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Site Work & Civil Engineering
 

ConvUnits

Our easy to use construction conversion app with all the most common units for: length (includes a feet and inches to decimal feet converter), area, volume, density, mass, pressure, speed, acceleration, energy and power. The app also contains helpful information such as the density of common materials, the energy of common fuels and rules of thumb for power.
Apple, Android & Blackberry: $1.99 by ConstructionKnowledge.net

Drainage Calculations
Performs drainage calculations on pipes and channels. For Pipe Flow, you can (using Manning's Pipe Flow) Calculate Discharge, Calculate Pipe Size or Calculate Wet Perimeter. For a Channel Flow, you can Calculate Discharge' Approximate Free-Board or Check Rectangular, Trapezoidal, and V-Ditch Sections. The lack of a help screen keeps this app from attaining our CK App Seal of Approval. Unless you know how to do these calculations already, you won't know how to use this app.
Apple: $3.99  by Jared Judd

V Curve Pro
Calculating grades on profile, vertical curve elevations, slopes and lengths conversions. Only one review on app store. Appears to be poorly supported.
Android: $9.99 by Everywhere Labs

iSolidMech
Beam and force calculator with several beam types and loading types.
Apple: $1.99 by iSolidMechanics

Plates & Shells
Computes deflections, moments, shears and more  from several plate/shell configurations.
Apple: $3.99 by iSolidMechanics

Civil Engineering Calculations by Jared Judd
Lite iPhone version - $4.99: Calculates grades for roadways, angle conversions, calculates pipe flows. Many excellent reviews from surveyors in iTunes Store.
Pro iPhone version - $9.99: Appears that the full version only adds support for the iPad. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Android - $1.99: Channel and pipe hydraulic flow calculations. Traverse, vertical curves, area and tangents functions coming soon.


 

Concrete

Concrete & Agg Calcuator
The best concrete calculator out there is free. It calculates the cubic yards for pours of concrete slabs, stairs, footers, curbs and columns while accounting for spillage and wastage. It also does fill calculations for sand gravel and stone.
Android: free by Chaney Enterprises
 

AConcrete Estimator Pro
For multiple pours and multiple projects, this is the concrete calculator to use. A powerful concrete calculator that creates estimates for multiple projects. Each project can include multiple pours from the large library of pour types: square footings, sono tubes, triangles, irregular slabs and more. A great app from a developer with a quick response time and a commitment to improving his apps.
Android: $2.99 by Robert Coates
 

Concrete Calculator Pro
Highest rated concrete calculator on app store with many good reviews.
Apple: $0.99 by Jeremy Breaux

Concrete Gravel Mulch Estimate
Find the cubic yards needed by inputting the dimensions
Apple: $0.99 by KAD Software

RCBeam
Designs reinforced concrete beams for moment, shear and torsion. Excellent reviews in iTunes Store.
Apple: $4.99 by StructureApps

RCDesign
Designs reinforced concrete members. Additional packages may need to be purchased such as RC Beam Pack. One excellent review in iTunes Store.
Apple: $4.99 by StructureApps


 

Masonry

Please send in your suggestions for this category


 

Metal

Steel Shapes for Metal Fabrication & Construction
Our app that contains an exhaustive list of information on the all of the steel shapes and sizes. We include the depth, flange width and thickness, weight, Sx, Sy & other information you might need to know about your steel beam.
Apple, Android & Blackberry: $1.99 by ConstructionKnowledge.net

Steel Beam Design Calculator for Construction
Our easy to use steel beam calculator with inputs for span, beam type & size, point or uniform loads. It outputs the stress in bending, deflection and other info to determine if your beam can carry the load
Apple, Android & Blackberry: $1.99 by ConstructionKnowledge.net

Sheet Metal
A reference app with the thickness, weight and ASTM tolerance for sheets of stainless, carbon and aluminum. The settings allow you to change the default size of your sheet. If you work with sheet metal in any way, this will be a handy app to have in your pocket.
Android: Free by Goliath Apps

Metal Weight Calculator

Simple app to calculate the weight of different metal types: Steel, Aluminum, Cast Iron, Nickel, Copper, and more.

Android: Free from ITAMCO
Bend Allowance Calculator
the good:
Easy to use app with clear purpose: when given the width, inside radius, angle and the k-factor of the sheet metal bend, this app outputs the bend allowance and bend deduction..
the bad:
The app only allows numbers to be entered via the onscreen keyboard and not the physical keyboard. Also, there are no units displayed anywhere in this app. These problems and the lack of a help screen keep this app from getting the Construction Knowledge Seal of Approval. But it’s still a good app.
Android: $0.99 from Spike Williams

WELDING: ESAB Welding Parameters Set-Up
a poorly designed app but it’s the only one of its kind at the moment
the good:
Use this app for finding your welding parameters: choose your wire type (solid or flux), type, thickness and process mode. The app outputs your recommended settings for WFS, current, voltage and inductance
the bad:
Really terrible user interface. It looks like the developers threw this app out there for ESAB, the Swedish welding giant. The company banner at the bottom covers up key parts of the app and the screens often don’t have half the display or are formatted so the text (including the all important output) runs off the page and out of sight.
Android: Free by CleverMethod for ESAB

Magnetic Stud Finder
Here's the Youtube instructional video
This app aims to find your studs using the Android phone’s magnetometer. Try it out and let me know how it goes. I’ll give you a blog post shoutout.
Android: Free by


 

Carpentry & Wood

Wood Beam Design Calculator for Construction
Our easy to use wood beam calculator with inputs for span, wood type & size, point or uniform loads. It outputs the stress in bending, deflection and other info to determine if your beam can carry the load
Apple, Android & Blackberry: $1.99 by ConstructionKnowledge.net

Converting Units Calculator for Construction
Our easy to use construction conversion app with all the most common units for: length (includes a feet and inches to decimal feet converter), area, volume, density, mass, pressure, speed, acceleration, energy and power. The app also contains helpful information such as the density of common materials, the energy of common fuels and rules of thumb for power.
Apple, Android & Blackberry: $1.99 by ConstructionKnowledge.net

Carpenter's tools from iHandy:
iHandy Carpenter - $1.99 - A tool chest with a plumb bob, surface level, bubble level bar, protractor and ruler. Many positive reviews.
iHandy Level - free
iHandy Protractor - $0.99
iHandy Flashlight - $0.99 or free - Bright flashlight using iPhone screen. With iPhone 4, use the camera's LED. The paid version has over 60 lighting effects like candle, glow sticks, SOS signals and police lights.

Carpenter's Helper Pro - Advanced Construction Calculator
One of the most popular and well reviewed carpentry and construction apps. Creates projects with lists of data to create estimates, budgets and material lists. Finds pitch, rise diagonal for calculating triangles. Includes Quick Jobs (their term for calculators) for rafters, stairs, drywall, flooring, painting, roofing and more. Also with unit conversion and calculator.
Apple: $14.99 by My Pie Interactive

Construction Master Pro
Calculators for right angle solutions such as rafters, pitch, hip/valley, stair layout and more. Area and volume calculators, unit conversion, number of studs, crown angle. Check out their page for all of the functions.
Apple: $19.99 by Calculated Industries
Construction Master 5


 

Roofing

Roofing Calculator

A solid app built for contractors. For gable and hips roof, the app allows you to set material & loabor costs, waste factor, skylights, chimney flashings and ridge vent cut-ins. The main feature request from customers is the ability to calculate multiple roofs. There's a demo version to test it out.ut.

It's priced at 20 bucks because as the developer told us here at CK.net, "The reason we priced it at $20 is that other alternative(s) such as the $0.99 one you listed right bellow our app, is completely useless for a roofer, as it does essentially nothing. We actually went to great depths to make the app as useful as possible for roofer - I'm a roofer myself, so I used myself as the hypothetical buyer of this app."

Android: $20 by RoofingCalculator.org

Roofing Estimator
 

This simple Roofing Estimator for the iPhone performs area calculations for sheathing and shingles. These calculations can be challenging due to various pitches and overhangs, so there is a need for this type of app. This particular app, though, lacks adequate descriptions of terms.

Basically, either a gable roof or a cottage roof can be analyzed. I'm assuming a cottage roof is what I'd call a hip roof, but the app doesn't clarify. The inputs are done well with pitch, overhang, eave and house width and length all required.

The outputs are number of sheets of plywood and bundles of shingles. The outputs are given to two decimal places, so I assume (again, clarity would be a benefit here) that no waste factor is included. As for improvements, I'd like to have area in square feet included (useful for other things) and the ability to text or email the inputs and outputs to create a record.

Overall, it's an ok app, but should really have the improvements listed above.
Apple: $0.99 by LLake Simcoe Concrete Forming


 

Finishes

Please send in your suggestions for this category


 

Specialties

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Plumbing

Piping and Flange Calculator
Based on user inputted pressure, temperature and corrosion allowances, the app returns the required pipe schedule and ANSI flange rating to meet ASME B31.3 2008 Process Piping Code
Apple: $9.99 by iTouch IT Once Software

Piping and Flange Handbook
Database of piping, flange and fittings information
Apple: $7.99 by iTouch IT Once Software

Piping Database - XTREME
Appears to combines all of the apps from this developer listed below. Good user interface and elegant CAD drawings
Apple: $9.99 by Radin Alcira

Radin Alcira's Piping apps contained in the above Piping Database- XTREME
Pipe Spacing - $1.99 - Select nominal pipe size, flange rating insulation thickness and the app will calculate the rest
Pipe Fittings - $3.99 - Database of pipe fitting data
Piping Databse - Schedules - $3.99 - Contains standard schedules of piping up to 80
Piping Databse - Flanges - $3.99 - Pipe flange database

HVAC

HVAC ASHRAE 62.1
Perform comprehensive minimum ventilation calculations based on ASHRAE 62.1. It performs the same functions as the spreadsheet (62MZCalc.xls) that accompanies the code. In addition, the slider inputs allow you to see your results instantly. Results can be emailed in html format or as an Excel spreadsheet.
Apple: $19.99 by ASHRAE (though it was obviously developed by Carmel Software who makes the following stellar apps)

HVAC Residential Loads Calcs
A comprehensive room-by-room load calculation. Includes database of city weather and hundreds of construction materials to allow the user to create a comprehensive model of a room or building. The report can then be emailed. The developer claims that "this app just might change the way you do business." I think he might be right.
Apple: $24.99 by Carmel Software
HVAC Load Plus - $16.99 - Scaled down version of above. Small commercial and residential buildings.

HVAC Toolkit
Contains all of Carmel Software's excellent apps that are reviewed below: Quick Load, Duct Sizer, Psychometric Plus, Steam Tables, Pipe Sizers
Apple: $23.99 by Carmel Software

Carmel Software's HVAC apps contained in the above HVAC Toolkit:
HVAC Quick Load - $6.99 - Performs rule of thumb cooling and heating load calculations
HVAC Duct Sizer - $6.99 - Quickly size ducts by air flow or dimensions. "A digital version of the classic Trane ductulator."
HVAC Pyschometric Plus - $6.99 - Single-state and mixed-air HVAC psychometric calculations. A handy feature, all calculations are done on the same screen.
Steam Tables - $5.99 - Calculate the properties of saturated and superheated steam based on many input parameters
HVAC Pipe Sizer - Steam - $6.99 - Quickly size a simple steam system by inputting piping and steam properties
HVAC Pipe Sizer - Liquid - $4.99 - Quickly size a simple liquid system by inputting piping and liquid properties (hot or cold)
HVAC Pipe Sizer - Gas High - $4.99 - Size a high pressure gas piping system with inputs for piping and gas properties
HVAC Pipe Sizer - Gas Low - $4.99 - Size a low pressure gas piping system with inputs for piping and gas properties. Can specify total gas flow, pressure drop, pipe diameter or gas velocity.

Other HVAC apps and apps suites from Carmel Software:
HVAC Pipe Sizer Plus - $13.99 - Combines all of the Pipe Sizer apps: Steam, Liquid, Gas High, Gas Low
HVAC Pipe Sizer - Gas Plus - $7.99 - Contains both Pipe Sizer apps: Gas High, Gas Low
HVAC Pyschometric LT - $2.99 - Single-state HVAC psychometric calculations.

HVAC Buddy
An app for servicing and diagnosing HVAC systems. Enter the refrigerant, temperatures and pressures and the app shows the target temperature and the difference from the actual. Use sliders to see how temperature and pressure changes affect the system. A diagnosis tab helps target common problems. Status reports can be emailed from the phone for personalized reports for your customers. Solid reviews in iTunes and Android markets.
iPhone & Android: $9.99 by GridBuddy

HVAC Dust Calc Buddy
Presents an array of possible duct sizes to meet the inputted parameters of friction loss, velocity and material. Reviews generally favorable but not perfect.
iPhone: $4.99 Android: $9.99 by GridBuddy

HVAC PT Buddy
Pressure temperature relationships for 95 refrigerants. Bubble and dew points on the same line. Includes additional info such as chemical name, boiling point and other details. Only good reviews.
iPhone: $5.99 by GridBuddy

HVAC Pyschometric Buddy
Calculates thermodynamic properties of moist air temperatures found in HVAC systems. Input dry bulb temperature, pressure and another property to find the rest of the properties. Results can be emailed to customers. Only good reviews in iTunes Market.
iPhone: $2.99 by GridBuddy

HVAC Buddy Refrigerant Press
Charts of refrigerants with pressure, temperatures
Android: $5.99 by GridBuddy