Joist Review 2026: AI Estimates and Invoices for Carpentry and Remodeling Contractors

Updated October 13, 2026 – Tested Intelligence

Quick verdict: Joist is the paperwork app built for small contractors, and its AI tools attack the part of the job carpenters hate most: typing up estimates and invoices after a day on the tools. Describe the job out loud or in a few typed lines and AI Estimate or AI Invoice hands you a full draft to review, edit and send. It will not measure or price the job for you – but from $10 a month it is a cheap way to get quotes out before you leave the driveway.

What it is

Joist is an estimating, invoicing and payments app for contractors, running on web, iOS and Android. It is built around small, fixed-bid work – deck rebuilds, trim packages, built-ins and kitchen and bath remodels. You build estimates from line items with your own pricing and markups; clients approve with a digital signature; and the job flows through to deposits, change orders and the final invoice.

The AI layer is recent and practical rather than flashy. AI Estimate and AI Invoice take a plain-language description of the work – typed or spoken – and draft the document for you, line items included. AI Note Improver cleans up rough field notes into professional language on any estimate or invoice. Nothing sends without your review: the AI takes the first pass, you keep the final say on every number.

Key features

• AI Estimate: turn a typed or spoken job description into a customer-ready estimate draft
• AI Invoice: the same drafting flow for invoices once the work is done
• AI Note Improver polishes rough notes into professional wording
• Line-item estimates with markups, photos, digital signatures and deposits
• Change orders on the higher tiers; online card, ACH and Tap to Pay payments
• QuickBooks Online sync, client management and client financing options

Pricing

Joist publishes its pricing, which is refreshingly rare in contractor software. On Joist’s own site, Basics is $10 a month with a cap of 5 documents a month, Pro is $17 a month with unlimited documents, Elite is $32 a month, and Run is $70 a month at an introductory price. A 14-day free trial is offered. The AI tools are available to all active users on every plan – the tiers mainly buy document volume and business features, not AI access.

Who it’s for

Solo carpenters and small remodeling crews who quote a handful of fixed-bid jobs a week and lose evenings to paperwork. If your bottleneck is sitting down to type rather than measuring the work, the voice-to-draft flow fits: talk through the job while it is fresh, fix the numbers, send it the same day.

Who should skip it

Crews whose bottleneck is measurement and takeoff: Joist does not read plans or count materials, so framing contractors pricing from drawings need a takeoff tool first. Larger firms with office estimators and deep cost books will outgrow it quickly – this is small-crew software and makes no claim to be otherwise.

Pros

• AI drafting by voice fits the truck-cab reality of small-crew estimating
• Published, genuinely cheap pricing with a free trial
• AI tools included on every plan, not gated to the top tier
• Estimate-to-invoice flow with payments and QuickBooks sync in one app

Cons

• No takeoff or plan-reading capability – measurements are still on you
• AI drafts are only as good as your check: line prices still need verifying against your costs
• Basics tier’s 5-document monthly cap is easy to outgrow
• Integrations are thin – QuickBooks Online is the main accounting link

FAQ

How does Joist’s AI Estimate work?

You type or speak a short description of the job and Joist drafts a full estimate from it. You review and edit every line before sending.

How much does Joist cost?

Per Joist’s published pricing: Basics $10/month (5 documents a month), Pro $17/month (unlimited documents), Elite $32/month and Run $70/month introductory, with a 14-day free trial.

Is Joist a takeoff tool?

No. Joist handles estimating documents, invoicing and payments for work you have already measured and priced. It does not read drawings or generate material takeoffs.

Bottom line

For a carpenter or remodeler whose quotes die in a notebook, Joist is the fix: describe the job, check the draft, send it before dinner. Start on the trial, run your next three quotes through AI Estimate, and see how much evening paperwork survives.