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Trussly vs Construction Master Pro Comparison
Two Different Philosophies
Construction Master Pro has been around since the 1980s as a physical calculator. Calculated Industries eventually released an app version. It looks like the hardware calculator, intentionally. The skeuomorphic design is the point. If you’ve used the physical unit for 20 years, the app feels familiar.
Trussly started as an app. No hardware legacy. The interface looks like a modern iOS app because that’s all it’s ever been.
Both do construction math. They get there differently.
Pricing
The Construction Master Pro app’s App Store listing (checked October 2026) shows in-app purchases of $4.99 for a month of full access or $39.99 for a year.
Trussly costs $29.99 once. No renewal.
At the yearly price, CMP is $80 over two years and $200 over five. Trussly stays at $30. Prices change, so check both listings.
Calculator Count
CMP is built around the functions of the hardware calculator: feet-inch-fraction math, area and volume, circles, roofing, stairs, and its other dedicated keys.
Trussly ships with 85 calculators across concrete and masonry, framing, roofing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, paint and drywall, tile and flooring, landscape, and general math. It leans into trade-specific tables: wire sizing for NM cable and conduit, IRC header and joist spans, DFU-based drain sizing, gas pipe sizing from the IFGC tables, rebar quantities, and stud counts with king and jack studs.
The Interface
CMP replicates the physical calculator’s button layout on screen. If you’re coming from the hardware unit, this is comfortable. If you’re not, it feels dated. You’re pressing virtual buttons that mimic a physical device from 1985.
Trussly uses standard iOS input fields. You type dimensions, pick units from dropdowns, and see results update live. It’s the same interaction pattern as every other modern app on your phone.
I won’t pretend one is objectively better. Some guys have muscle memory on CMP’s button layout going back decades. That’s real and it counts.
Voice Input
Trussly has voice input. Say “twelve feet six and three-quarter inches” and it parses that into 12’ 6-3/4”. It strips filler words, handles spoken fractions, and works with gloves on.
On a framing site in January, voice input matters more than any spec sheet comparison. Your hands are cold, your gloves are bulky, and you need to check a rafter length before the lumber truck leaves.
Reverse Calculation
Trussly has a budget mode on 32 calculators. Enter a dollar amount and it tells you about how much material that buys at your prices: how many square feet of slab, how many studs and feet of wall, how many bundles and squares of shingles. Details on how that works: reverse budget calculator.
Project Organization
Trussly saves calculations into jobs. A remodel gets its own job with its calculations and photos in one place. Revisit it a week later and everything’s still there, or export a PDF worksheet.
What CMP Does Better
The imperial fraction math engine is good. It’s had 40 years of refinement. Converting between feet, inches, and fractions, doing arithmetic on mixed dimensions, that’s the core of what Calculated Industries built and they built it well.
The brand recognition helps too. GCs and estimators know the name.
The Numbers Side by Side
| Construction Master Pro app | Trussly | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (App Store, Oct 2026) | $4.99/month or $39.99/year | $29.99 one-time |
| Approach | Hardware-calculator keypad | Separate calculator per task |
| Calculators | Built-in function keys | 85 |
| Budget (reverse) mode | Check their listing | 32 calculators |
| Saved jobs | Check their listing | Yes |
| Voice input | Check their listing | Yes |
Who Should Pick What
If you’ve been using the Construction Master hardware for years and you want that same experience on your phone, CMP’s app delivers exactly that. Familiar layout, familiar workflow.
If you want trade-specific calculators, no subscription, voice input, or a budget mode, Trussly covers that ground for a one-time price. For more on the subscription pricing issue, see why construction calculators shouldn’t charge subscriptions. And if voice input is the feature that matters most, there’s a deeper look at how it works on a job site.
Construction Master is a trademark of Calculated Industries, Inc. Trussly isn’t affiliated with Calculated Industries. Competitor details come from their public App Store listing as of October 2026.