1build
The API for live, county-level U.S. construction cost data
GraphQL API (plus a companion self-serve web estimating tool) providing live pricing for 68 million construction material, labor, and equipment cost data points across 3,000+ US counties, refreshed daily from national retailers and local suppliers. Embedded by third-party construction estimating platforms including Buildxact, STACK Construction Technologies, and CostCertified rather than sold mainly as a standalone end-user app.
Why This Tool Exists
Software companies building construction estimating, procurement, or underwriting products need constantly updated, county-level pricing for tens of thousands of materials, labor rates, and equipment costs — data that is expensive and slow to collect and maintain in-house, and that goes stale within weeks without daily refreshes.
1build's GraphQL API returns live unit-cost data for 68 million material, labor, and equipment price points across 3,000+ US counties, sourced daily from national retailers (e.g., Home Depot, Lowe's) and local lumber/building-material distributors, so partner platforms can pull current, localized pricing into their own workflows instead of maintaining their own cost database. A companion self-serve web app (estimating.1build.com) lets individual contractors generate estimates directly from the same dataset using pre-built assemblies and templates.
How You Use It
Data Transparency
Exactly what this tool uses and how
https://gateway-external.1build.com/ (single GraphQL endpoint, POST requests only); documented at developer.1build.comUse Cases
- ·Embedding live, county-level material/labor/equipment pricing into third-party estimating and takeoff software (e.g., Buildxact Pricing Assistant, STACK Material & Labor Estimates, CostCertified AutoCost)
- ·Generating quick budgetary estimates from pre-built assemblies via the self-serve estimating.1build.com web app
- ·Sourcing daily local construction cost benchmarks for loan and insurance underwriting workflows
- ·Adding a one-line embeddable pricing widget to a contractor-facing website or app
- ·Comparing submitted bids against localized county-level cost benchmarks for procurement review
Pricing
Research Sources & Data QualityLast verified: 2026-07-17
- https://www.1build.com/ (official homepage)
- https://developer.1build.com/
- https://developer.1build.com/1build-api-reference/
- https://estimating.1build.com/platform/construction-cost-data
- https://estimating.1build.com/privacy-policy
- https://www.1build.com/pricing (redirects to handoff.ai/pricing)
- https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/1build
- https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/IQo-1build-plaid-for-construction-cost-data
- https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/22/1build-series-a/
- https://www.1build.com/blog/weve-raised-our-series-a
- https://www.buildxact.com/us/news_media/residential-contractors-access-first-real-time-pricing-data-tool-with-1build-and-buildxact-partnership/
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/costcertified-taps-1builds-live-construction-data-api-to-power-autocost-301892139.html
- https://www.stackct.com/blog/1build-integration/
- https://www.1build.com/blog/rely-on-accurate-construction-cost-data
Similar Tools
Integrated cloud platform for construction project management that combines estimating, scheduling, budgeting, procurement, document management, and 4D BIM coordination. Enables real-time budget and schedule visibility, automates financial workflows, and integrates with accounting systems.
ArcSite is field service software for specialty contractors that turns on-site sketches into scaled drawings, automatic material takeoffs, estimates, proposals, change orders, and invoices from a mobile device or desktop. It targets trades such as fencing, decking, concrete, landscaping, roofing, and HVAC rather than licensed design professionals, and is not a BIM or construction-document authoring tool.
AI takeoff platform that reads PDF construction drawings (architectural, structural, civil, and MEP sheets) and extracts trade-specific quantities across 15+ trades, including HVAC, electrical, plumbing, concrete, steel, paving, and landscaping. Offered as a self-service mode (claimed ~10-minute turnaround, 90% feature-capture accuracy) or a QA-reviewed "done-for-you" service (24-72 hour turnaround, claimed accuracy within ±1% of in-house takeoffs). Operated by Attentive.ai, which also sells a separate per-property takeoff product for landscaping/paving/snow field services (formerly branded Automeasure) and has recently launched a BIM CoPilot modeling service.