For quantity surveyors
AI for quantity surveyors: the take-off and the BoQ, with the working shown.
Quantity surveyors price from drawings they did not draw. detumble reads the structural AutoCAD set (DWG or DXF), measures a material take-off from a 3D model of what is drawn, maps it to a bill of quantities, and keeps every assumption as a query. Every line links to the sheet, the schedule row and the note it came from; you accept, correct or reject it.
Who it is for
- QS consultancies pricing structural packages for tenders
- Contractors' QS teams checking a consultant's bill before they sign
- Tender teams working from DWG sets
The steps
- 01
Read the set
The whole structural set is read once: sheets, layers, schedules and notes, checked against the drawing. Conflicts are kept as queries, never silently resolved.
Ask in your own words, or type /ingest
- 02
Measure
Concrete, formwork, excavation and steel per element, measured by repeatable arithmetic from the confirmed reading, each quantity with its evidence.
Ask in your own words, or type /takeoff
- 03
Map the bill
The accepted take-off becomes a bill of quantities: each take-off line is mapped to a bill item from a code library, and the mapping is shown line by line.
Ask in your own words, or type /boq
What you get
- Material take-off workbook with rebar, per element
- Bill of quantities mapped to the take-off
- RFI register: every assumption and what closes it
- The IFC model the quantities were measured on
The proof
- Evidence on every quantity
- sheet, row, note, crop
- Paid runs quoted before they spend
- every one
- Final without your acceptance
- nothing
Every figure names its scope; none is a promise for every drawing set.
Questions
- Does it replace the quantity surveyor?
- No. It does the measuring and shows its working; the QS decides. Nothing advances without an engineer's acceptance at a review gate.
- How long does a take-off take?
- It depends on the set. The reading runs at the highest quality and is quoted before it starts; the quote says how long a run like it usually takes, and the run shows its progress while it works. The take-off is quoted the same way on the confirmed reading, and the bill of quantities follows from it.
- Which standard does the bill follow?
- The bill maps take-off lines to items in a code library. Tell us the measurement standard you price to; it shapes which libraries we build next.
- Can it read PDF tender drawings?
- Not for a take-off today. detumble reads AutoCAD DWG and DXF sets, or a zip of either; PDF sets are on the roadmap.
- What does it cost?
- Plans start at $199/mo per estimator. Every paid run is quoted before it spends a credit and runs only when you approve; you pay only for the work a run really did.