# BidCraft: an estimate and invoice app for contractors, built and run by ODEL

> How ODEL built BidCraft, an iPhone app for contractors to create job estimates from rooms, labor and materials, turn them into invoices, and share PDFs and CSV exports, offline.

BidCraft is an iPhone app for contractors and tradespeople, designed, built and published by ODEL. It builds estimates from rooms, measurements, labor, materials, quantities, taxes and discounts, keeps reusable templates for painting and remodeling jobs, turns quotes into invoices with payment status and due dates, and shares PDFs and CSV exports. It is built with Expo and React Native, stores everything in a local SQLite database so it works on a job site without signal, and uses native modules for PDF printing, calendar, mail and SMS. The App Store listing covers 43 languages. It is a working example of how ODEL turns a trade's pricing logic into an app.

## The problem

Contractors write quotes and invoices on the job site, often from notes or spreadsheets. Field service suites like Jobber add scheduling and dispatch a small contractor may not need. BidCraft focuses on estimate and invoice paperwork on an iPhone.

## What ODEL built

- Estimate builder with rooms, measurements, labor, materials, quantities, taxes and discounts
- Reusable templates for painting and remodeling jobs
- Invoices with payment status, due dates and outstanding work
- PDF documents shared from the phone
- Client records and job details kept together
- CSV export of records
- Home Screen shortcuts to start an estimate or open clients

## Technology

- **App**: Expo SDK 55, React Native 0.83 and expo-router
- **UI and forms**: NativeWind, React Native Paper, react-hook-form with zod
- **State and data**: Zustand and local SQLite (expo-sqlite), no backend
- **Documents and sharing**: expo-print for PDF, expo-sharing, mail and SMS composers, expo-calendar
- **Purchases**: expo-iap (StoreKit)
- **Localization**: i18next

## Launch and growth

- Live on the App Store for iPhone (iOS 15.1 or later)
- Store listing in 43 languages
- Version 1.1.0 released 2026-09-26 with Home Screen shortcuts, store-loaded plan prices and improved CSV export
- Free download with Premium Monthly, Yearly and Lifetime purchases

## What we learned

- Tradespeople price in rooms, measurements and materials, so the data model follows the trade, not a generic line-item list. In a client project, ODEL writes down your pricing logic before designing screens.
- Local SQLite keeps the app working offline on a job site and removes a backend from the scope when one user owns the data.
- Exports need real-world testing: BidCraft 1.1.0 fixed CSV text encoding, made spreadsheet cells safer and made file sharing more reliable.

Product page: https://www.odel.dev/app/bidcraft

Start a project: https://www.odel.dev/services#start (form) or info@odel.dev. ODEL quotes each project after a short discovery call; it does not publish fixed prices.

Page: https://www.odel.dev/work/bidcraft