-set work in the US or Canada, yes. Bildrix reads the whole set, counts devices against the legend, flags what to double-check, and carries the quantities through estimate, change order and invoice. A remodeler or designer who wants one suite for marketing and billing will get more from Houzz Pro.
- What is the biggest difference between Bildrix and Houzz Pro?
What each product is. Houzz Pro is an all-in-one business platform for remodelers, builders and designers; Takeoffs is one feature inside it, running AutoMate AI on simplified floor plans and elevations. Bildrix is a takeoff and estimating tool built around plan-set electrical work, with a confidence level on every detection and one thread from takeoff to invoice.
- Which is better for electrical contractors?
Bildrix. It counts devices against the sheet's legend, draws or suggests wire runs you can edit, groups circuits and lands everything in a priced division-26 estimate. Houzz Pro's AutoMate article describes symbol recognition for outlets, switches and light fixtures; its pages describe no wire runs or circuits.
- Which is better for general contractors?
It depends on the GC. A small GC bidding plan-set work gets consistent base quantities plus the estimate, change order and invoice thread from Bildrix. A remodeler or custom home builder running selections, schedules, client payments and Houzz leads will get more from Houzz Pro.
- Does Bildrix offer a free trial?
Yes. Start in the app with no credit card and run AI detection on 15 pages; viewing, measuring by hand and exporting never count against the cap. Or book a call and we will run your first takeoff free. Houzz Pro offers a 30-day free trial on Pro and a Free Plan; Takeoffs are listed under Custom, which says Get a Demo.
- Which is more affordable?
We cannot say in dollars: Houzz Pro's pricing page prints no plan price as of August 19, 2026; every plan says Get a Demo. Bildrix Pro is $397 per month billed annually, $4,764 a year for the whole workspace with up to 5 teammates, and the founding rate for the first 100 customers is $149 per month.
- Does Bildrix handle estimates, change orders and invoices?
Yes, from the same quantities. Estimates carry per-line provenance, the client signs a share page sealed to the plan revision, change orders are staged from the revision diff in AIA G701 format with credits, and invoices cover deposit, progress, final and retainage, with QuickBooks-ready CSVs. Houzz Pro also has estimates, change orders, invoices and payments; its pages describe no plan-set comparison or estimate provenance.
- Can I switch from Houzz Pro to Bildrix?
Yes. Bildrix works from the PDF plan set: upload it, let Detect All run, and compare with the takeoff you already have. If Houzz Pro runs your CRM and payments, keep it for that. The fair test is one real project: bring a set to the free first takeoff review and compare counts, flags and time to a priced estimate.