Construction Estimation API

A RESTful API backend for construction estimation management built with .NET Core 9.0 and Entity Framework Core. This demo application provides full CRUD operations for managing clients, estimates, and invoices.

Features

• Client Management - Create and manage client information
• Estimate Management - Generate and track construction estimates with status tracking
• Invoice Management - Create invoices linked to estimates or standalone
• MCP Server - AI integration via Model Context Protocol for natural language interactions
• SQLite Database - Lightweight, file-based database for easy setup
• Swagger UI - Interactive API documentation and testing interface
• RESTful Design - Clean, intuitive API endpoints
• Sample Data - Automatically seeded demo data for testing

Technology Stack

• .NET Core 9.0 - Modern, cross-platform framework
• Entity Framework Core 9.0 - ORM for database operations
• SQLite - Embedded database
• Swagger/OpenAPI - API documentation
• Clean Architecture - Separation of concerns with Core, Data, and API layers

Project Structure

ConstructionEstimation/
├── src/
│   ├── ConstructionEstimation.Api/          # Web API project
│   │   ├── Controllers/                     # API controllers
│   │   ├── Program.cs                       # Application entry point
│   │   └── appsettings.json                 # Configuration
│   ├── ConstructionEstimation.Core/         # Domain models
│   │   └── Models/                          # Client, Estimate, Invoice
│   ├── ConstructionEstimation.Data/         # Data access layer
│   │   ├── AppDbContext.cs                  # EF Core context
│   │   └── DbSeeder.cs                      # Sample data seeder
│   └── ConstructionEstimation.McpServer/    # MCP server for AI integration
│       ├── Tools/                           # MCP tool implementations
│       └── Program.cs                       # MCP server entry point
└── ConstructionEstimation.sln               # Solution file

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 9.0 SDK or later

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd mcp-estimates

2. Restore dependencies:

dotnet restore

3. Run the application:

For HTTPS (recommended):

dotnet run --project src/ConstructionEstimation.Api --launch-profile https

The API will start on https://localhost:7052 (HTTPS) and http://localhost:5125 (HTTP).

For HTTP only:

dotnet run --project src/ConstructionEstimation.Api --launch-profile http

The API will start on http://localhost:5125 (HTTP only).

4. Open your browser and navigate to:

https://localhost:7052

You'll see the Swagger UI with interactive API documentation.

API Endpoints

Clients

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/clients	Get all clients
GET	/api/clients/{id}	Get client by ID
POST	/api/clients	Create new client
PUT	/api/clients/{id}	Update client
DELETE	/api/clients/{id}	Delete client

Estimates

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/estimates	Get all estimates
GET	/api/estimates?clientId={id}	Get estimates by client
GET	/api/estimates/{id}	Get estimate by ID
POST	/api/estimates	Create new estimate
PUT	/api/estimates/{id}	Update estimate
DELETE	/api/estimates/{id}	Delete estimate

Invoices

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/invoices	Get all invoices
GET	/api/invoices?clientId={id}	Get invoices by client
GET	/api/invoices?estimateId={id}	Get invoices by estimate
GET	/api/invoices/{id}	Get invoice by ID
POST	/api/invoices	Create new invoice
PUT	/api/invoices/{id}	Update invoice
DELETE	/api/invoices/{id}	Delete invoice

Data Models

Client

{
  "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "name": "ABC Construction",
  "email": "contact@abc.com",
  "phone": "555-1234",
  "address": "123 Main St",
  "city": "Springfield",
  "state": "IL",
  "zipCode": "62701",
  "createdAt": "2025-10-28T10:00:00Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-10-28T10:00:00Z"
}

Estimate

{
  "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "clientId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "estimateNumber": "EST-2025-001",
  "title": "Kitchen Remodel",
  "description": "Complete kitchen renovation including cabinets, countertops, and appliances",
  "totalAmount": 25000.0,
  "status": "Draft",
  "validUntil": "2025-12-31T00:00:00Z",
  "createdAt": "2025-10-28T10:00:00Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-10-28T10:00:00Z"
}

Estimate Status Values: Draft, Sent, Approved, Rejected

Invoice

{
  "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "estimateId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "clientId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "invoiceNumber": "INV-2025-001",
  "description": "First payment for kitchen remodel",
  "amount": 12500.0,
  "status": "Sent",
  "dueDate": "2025-11-15T00:00:00Z",
  "paidDate": null,
  "createdAt": "2025-10-28T10:00:00Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-10-28T10:00:00Z"
}

Invoice Status Values: Draft, Sent, Paid, Overdue

Usage Examples

Create a Client

curl -X POST https://localhost:7052/api/clients \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "ABC Construction",
    "email": "contact@abc.com",
    "phone": "555-1234",
    "address": "123 Main St",
    "city": "Springfield",
    "state": "IL",
    "zipCode": "62701"
  }'

Create an Estimate

curl -X POST https://localhost:7052/api/estimates \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "clientId": "{client-id}",
    "estimateNumber": "EST-2025-001",
    "title": "Kitchen Remodel",
    "description": "Complete kitchen renovation",
    "totalAmount": 25000.00,
    "status": "Draft",
    "validUntil": "2025-12-31T00:00:00Z"
  }'

Create an Invoice

curl -X POST https://localhost:7052/api/invoices \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "clientId": "{client-id}",
    "estimateId": "{estimate-id}",
    "invoiceNumber": "INV-2025-001",
    "description": "First payment",
    "amount": 12500.00,
    "status": "Sent",
    "dueDate": "2025-11-15T00:00:00Z"
  }'

Development

Building the Solution

dotnet build

Running Tests

dotnet test

Database

The application uses SQLite with Entity Framework Core. The database file (construction_estimation.db) is automatically created on first run and is stored in the API project directory.

To reset the database, simply delete the .db file and restart the application.

Configuration

Configuration is managed through appsettings.json:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Data Source=construction_estimation.db"
  }
}

License

This is a demo project created for demonstration purposes.

MCP Server (AI Integration)

This project includes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants like Claude to interact with your construction estimation data.

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard protocol that allows AI assistants to securely connect to your data and tools. With the MCP server, you can use natural language to:

• Query client information
• Create and manage estimates
• View financial summaries
• Get statistics about your projects

MCP Server Setup

Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop installed
• .NET 9.0 SDK

Configure Claude Desktop

1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration file:

macOS:

code ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows:

code %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the construction estimator MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "construction-estimator": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--project",
        "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/mcp-estimates/src/ConstructionEstimation.McpServer"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Important: Replace /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/mcp-estimates with the actual absolute path to your project directory.

3. Restart Claude Desktop completely (Quit and reopen, don't just close the window)

4. Look for the 🔨 (hammer) icon in Claude Desktop to see available tools

Available MCP Tools

The MCP server exposes 11 tools for AI interaction:

Client Management

• list_clients - Get all clients with basic information
• get_client_details - Get detailed client info including estimates and invoices

Estimate Management

• list_estimates - Get all estimates with optional client filter
• get_estimate_details - Get detailed estimate information
• create_estimate - Create a new estimate for a client
• update_estimate - Update an existing estimate (title, description, amount, status, validUntil)
• get_estimate_statistics - Get statistics about estimates

Invoice & Financial

• list_invoices - Get all invoices with optional filters
• get_client_financial_summary - Get comprehensive financial summary

Schema & Development

• get_database_schema - Get complete database schema in OpenAPI/JSON Schema format for front-end development
• get_api_routes - Get complete REST API routes from live Swagger endpoint with full request/response models (API must be running)

Example AI Queries

Once configured, you can ask Claude questions like:

• "Show me all clients in the system"
• "What's the financial summary for Smith Residence?"
• "Create an estimate for Martinez Family Home for a deck renovation worth $15,000"
• "Update estimate EST-2025-001 to change the status to Approved and increase the amount to $28,000"
• "What are the statistics on all my estimates?"
• "Show me all unpaid invoices"
• "Get the database schema so I can build a front-end UI"
• "Get the API routes so I can build a front-end app"
• "Show me all the available REST endpoints with their request and response formats"

Running the MCP Server Standalone

You can also test the MCP server directly:

cd src/ConstructionEstimation.McpServer
dotnet run

The server listens on stdin for JSON-RPC messages and responds on stdout.

Troubleshooting MCP Server

Server not appearing in Claude Desktop:

1. Verify the path in claude_desktop_config.json is absolute and correct
2. Check Claude Desktop logs:

   tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log

3. Make sure you fully quit and restart Claude Desktop

Tool calls failing:

• Check the MCP server logs in Claude's log directory
• Verify the database file exists and is accessible
• Ensure .NET 9.0 is installed: dotnet --version

Contributing

This is a demo project. Feel free to fork and modify for your own use.