Our Best of Construction Apps page, we list all the construction phone apps we’ve been able to find. We also give you info and reviews. I’m excited about this page. I think we can all learn about what tools are available and hopefully improve the market as we improve our own productivity. So I’ll be reviewing various apps and letting you know the skinny.

The Roofing Estimator by Lake Simcoe Concrete Forming for the iPhone performs area calculations. The program, though simple, 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.