"Commercial office build — electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and drywall scope. Uploaded the full plan set, got organized counts for all four trades. Used to take my estimating team 4 days. Did it in about 2 hours total."
Commercial Construction Estimating. All Trades. About 15 Minutes Per Trade.
Upload your commercial plan set. Get material counts for electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, structural, and finishes — the trades you need to price a commercial project from one platform.
Commercial Construction Estimating
All trades from one plan set upload
Electrical
Circuit counts, wire footage, panel schedules
HVAC
Ductwork, equipment, diffuser counts
Plumbing
Fixture counts, pipe sizing, drainage
Fire Protection
Sprinkler counts, pipe runs, hydraulics
What Commercial Construction Estimating Covers
Commercial projects involve 10-15 trades from a single plan set — electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, structural steel, concrete, drywall, and finishes. TakeoffBuilder handles each trade separately from the same upload.
- MEP trades: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, low voltage
- Structure: concrete volumes, rebar schedules, structural steel, metal deck
- Finishes: drywall areas, flooring, painting, door and window schedules
All Trades From One Platform
Upload once, get counts for every trade
What Commercial Construction Estimating Delivers
Trade-by-trade material counts from your commercial plan set — organized for each sub-bid package.
MEP Trade Counts
Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire, low voltage
MEP Trades — All 6 Systems
Electrical (devices, circuits, wire footage, panels), HVAC (ductwork, equipment, diffusers), plumbing (fixtures, pipe footage, valves), fire protection (sprinkler heads, pipe runs), low voltage (data drops, cable footage), and mechanical piping — all from your MEP plan set.
- Electrical: devices, circuits, wire footage, panel schedules
- HVAC: ductwork footage, equipment schedules, diffuser counts
- Plumbing, fire protection, and low voltage separately counted
Structure & Shell
Steel, concrete, rebar, roofing, sitework
Structure & Shell — Concrete to Roofing
Structural steel (W-sections, HSS, angles), concrete (slabs, footings, walls — SF and CY), rebar schedules (#3-#11), metal deck, open web joists, and connection hardware from your structural drawings.
- Structural steel: W-sections, HSS columns, joists, metal deck
- Concrete: slab CY, footing volumes, rebar by bar size
- Roofing and sitework quantities from civil and architectural plans
Interiors & Finishes
Drywall, flooring, painting, doors, windows
Interiors & Finishes — Drywall to Doors
Drywall areas (SF with opening deductions), flooring by finish type, paint area by surface, and architectural schedules for doors and windows — from your architectural and interior drawings.
- Drywall: wall areas by room with opening deductions
- Flooring: area by finish type — tile, carpet, VCT, hardwood
- Doors and windows from architectural schedule
Sub-Bid Package Organization
Results organized by trade — each sub gets their scope. Electrical counts for your EC sub. HVAC counts for your mechanical sub. Structural quantities for your steel and concrete subs. One upload, multiple organized packages.
- ~15 minutes per trade from a single plan set upload
- Review and adjust in 15-30 minutes more
- Export to Excel or your estimating software
Why Commercial GCs Choose TakeoffBuilder
Built specifically for commercial mechanical contractors who need accurate equipment schedules and material lists fast. AI understands HVAC plans semantically—not just OCR, actual comprehension of mechanical systems and equipment relationships.
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Semantic Plan Understanding Construction-trained AI reads architectural, structural, and MEP drawings in context — not just counting shapes. Understands trade symbols, legends, schedules, and cross-sheet references.
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Review & Adjust Workflow AI delivers initial counts with flagged items for review. You verify and adjust using toggles—typically 15-30 minutes. Same accuracy you'd get manually, fraction of the time.
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No Training Required Upload PDF. Get takeoff. Export to Excel. No software to install, no certification needed. If you can attach a file to an email, you can use TakeoffBuilder.
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Pay When You Use It No monthly subscription. Buy credits when you need them—they never expire. Sign up free to see a live example takeoff. Test it on your own project before you buy.
All Trades. One Platform.
MEP, structure, interiors — commercial GC ready
Commercial GCs and Estimators Who Use It
Commercial contractors and estimating teams who needed counts across multiple trades faster.
6 reviews
"We use it to verify sub bids on commercial projects. Know our target numbers before the subs come in. Last project it flagged a plumbing sub who was 18% short on fixture counts."
"Structural steel and concrete scope on a 4-story office. Steel member counts by W-section, concrete CY by pour. Used to take 2 days for structure alone. Got counts in 20 minutes."
"I was skeptical at first, but the AI actually understands mechanical plans. It flags things it's unsure about, which I appreciate. I'd rather verify 10 flagged items than count 200 diffusers by hand."
"Export to Excel, import into our estimating software. Works with our existing workflow—we didn't have to change anything. Just accelerated the counting part."
"Signed up to see the example takeoff output. Then ran it on a project I’d already counted manually — accuracy was 94%. Good enough to trust it with adjustments. Been using it ever since."
Commercial Construction Estimating — Questions
What commercial GCs and estimators ask about AI-assisted multi-trade takeoffs.
What trades does it cover for commercial construction?
MEP: electrical (devices, circuits, wire footage, panels), HVAC (ductwork, equipment, diffusers), plumbing (fixtures, pipe footage, valves), fire protection (sprinkler heads, pipe runs), low voltage (data drops, cable). Structure: concrete (CY), rebar (by bar size), structural steel (by W-section). Finishes: drywall areas, flooring, painting, door and window schedules.
- MEP trades: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, low voltage
- Structure and finishes: concrete, steel, rebar, drywall, flooring
Can I run multiple trades from one plan upload?
Yes. Upload your full commercial plan set — architectural, structural, and MEP sheets. Select the trade and run each separately. One plan set upload covers all trades without re-uploading. Results organized by trade for your sub packages.
- One plan set upload covers all trades
- Results organized by trade for sub-bid packages
Do I still need to review the counts?
Yes. TakeoffBuilder is AI-assisted, not AI-completed. The AI delivers initial counts in ~15 minutes. You review flagged items and spot-check the rest—typically 15-30 minutes more. Total time under an hour vs 30+ hours manual. You bring the judgment and experience; the AI handles the tedious counting.
- AI provides starting counts, you review and adjust
- Review takes 15-30 minutes vs hours of manual counting
What format are the takeoff results?
Download as Excel or CSV. Counts organized by category—equipment, ductwork, distribution, piping. Formatted for direct import into most estimating software or use as-is. Some contractors import to Accubid or similar for pricing. You can also adjust counts using our toggle system before exporting.
- Excel/CSV export ready for estimating software
- Toggle system for marking up quantities before export
How long does it take to get results?
Typical turnaround is 10-15 minutes for commercial mechanical plans under 50 pages. Larger plan sets may take 20-30 minutes. You'll get an email when your takeoff is ready to download. Then you review and adjust—usually another 15-30 minutes. Total time under an hour start to finish.
- Initial AI count in 10-15 minutes for typical plan sets
- Review and adjust in 15-30 minutes more
Does it work on full commercial plan sets?
Pay-per-use with credits. Sign up free to see a real example plan and takeoff before buying. No monthly subscription or fees. Buy credits when you need them — they never expire.
- Commercial plan sets — architectural, structural, and MEP
- Sign up free — see a live example before buying
Ready to get your commercial quantities faster?
Build Your TakeoffSee a Real Commercial Construction Takeoff Free
Upload any commercial plan set with a free account. Get material counts across trades in about 15 minutes per trade. No credit card required.
- MEP, structural, and finish quantities from one plan set
- Results in 15 minutes, review in 30 more
- Export to Excel or your estimating software
Commercial Construction Estimating
All trades — ~15 minutes each