"We're a small electrical sub — 3 guys. Can't afford a dedicated estimator. TakeoffBuilder lets me bid 5 jobs in the time I used to spend on one. We went from passing on jobs to actually competing."
Subcontractors. Bid Faster. Win More Jobs.
General contractors need your number in 48 hours. TakeoffBuilder gets your material counts in ~15 minutes so you can price and submit while the competition is still counting by hand.
Subcontractor Takeoffs
Get your number to the GC faster
Manual takeoffs are the most expensive hour you do not bill.
A commercial plan set takes 8 to 40 hours to count by hand. At estimator rates of $75 to $150 per hour, that is $600 to $6,000 in labor on every bid. Most contractors do not skip bids because the work is not there. They skip bids because the counting takes too long to make the turnaround worth it. TakeoffBuilder does not replace your judgment. It eliminates the hours you spend before your judgment ever gets to work.
- 8 to 40 hours per plan set at $75 to $150 per hour equals $600 to $6,000 in labor
- One TakeoffBuilder credit: $199. Any size plan. 15 to 30 minutes.
- The math works on the first job. Every job after that is margin.
Every Trade Sub. One Platform.
Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, low voltage, concrete, drywall — all 15 trade types covered from the same plan set upload.
MEP Subcontractors
Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, low voltage, and mechanical (process/medical gas) — all supported. Upload your MEP plan set, select your trade, get counts in ~15 minutes.
- Electrical: devices, circuits, wire footage, panels
- HVAC: ductwork footage, equipment schedules, diffusers
- Plumbing, fire protection, low voltage
Structure & Shell Subs
Concrete (CY volumes, rebar by bar size), roofing (square footage, flashing counts), sitework/excavation (cubic yards, linear feet), and landscaping — from your structural and civil drawings.
- Concrete: slab CY, footing volumes, rebar schedules
- Roofing: area by type, flashing and penetration counts
- Sitework: cut/fill quantities, liner footage, inlet counts
Interiors & Finishes Subs
Drywall (wall areas by room), flooring (area by finish type), painting (area by surface), and architectural (door and window schedules) — from your architectural and interior drawings.
- Drywall: wall areas (SF) with opening deductions
- Flooring: area by finish — tile, carpet, VCT, hardwood
- Doors and windows from architectural schedule
GC Self-Perform
GCs self-performing concrete, framing, or finishes use TakeoffBuilder to get quantities faster on the scope they're pricing in-house — same tool, same workflow as any sub.
- Same tool whether you're sub or GC self-perform
- Verify sub bids against your own AI counts
- See a live example takeoff — free when you sign up
Manual takeoffs are the most expensive hour you do not bill.
A commercial plan set takes 8 to 40 hours to count by hand. At estimator rates of $75 to $150 per hour, that is $600 to $6,000 in labor on every bid. Most contractors do not skip bids because the work is not there. They skip bids because the counting takes too long to make the turnaround worth it. TakeoffBuilder does not replace your judgment. It eliminates the hours you spend before your judgment ever gets to work.
Any PDF format works — CAD exports, scanned drawings, permit sets up to 150MB. Drag and drop or browse. We've processed 47-page commercial permit sets, multi-building residential packages, and hand-drawn TI plans.
Construction-trained AI reads your legends, schedules, notes, and drawings — understanding trade-specific symbols the way an experienced estimator would. Not generic object detection. Trade-specific symbol recognition trained on thousands of real plan sets.
Anything the AI isn't confident about gets flagged — with the exact page and location shown. You verify flagged items manually. Everything else ships in your Excel. Most contractors check flagged items in 5-10 minutes.
Download as Excel, CSV, or JSON. Import directly into PlanSwift, Accubid, or your estimating software. Or price it right there — the counts are organized exactly the way suppliers need them.
Every hour you count is an hour you are not bidding.
The bottleneck is not the pricing. It is the counting.
Subcontractors Who Use It
Subs across 15 trade types who bid faster and win more jobs.
6 reviews
"HVAC sub. GCs need numbers fast or they move on. I can get them a number within 2 hours of receiving plans now. Closing rate went up. Speed matters."
"Drywall sub. Floor plans take time to count by hand — rooms, walls, deductions. AI does it in 15 minutes. I review, adjust for field conditions, submit. Done."
"Use it to verify sub bids. Caught a 20% undercount on a recent electrical sub package. Paid for a month of credits on that one catch. Now I run every sub bid through it before signing."
"Sprinkler layouts are complex — density zones, obstruction calcs, riser diagrams. The AI catches head counts and pipe footage I'd need hours to verify manually. Especially useful on large commercial projects."
"No subscription is the key for me. I pay credits when I bid, not monthly whether I use it or not. Slow months cost me nothing. Busy months I load up credits at the 10-pack rate and save 25%."
Subcontractor Takeoffs — Questions
What subs ask about using AI for faster bid takeoffs.
What trades does it support for subcontractors?
All 15 trade types: Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, Mechanical (Process/Medical Gas), Fire Protection, Low Voltage/Technology, Concrete, Roofing, Sitework/Excavation, Landscaping, Drywall/Metal Framing, Flooring, Painting, Architectural (Doors/Windows), and General Construction.
- MEP: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, fire, low voltage, mechanical
- Structure, interiors, finishes — all covered
What if my plans are old, scanned, or hand-drawn?
We've processed 47-page scanned permit sets, faded drawings from the 80s, and hand-drawn TI plans. Accuracy may be slightly lower on degraded scans — the AI flags anything it's uncertain about rather than guessing. You get honest results, not inflated claims.
- Works on scanned, hand-drawn, and CAD exports
- Lower confidence items flagged, not silently guessed
How long does it actually take?
About 15 minutes for a typical 30-page commercial set. Larger plan sets — 80-100 pages — run 25-40 minutes. You'll get an email when results are ready. Upload before lunch, have counts before you leave the office.
- 30 pages: ~15 minutes
- Email notification when complete — no waiting at the screen
What exactly do I get back?
An Excel spreadsheet (or CSV) organized by trade category — circuits, devices, wire footage by gauge, conduit runs with sizing. The same format you'd hand to a supplier or import into your estimating software. Plus a flagged items list with page references.
- Excel, CSV, or JSON — your choice
- Organized by category, ready to import or price
How do I get started?
Create a free account with one Google click and we’ll show you a real commercial plan set alongside the AI-generated takeoff from it. See the output format, accuracy, and how flagged items work — before uploading any of your own plans. No credit card required.
- One Google click — no credit card required
- See a real example plan and takeoff output immediately
I already use PlanSwift / Bluebeam. Will this replace it?
No — and we're not trying to. TakeoffBuilder handles the counting. Your existing software handles pricing, markup, and workflow. We export to the formats your software imports. Think of it as a counting layer on top of what you already use.
- Exports to PlanSwift, Accubid, and Excel
- Complements your existing tools — doesn't replace them
Visit our complete FAQ page or contact support for specific questions about your projects
More Questions?See a Real Sub Takeoff Free
Create a free account. See a real example plan and the AI-generated counts from it. Then submit faster than your competition.
- Sign up free — see a real example plan and AI takeoff output
- Results in about 15 minutes, not 3 days
- Works on your existing plans — PDF, scanned, or CAD export
Subcontractor Takeoffs
All 15 trade types — ~15 minutes