NEWSLETTER

 
Enter your email:

Construction Topics

GENERAL TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE

SITE WORK

CONCRETE

MASONRY

METAL

CARPENTRY & WOOD

THERMAL & MOISTURE

DOORS & WINDOWS

FINISHES

SPECIALTIES

EQUIPMENT

FURNISHINGS

SPECIAL CONSTRUCTION

CONVEYING SYSTEMS

MECHANICAL

ELECTRICAL

PEOPLE SKILLS

JOBSITE MANAGEMENT

ADS

Become a FB fan


Construction Network


Trades Hub

Best of Construction Phone Apps
 

 


Our list of the best smartphone apps sorted by construction trade.
Email Lex at support@constructionknowledge.net to submit new construction apps, write reviews or report problems. We always appreciate feedback.


 

Site Work & Civil Engineering Finishes People Skills
Concrete Specialties Jobsite Management
Masonry Plumbing Building Code
Metal HVAC Miscellaneous
Carpentry & Wood Electrical  
Roofing  

Legend:
Apple    Android Blackberry



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

Please send in your suggestions for this category


 



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



Electrical



Electrician's Helper
A well put together app with an easy user interface. Helps calculate voltage current and power. Finds ampacity, voltage drops, maximum conductors based on NEC and CEC regulations, the maximum bend radius of a conduit and many many others. Great reviews in the iTunes store. Also supports French (not a common feature, I think he's Canadian but we can't hold that against him. He writes good code.)
Apple: $5.99 by Carry-On Software

 

BEST ELECTRICAL CALCULATOR: Electrical Pro
Well designed calculators with informative help screens and the ability to text or email results.
The distance of your voltage drop can be inputted or you can walk it with the GPS.
a compilation of their four electrical apps:
Box/conduit fill calculator, Fault calculator, Voltage drop calculator, Wire ampacity calculator
Android: $2.00 by Comoving Magnetics

iSlipstick
Electrical calculators including Ohm's Law, op-amp gain, reactance, resonance, voltage divider, parallel resistor, series and parallel RLC. Also includes unit converter, resistor color codes, decibel converters and other helpful features. Many good reviews in iTunes App Store.
Apple: $1.99 by Carry-On Software

iSlipstick RF
Includes iSlipsick functions plus RF calculators such as path loss, wavelengths, fresnel zone, velocity factor, intermodulation and intercept point.
Apple: $3.99 by Carry-On Software

GOOD SIMPLE CALCULATOR: Navaile Electrical Calculator
A good set of calculators with many options. Unfortunately, no menus to change default settings or other options or the ability to email or share results
Android: Free by Navaile Software

BEST CONDUIT BENDING APP: Conduit Bend Pro
A very specific tool for bending conduit for electrical wiring.
A good user interface and many options make this a great app for finding your conduit bends and fill.
For conduit bends and fill: offsets (basic or rolling), parallel runs, 3-bend saddle, corner obstacles (round or rectangle), segment bending, minimum size for wires, cables, custom, % fill, # wires/conduit, conduit info, wire info.
The results can be presented in fractions or decimals. They can also be emailed for your records.
Android: $1.99 by Intineo
Electric Color Code
Simple app to find color code of conductors for single or three phase system. Strong reviews in iTunes Market.
Apple: $0.99 by Dae J Myung of Nikoneko

Wire Size
Calculates the current or the wire size based on NEC Code 2008. Considers voltage drop, temperature adjustment factor and number of wires. Strong reviews in iTunes Market.
Apple: $2.99 by Dae J Myung of Nikoneko

Box Fill Calculator
Simple app to find box fill based on number of conductors, clamps, support fittings and grounding conductor based on NEC 2008.
Apple: $2.99 by Dae J Myung of Nikoneko

Conduit Fill Calculator
Finds the conduit size required by NEC 2008 with 50 conductors and 12 conduits. Strong reviews in iTunes Market.
Apple: $2.99 by Dae J Myung of Nikoneko

Elec Ref

A pocket reference for electricians with calculators for wire gauge, conduit size, motor horsepower and transformer sizing. References for resistor color codes, RJ45 Ethernet plug wiring and NEMA plugs.
Apple: $4.99 by Trunnion

OptiCut
Will soon be added to above Elec Ref app.
A calculator for optimizing material and number of cuts for any 1D material like wire, lumber or rebar.
Apple: $3.99 by Trunnion

Mech Tool
Pocket reference for machinists with information on screw threads, bolt grades, roller chain, drill sizes and sheet metal database.
Apple: $4.99 by Trunnion

e-ENGineer

Calculates voltage drop, star delta transformation, delta star transformation, ohm's law resistance and capacitance in serial and parallel.
Apple: $1.99 by Altcom425



Construction Tools



We recommend the phone tools from iHandySoft
Beautiful and easy to use.

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.
Battery Master Pro - $0.99
Shows current battery level and the remaining time for standby, talking, Internet browsing, gaming, etc.
Alarm Clock Pro - $0.99 or free
Play music to wake yourself or turn on the flashlight so you can find your phone in the dark.


OptiCut

Will soon be added to the Elec Ref app by same developer.
A calculator for optimizing material and number of cuts for any 1D material like wire, lumber or rebar.
Apple: $3.99 by Trunnion



People Skills


Strategy of Personality Profiles for Better Communication

 Take a minute to determine your Personality Profile and that of other people you communicate with. The suggestions supplied by this app will help you get better results in any communication. Learn more about the personality types here.
Apple, Android & Blackberry: $1.99 by ConstructionKnowledge.net



Jobsite Management


Built It Live

For $35 per month per project, this project collaboration portal allows you to keep all of your drawings and schedules safely in the cloud and accessible to everyone on the project. The Site Owner can invite unlimited users to share the essential project documents and set levels of access so they can view, edit or upload. If you have an iPad, get the MobilePlanRoom app to view the blueprints while you're in the field. This is the future of construction.

PRO-RAB Lite

A brand new app with no reviews and an ambitious agenda: track employees, sub-contractors and material expenses; create invoices and estimates on site for emailing to clients. If this works well, could be a very handy app.
Apple: $19.99 by BarenBoym Group

Project Quote Estimate

There is definitely a need for a good field estimating app. Unfortunately, the Project Quote Estimate for iPhone probably won't completely fill that need for most of us. While it has some very interesting features that I like, the strictly Residential nature of the app limits its value.

Being the only construction field estimator app available at this time, it may be worth purchasing just to see if it works for you. I like the 18 tool screens. Some will be useful: concrete, drywall, acoustic ceiling, stairs, sheathing and roofing. Others seem useless: paint, wall paper, tile, asphalt, seeding, etc. The lumber calculator wouldn't work for me, but others may find it useful. They included a Scale calculator for plans that are reproduced to the wrong scale (a handy device) and several other useful estimating tools. The lack of equipment pricing would also be a problem for me.

As you can tell from my comments above, I'm a bit conflicted about this app. On the one hand it seems like a toy that won't get used, yet it has some features that you may find helpful. As a final comment, the user interface works well, you will be able to just pick it up and use it without instructions. I'd like to hear feedback from anyone else that's downloaded it.

 

Create and email a PDF quote in the field with 19 different calculators and estimators. Pretty good reviews.s.
Apple: $4.99 by KAD Software

Material Estimator
To find solutions for tiles, flooring, drywall, decks, fencing, studs, concrete, paint, gravel, etc.
Apple: $7.99 by Calculated Industries

SiConstruct Construction Calculator, Paint Calculator, Tile Calculator
You can quickly calculate and email the materials you need for concrete pads, brick walls, tiles and paint.
Apple: $1.99 by Seven Infinity

 



Building Code


Accessibility & ADA Code Help for Construction

 A handy field reference for Accessibility and American Disabilities Act (ADA) code issues in construction and building. This app contains a series of Frequently Asked Questions to provide quick answers with Code reference for more detail.
Apple, Android & Blackberry: $1.99 by ConstructionKnowledge.net



Miscellaneous:


 

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
 

 


Mech Tool
Pocket reference for machinists with information on screw threads, bolt grades, roller chain, drill sizes and sheet metal database.
Apple: $4.99 by Trunnion

Mech Ref.

A reference for all things mechanical: drill and tap sizes, fastener clearance holes, sheet metal gauge table, math and physic reference
Apple: $0.99 by Ryan Beggs

Concrete Gravel Mulch Estimate

Find the cubic yards needed by inputting the dimensions
Apple: $0.99 by KAD Software

Green Pro
-
An app to evaluate and check off the steps to implement the USGBC LEED 2009 for New Construction and Major Renovations. Currently only able to handle one project at a time.
Apple: $3.99 by RMS Group

by the Construction Specifications Institute
poorly designed apps by a place clearly not  with the times but if you need them, here they are

CSI_MF2004 - Apple: $1.99 -
Search the MasterFormat 2004 by keywords
CDTFlash - Apple: $4.99 - Contains a series of flashcards to help prepare for the Construction Documents Technology (CDT) Certificate exam
CSI MasterFormat 2004 Converter - Apple: $1.99 -
Converts MasterFormat 95 Standard numbers to the current MasterFormat 2010 standards