Inchr Alternative: Measure and Price the Roofline Together

Inchr is a free web tool that measures a house photo from one reference length, like an 80 inch door, and stops there: the numbers leave as a note you carry into Strandr by hand, as Strandr's own integration guide describes. GlowBid's free roofline tool, also $0 with no login until you export, uses the same reference method, flags runs that read short, and in the GlowBid app the same drawing becomes the price from your rate card.

Written by the GlowBid founder; prices checked on each vendor's site on September 7, 2026. I install permanent lighting in Ottawa. Inchr's own site shows a tagline and a loading screen, so every Inchr fact here comes from Strandr's guide and home page.

Inchr and the GlowBid free tool, side by side

How does the Inchr and Strandr workflow go?

Eight steps, two apps, in Strandr's words. Upload the photo to Inchr. Set a reference object, "like a standard door at 80"." Measure the rooflines, windows and features. "Export your measurements for reference." Then "upload the same photo to Strandr," use the Inchr numbers for light placement, apply the spacing, and make the mockup. The guide adds a 10 to 15 percent material buffer and works a colonial at 130 linear feet to a $1,247 quote, priced somewhere off the page, because neither tool prices.

The problem is the join. The footage lives in an export, the picture lives in Strandr, and the price lives in a spreadsheet. Three places, two uploads, and a number carried in your head on a November night. That is where quotes go wrong for us, and it is the reason GlowBid exists. Strandr's mockup side is covered in our Strandr comparison.

What changes when measuring and pricing share one canvas?

The drawing becomes the measurement and the measurement becomes the price. In the free roofline tool you mark the garage door as 16 ft, draw each run by type, and read the footage per run. A side eave that runs away from the camera is flagged so you type the tape length instead. Switch on night mode and the lights sit on the runs you drew, not on a second upload.

Open that drawing in the GlowBid app and your rate card prices it: per foot by run type and product line, premiums for peaks and storeys, flat per-jump charges, add-ons, minimum job. Every run carries a source tag (reference-scaled, in this case) and a confidence level, and the quote says the measurement is photo-based and confirmed on site. Redraw a run and the footage, the bill of materials and the total all change, because they are one object. The method is the same one in our measuring guide; the difference is that nothing gets re-typed.

What does the photo need for a reference measurement?

The method is the same in both tools, so the photo decides the result more than the software does. Five things make the difference between a footage you can quote from and one you re-measure on site.

1. Shoot square-on from across the street. Stand as close to the middle of the house as the road allows, at chest height, and put the whole roofline in the frame. A photo from the corner of the driveway makes every run on the far side read short.
2. Pick a reference in the same plane as the run. A garage door on the front wall scales the front roofline well. It scales a side eave badly, because the eave runs away from the camera and the door does not. Every plane gets its own reference, or its own tape measurement.
3. Bigger is better. Strandr's guide uses an 80 inch door. A 16 ft garage door is 192 inches, so a one-inch error in where you click is half the percentage error it would be on the smaller door. Use the biggest thing you know the size of.
4. Know the real width. Garage doors come in several standard widths, and a nine-footer clicked as a sixteen puts every run 78 percent long. If you are not sure, tape it. Thirty seconds at the door saves a re-quote.
5. Tape one run to check. Measure one thing you can reach, the porch fascia or the garage header, and compare it with the drawing. If the two agree within a few percent, trust the rest of that plane. If they do not, the reference is wrong.

The GlowBid tool flags runs that angle away from the camera; Strandr's guide handles the same problem with a 10 to 15 percent material buffer. A buffer is not a measurement. Put it on the order, not on the footage you quote.

A bungalow, measured and priced

A 52 ft front roofline, one 14 ft peak, one 6 ft jump over the door, C9 seasonal, scale set from the 16 ft garage door. With GlowBid's default rate card (installers set their own): roofline 52 ft at $8 is $416, peak 14 ft at $9 is $126, jump 6 ft at $4 is $24, timer $45. Lighting total $611. The default minimum job is $1,500, so this house quotes at the minimum unless you add the side eaves or the trees.

When should you keep Inchr?

If you already own Strandr, use Inchr for the mockup footage and keep going. If you need distances on things that are not light runs, such as window heights for a different trade, Inchr's general measuring may suit you better than a tool built around rooflines.

Moving from Inchr

There is no migration, because Inchr keeps numbers and GlowBid keeps drawings. Take the same photo you measured in Inchr, drop it into the free tool, set the scale from the same door, draw the runs. Two minutes, no login. When it feels right, the rate card takes 15 minutes in the app and your next house is a priced PDF.

Mistakes I see with reference measuring

These happen in either tool, because the method is the same.

• A photo shot from an angle. Everything on the far side reads short. Fix: shoot square-on, or take a second photo for the side.
• A window used as the reference without checking it. Windows are not a standard size. Fix: a garage door, or a tape on whatever you pick.
• Returns around corners left out. The run turns the corner and keeps going for 3 or 4 ft, and that footage is missing from the order. Fix: draw the return as part of the run, or add it as a manual length.
• A side eave taken at face value. It reads a third short and the quote is a third light. Fix: the foreshortening flag in GlowBid, or a tape measurement typed in.
• The buffer put on the price. A 10 percent buffer on the quote is a 10 percent overcharge on the lit footage. Fix: buffer the materials order, and show the customer the footage you drew.
• Numbers carried by hand. 52 becomes 25 somewhere between the export and the spreadsheet. Fix: a tool where the drawing is the number.

Pricing, honestly

Inchr costs nothing, and if a picture from Strandr is how you close, Inchr plus Strandr at $197 a year is a fair pair. What it does not give you is the price, so add whatever you quote in today. GlowBid Core is $299 a year at the founding price, $499 regular or $69 a month, and covers measuring, the rate card, quote PDFs, e-signature, Stripe deposits and invoices for one company. Pro adds the pipeline CRM at $499 founding ($899 regular, $119 a month) and Ultimate adds the crew side at $699 founding ($1,299 regular, $169 a month). The trial is 7 days with no card and the money-back window is 30 days; 100 founding places, product open November 1, 2026. Prices are on the pricing page. Measure your next house now.