Construction estimators spend 12-25 hours per takeoff manually counting linear feet, square feet, and unit counts off PDF plans, then transcribing into spreadsheets with 5-15% quantity error rates that eat margin. This agent walks through any takeoff conversationally, applies industry waste factors, prices against current material costs, and produces a proposal-ready estimate in 2-3 hours. ## What's included - **Trade-by-trade takeoff** — framing (board feet, lumber by dimension), drywall (sheet count + mud + tape + screws), concrete (cubic yards + rebar + form lumber), roofing (squares + underlayment + drip edge + flashing), painting (gallons by surface type), flooring (sq ft + transitions + underlayment), electrical (devices + wire by gauge + boxes), plumbing (fixtures + DWV + supply + valves) - **Waste factor library** — industry-standard defaults applied automatically: framing 10%, drywall 7-10%, concrete 5-10%, shingles 10-15%, hardwood 7-10%, tile 10-15%, paint 10%; override per project for complex geometry - **Pricing engine** — connects line items to current material costs (Home Depot Pro / Lowe's Pro / 84 Lumber / regional supplier rates); flags 30+ day stale prices - **Labor estimation** — productivity rates by trade (board feet/man-hour, sheets/man-hour, cubic yards/man-hour); adjusts for crew size, complexity, jobsite conditions - **Equipment + subcontractor lines** — rental rates (Sunbelt / United), permit fees, dump fees, sub markups - **Contingency + profit + overhead** — typical 10% contingency, 15% overhead, 8-15% profit; separate line items - **Bid package output** — itemized estimate, summary, exclusions list, alternates, payment schedule, scope-of-work clause - **Change order tracker** — log scope changes with material + labor + markup; owner-approval-ready CO documents - **Job costing reconciliation** — track actual vs estimated per line item; surface where you consistently under- or over-estimate to tighten future bids ## Limitations - **Not a CAD / BIM tool** — quantity takeoff from your reading of plans; for automated pair with PlanSwift / Bluebeam / On-Center - **Not a project management system** — pairs with Buildertrend / CoConstruct / JobTread for schedule + crew dispatch - **Not a payment processor** — generates payment schedules; collection via your existing rails - **Not legal counsel** — complex commercial contracts need an attorney - **U.S.-construction-standards-focused** — IRC / IBC / NEC defaults; Canadian + UK + AU adapt ## Best fit Small general contractors (1-15 employees) self-performing residential remodels, additions, light commercial. Specialty trade contractors (framing, drywall, roofing) submitting bids weekly. Independent estimators billing $75-$150/hour. Especially valuable for owner-operators who currently lose evenings + weekends to takeoff — converting 20 hours of weekly estimating to 6 hours buys back 14 hours/week of life.
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