MudShark vs SitesAI Estimate for earthworks takeoff

MudShark is the Australian incumbent in earthworks takeoff. It is made by Buildsoft in Campbelltown, New South Wales, it has been around a long time, and if you are pricing dirt in Australia someone has recommended it to you. Here it is next to SitesAI Estimate, with every figure taken from Buildsoft's own pages on the date shown.

Where MudShark wins

Pipe and trench networks. MudShark Trench does network takeoff with automatic clash detection. If a big share of your work is stormwater, sewer and utility networks, that is a specific capability we do not match — we calculate trench and footing volumes, but we do not model a network or find clashes in it.

Drone data. MudShark imports drone survey data. If you fly your own sites, that is a shorter path to an existing surface than tracing contours off a plan.

Cross-sections. Custom cross-sections through the model are a first-class feature in MudShark and a common way for estimators to sanity-check a job. We have the 3D view and volume figures, not a cross-section tool.

It is Australian, and it is established. Local company, local phone number, years of civil estimators who already know the workflow, and integrations into estimating systems like Cubit that Australian builders already run. That counts for a lot, and it is the honest reason most shortlists include it.

Where SitesAI Estimate wins

Price, by a wide margin. Buildsoft lists MudShark at A$230 +GST per user per month on an annual commitment. SitesAI Estimate Pro is US$39 per user per month. Even allowing for the exchange rate and GST, that is a different order of cost — roughly the difference between one seat and five or six. For a business with two or three people who price work, that gap is the whole decision.

You can try it properly without a countdown. MudShark offers a 14-day trial. Our free plan has no time limit: mark up plans, draw surfaces, open the 3D view and share a link for as long as you like. The cut and fill numbers and exports are the paid part, so you can decide on your own timetable instead of inside a fortnight.

Nothing to install. Buildsoft does not publish system requirements for MudShark, but it is licensed, installed software. SitesAI Estimate opens in a browser on any machine — Windows, Mac or an iPad in the ute — which also means every estimator sees the same version.

The estimate lives with the takeoff. MudShark exports quantities into Excel or an estimating package. In SitesAI Estimate the volumes become priced lines in the same file, with rate build-ups and stages, and the Excel export comes after that rather than instead of it.

Share a job as a link. Send a view-only link to the builder or the client and they open the 3D model in a browser with no account and no seat.

An AI that can drive it. Claude can take a first pass at the takeoff, which you review before anything lands, and the app exposes a 22-tool connector so an assistant can open a project and build the estimate with you. See Run your earthworks takeoff from Claude or ChatGPT.

Should you pick MudShark or SitesAI Estimate?

Pick MudShark if pipe and trench networks are a big part of your work, if you fly drones over your sites, if cross-sections are how you check a job, or if having an established Australian vendor with local support is worth the price difference to you.

Pick SitesAI Estimate if the price per seat matters, if you want the priced estimate and the takeoff in one place, if your people are on mixed machines, or if you want to put an AI assistant to work on the first pass.

See for yourself

Take one plan set you have already priced and run it through both. You know the right answer for that job, which makes it the only benchmark worth trusting. Ours is free to start — see the pricing page for what the paid plan adds, or follow Cut and fill from a PDF plan in about ten minutes.