VS ENSIGN · MODERN AI VS UK LEGACY
Ensign if your office runs on it.
bidyou.ai if you\'re hiring fresh estimators.
Ensign Estimating Software is the trusted name in UK electrical estimating — 30+ years of refinement, an ECA-aligned cost library, a thousand-plus UK contractors relying on it daily. For a firm that\'s been on Ensign since the 1990s, the workflow is muscle memory. The cost shows up when you hire a junior estimator: weeks to ramp on the desktop UI, per-seat licensing, annual cost-library updates that drift between releases. bidyou.ai brings the same electrical-vertical fluency to a modern web app — AI matching from your closed bids, live retailer queries, sub-£100 / month subscription, no Windows install ceremony.
| Dimension | Ensign | bidyou.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Era + delivery | Windows-only desktop, established workflow refined over 30+ years. Per-seat licence. Annual maintenance. Server install for multi-user. | Modern web app. Sign up at bidyou.ai, drop a BoQ, see the AI draft within minutes. Works on any OS — Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS — through any browser. |
| Pricing structure | Per-seat annual licence + cost-library subscription on top. Quoted on enquiry; typical contractor commitment is meaningful for small firms. | Free for 3 active projects. Starter £33 / Pro £109 per month (EUR billed at €39 / €129 — UK GBP localisation rolling out with multi-currency Q3 2026). Cancel anytime. |
| AI matching | No AI. BoQ lines mapped manually via assembly browser or by experienced estimator memory. | Per-tenant AI trained on YOUR historical bids. Drop a BoQ → 75 % top-1 dictionary match + semantic fallback. Gets sharper with every closed job. |
| Cost-database upkeep | Annual cost-library update (ECA-aligned). Manual import. Between updates, prices drift away from market. | Live retailer queries: Wickes, Screwfix, Toolstation, CEF and more (rolling out UK supplier coverage). Your private price-lists override retailer matches. No annual update ritual. |
| Drawing handling | Manual count entry from drawings. PDF / DWG import via takeoff add-ons (Bluebeam, etc.). | YOLOv11 block detection on DWG/DXF — counts luminaires, sockets, equipment automatically. PaddleOCR fallback for scanned PDFs. Native; no add-ons. |
| Reports + compliance | Reports tuned for UK / ECA conventions over decades. 18th Edition wiring compliance encoded. Strong reputation among UK electrical contractors. | PDF, Excel preserving the customer's template, CSV. ISO 27001 A.12.4.1 audit log with batch grouping. DPA signed at activation on Pro tier. 18th Edition + SMM7 / NRM mapping support. |
| Mobile + remote work | Desktop-bound. Remote access via RDP or VPN to the office server. | Browser-native. Open the bid on a tablet on site. Estimator workflow polished for desktop, but everything is web-accessible. |
| Multi-user concurrent edit | Single-estimator-per-project model historically; concurrent edit requires shared LAN install + workflow discipline. | Row-level locks + version columns shipping Q3 2026; until then, single-active-editor pattern with audit log batch grouping for safe handoffs. |
| Where each shines | UK electrical contractor with 5+ years on Ensign, established office workflow, Windows-only office, accustomed to annual updates, ECA price library is the default reference. | UK contractor (or anywhere) hiring fresh estimators, wanting AI matching, modern web access, sub-£100 / month subscription, and the option to bring multilingual job docs (EN / PT / ES / FR) through the same engine. |
Thirty years of cost-library refinement is one kind of moat. AI that learns from your bids and a price database that updates itself is another. Both work; only one was built last year.
Try the modern UK alternative.
Free for the first 3 projects. No Windows licence. AI matching against your own bid history.
No credit card. Magic-link activation.
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