Estimating Software for Kitchen & Bathroom Fitters
You already price the tiling. back-napkin prices what's behind the wall.
Every fitter breaks a refit down informally — strip-out, first fix, tiling, second fix. What's missing is the risk-adjusted number on top: what hidden pipework, rot, or an asbestos find actually costs you if it turns up mid-job. back-napkin takes the decomposition you already do in your head and prices the named risks against it, so the quote you send is the one you can still make money on.
Kitchen and bathroom refits have the worst estimating pain in the trade
Not bad luck — the same conditions behind the same walls, refit after refit. The evidence backs up what every fitter already feels.
44% of builders are on track for a loss
The Federation of Master Builders' State of Trade survey found 44% of member firms were on track for a loss or below-expected margins in Q1 2024 — margin erosion happening at scale, not to a few unlucky jobs.
37% of homeowners overshot their budget
Houzz's 2026 UK renovation study found 37% of renovating homeowners exceeded their planned spend, with "unexpected construction issues" and "unexpected complexity" among the top five causes named.
The risks are the same ones you already brace for
Hidden pipework, rot at strip-out, asbestos in pre-2000 stock, out-of-square walls — you already know these are coming. back-napkin's risk checklist prices them instead of leaving them as a gut-feel contingency line.
Material price rises stack on top
75% of FMB builders reported material price rises in H1 2025. A quote that doesn't account for the gap between quote day and order day is already behind before the job starts.
Start from the refit you actually fit
Four Project Starters, each with a real work-item tree built from a full refit sequence — not a blank page.
Bathroom refit
Survey and strip-out through first fix, tanking and tiling, sanitaryware second fix, and handover — the full sequence, priced stage by stage instead of as one lump sum.
Kitchen refit
Design and appliance ordering through strip-out, first fix, carcass and units, worktop templating, splashback, and appliance commissioning — scoped around the lead-time risk that actually drives kitchen delays.
Small extension / knock-through
Planning route and structural calculations through substructure, steel/beam installation, superstructure, fit-out shell, and Building Control sign-off — one Starter covering both a small extension and an internal opening.
En-suite addition
Space feasibility and services routing through partition build, new waste run to the soil stack, waterproofing and tiling, to handover — plus every bathroom-refit risk folded in, because the room behind the new partition behaves like any other bathroom.
Built from a real risk checklist, not generic advice
A sample of the risk items back-napkin checks against your estimate before you send the quote.
Hidden pipework found (routing differs from assumed, old/incompatible materials)
Likely — effort +0.5-1.5 crew-days; possible re-route materials.
Rot/damp discovered at strip-out (floor, wall substrate)
Possible — substrate/floorboard replacement, documented case £600-£4,500; effort +1-3 days.
Asbestos found in older properties (pre-2000)
Possible — survey plus licensed/non-licensed removal, documented case ~£400 for a small area; schedule stop pending survey/removal.
Quote the refit with the hidden-condition risk priced in
- 3 active projects free
- 25 AI assists a month
- No card required