AccuPrice vs Quantum by Electrical Resources

Two tools, two different jobs

Quantum by Electrical Resources and AccuPrice get compared to each other, but they're built for different work. Knowing which problem you actually have makes the choice straightforward.

Quantum is estimating software for projects — takeoff, branch circuit calculations, fire alarm, duct bank, RFQs, purchase orders, job costing. It's built for contractors bidding large jobs where the estimate itself is a piece of work that takes days.

AccuPrice is a maintained price book for service work. It doesn't bid projects. It keeps the material and labor numbers behind your everyday quotes accurate, and pushes them into the software your techs already use.

If you bid new construction and industrial work, you want an estimating suite. If you run service trucks, you want a price book that doesn't go stale. Most shops know which one they are.

What Quantum does

Quantum is a comprehensive platform with a large item database and a deep feature set:

On-screen takeoff
AutoBranch for branch circuit calculations
AutoFireAlarm and AutoDuctBank modules
RFQs, purchase orders and job costing
Reporting and analytics across the project lifecycle

For a contractor bidding a hospital wing, that's the right toolkit. The takeoff and assembly tools do work that would otherwise take a week by hand.

The tradeoff is scope. It's a full platform, it carries a platform's price, and it takes real training to use well. A three-truck service shop pricing panel changes and receptacle upgrades will use a small fraction of it.

What AccuPrice does

AccuPrice maintains the numbers behind service work:

1,400+ electrical items with material prices updated every month
1,400+ prebuilt assemblies — panels, conduit runs, spa and mini-split circuits, device upgrades — built from those items, so they reprice themselves when material costs move
75 prebuilt labor services, plus the ability to build your own
A flat rate book builder on the Flat Rate Pro plan, so you can build unlimited tasks from your own material and labor at your own rates
Direct sync into QuickBooks Online and Jobber, and CSV export into ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Workiz, ServiceM8, FieldEdge, Service Fusion or any CRM that takes an import

It doesn't replace your CRM and doesn't try to. Scheduling, quoting and invoicing stay where they are.

The difference that matters day to day

A large estimating database is only as good as the prices in it. The question worth asking any pricing tool is how often the material costs behind it are refreshed.

Quarterly is the industry standard. A quarter is long enough for a supplier to raise prices twice, and every estimate you write in the meantime is built on the old number.

AccuPrice updates material pricing every month. That's the single fact that separates a price book from a price list — the book you quoted from in January is not the book you quote from in June, and nobody in your office had to retype anything to make that true.

Pricing and how it's billed

Quantum is priced as an estimating platform and quoted per contractor.

AccuPrice is priced per company, not per technician, with unlimited users:

Price Book — $420/year or $150/quarter
Price Book Pro — $840/year or $300/quarter
Flat Rate Pro — $1,260/year or $450/quarter

Hire five more techs and the price doesn't move. Most pricing software in this category bills per seat, so that difference compounds as a shop grows.

Which one fits

Choose Quantum if you bid commercial or industrial projects, need on-screen takeoff, and the estimate itself is a multi-day piece of work.

Choose AccuPrice if you run service work, your techs quote in the field, and your real problem is that material prices move faster than your price book does.

Some shops run both. A contractor doing project bids and service calls can use an estimating suite for the bids and a maintained price book for the trucks. They're not competing for the same job.

Frequently asked questions

Is AccuPrice an estimating program?

No. It's a maintained price book. It keeps material and labor pricing current and feeds it into your existing CRM or accounting software. It doesn't do takeoff or project bidding.

Can AccuPrice handle commercial work?

For service and light commercial, yes — the catalog and assemblies cover it. For large project bids with takeoff, an estimating suite is the right tool.

How often does AccuPrice update material prices?

Monthly.

Do I have to change how my team works?

No. AccuPrice syncs into QuickBooks Online and Jobber directly and exports by CSV to other CRMs. Your techs keep working where they already work.

A price book that doesn't go stale, priced per company, not per tech.

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