Most online quote calculators ask for one number, a square-metre figure, and hand back another. No tradie prices a job that way. You walk it. You count the doors, you look at the windows, you clock the prep before you clock the paint, and you work out whether the height means a scaffold or a long day on the ladder. The number falls out of the walk, not out of one field.
So we built the Tyso Toolkit: free tools that walk the job the way you would, then price it.
What's in the toolkit
Three estimators are live, one per trade, each free and each built the way that trade actually quotes.
- Painting. The painting estimator walks a paint job room by room: wall and ceiling areas, doors and frames, windows, skirtings and architraves, exterior trim. It asks about prep, because that is where the hours hide, and about access, because a tight site and a high wall cost real time.
- Rendering. The render estimator prices an exterior render elevation by elevation: substrate, system, the openings you cut around, prep and access. Worked the way a renderer quotes, not a square-metre guess.
- Plastering. The plastering estimator prices interior plasterboard room by room: board, finish level, cornice, removal of the old sheets, access. Worked the way a plasterer quotes.
Each one builds the labour, the materials and consumables, and a suggested price with GST already in it, laid out as a report you can read top to bottom and email to yourself.
Two speeds: the full walk, or a quick estimate
Some jobs want the full walk-through. Some want a number now. Every tool in the kit runs at both speeds. The full mode takes the job apart room by room. Quick estimate puts one screen in front of you: add a room or a wall, get a figure. Same engine underneath, less to fill in. Try it on painting, render, or plastering.
Who is it for?
Two people, and it earns its keep for both.
If you are a tradie quoting jobs, it is a fast second pair of eyes: a structured walk that catches the door you forgot and shows the hours split across prep, the work itself, and cleanup. If you are a homeowner staring down three quotes, it is a sane ballpark before they land, so you can tell a fair number from a wild one.
What the numbers are, and what they are not
They are preview grade. Honest arithmetic on the inputs you give it, only as good as those inputs, and the tool says so plainly on the report. A real quote still needs someone standing in the room, reading the walls the way a screen cannot. The estimator gets you to a considered starting number in a few minutes. It does not pretend to be the quote.
Why a growth studio builds estimators
Because it is the same job. Tyso gets a local business found, chosen and followed up, and a tool that does one real thing beats a page that talks about doing things. These estimators are the studio working in public: small, sharp, useful, and free. Painting was the natural place to start. Render and plastering came next, and the plan is a proper kit of them, one trade at a time.
Open the toolkit and walk a job through it. It takes a few minutes, and the estimate lands in your inbox at the end.