Multi-trade takeoffs from whole plan sets and bid folders

Request accessView pricing

We'll email you a link to get started once you're approved. Each batch has limited spots—request access to hold yours; there is no payment until you choose a plan.

Upload one drawing PDF or the full bid package: Estym8 classifies every file and runs takeoffs from eligible drawing PDFs across trades—electrical, mechanical, plumbing, civil, architectural, structural, and more—on the same folder pipeline. Plus conflict checks, code-edition mismatches, draft RFIs, and optimization notes so you defend numbers before bid day.

Manual counting takes days or weeks. Typical takeoff runs (one drawing PDF or one queued discipline bundle) take about 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on page count, symbol density, and model path; dense MEP sets or follow-on passes can run longer. Full bid-package folders usually queue several jobs, so total wall time adds up across runs. One saved estimator day typically pays for a month of access. Request access to run folder takeoffs once you're approved.

Bid calendars don't pause for anyone. Teams approved for testing use Estym8 for folder-wide takeoffs and risk surfacing—walk into hard bids with RFIs drafted and counts already defended, not stuck in slow manual recounts.

Multi-trade takeoffs—Electrical, mechanical, plumbing, civil, architectural, and structural all run on one folder pipeline—coverage and depth vary by sheet and trade.
Same-run quick wins—HVAC and air-balance summaries on mechanical bundles, insulation notes when the envelope supports them—plus post-folder cross-file intelligence that compares discipline bundles (scope gaps, mismatched floor counts, missing coordination), code-edition mismatches when codes or AHJ text disagrees across bundles, and deterministic digest hints when device totals, raceway LF, or sitework rollups disagree across bundles.
Verbatim "As Printed on the Sheets" pass—title block, applicable code editions, cited design guides, permit or jurisdiction lines, title-block stamp text when captured, exception clauses, printed allowances, calculation rules, and cross-sheet references lifted directly from each PDF (one focused pass per document) so every claim traces back to a sheet, not to model inference.
Bid-number provenance on each estimate—the Takeoff workbook exposes KPI tooltips (devices, conduit, wire) and merges folder digest cross-checks when your project has them; materials lines and proposal roll-ups use the same hover pattern so quantities and dollars trace to takeoff blocks and pricing rules.
Plan-harvest cross-checks—when code editions, energy standards, cited design guides, or permit and jurisdiction text disagrees across sheets or across discipline bundles (or a title-block stamp disagrees with the bundle summary), Estym8 surfaces it in the folder digest so you can reconcile or RFI before bid day.
Submittal packages from the same estimate—link line items to the shopping-list BOM and to structured device-quantity rows from the Takeoff workbook, attach rows to your reusable submittal product catalog (with PDF cut sheets), export a register plus compliance and substitution matrix as Markdown, and download one merged PDF (cover, register, matrix, and attached datasheets).
Forensic risk pass—conflicts, code checks, draft RFIs, optimization notes, and cross-file synthesis tied to filenames and sheet references, so reviewers know exactly what to close first.
Scope & risk register—exclusions, alternates, and bid-no triggers pulled from specs, addenda, and supporting files in the bid-package folder.
Spreadsheet & image intelligence—structured extraction on schedules, fixture lists, and other spreadsheets, plus site photos and markup images when sheet-based counting is not the right tool.
Optimization notes—per-bundle suggestions like alternate fixture types that hit the same spec at lower cost, conduit / wire sizing tightenings the spec allows, and missed cost-recovery items the engineer left vague.
Editable counts with totals updating automatically
In-app drawing verification—open the drawing PDF in the app with detection overlays on supported runs—sanity-check legend-backed placements before you lean on totals.
AI assistant (Estee)—ask "Should I file an RFI?" in plain English (answers grounded in your data when you're logged in). On an estimate, she can also propose changes with a preview step before anything is saved—for example, applying a 10% material contingency to the bid total: she shows the impact first and applies it only after you confirm.
Bid-day prep tools—a draft handoff email summarizing concerns and draft RFIs you can send to the GC, plus a saveable bid deadline with a downloadable Add to calendar (.ics) file.
Bid-package folder uploads—drop a whole job folder (drawing PDFs plus spreadsheets, schedules, text, and images). We classify every file, build the run plan for what qualifies, surface per-file progress, and produce an AI project overview (game plan, estimate strategy, gaps, and how each file fits).
Multi-discipline narrative report—download a single Markdown / DOCX / PDF report that stitches the verbatim plan harvest, every completed takeoff, conflict log, draft RFIs, and bid-bucket reconciliation against engineer-printed totals (when fixture or equipment schedules are present) into one decision-ready package per project.

Inside the app

Command center with takeoff trends, project context (bid-package folder runs, per-file progress, AI project overview), a populated bid-ready estimate with workbook KPIs and hover provenance, and Estee—in-app on every screen. Re-capture these shots when the product UI shifts so marketing matches reality.

Estym8 Command Center dashboard with estimate activity trends and MEP device mix charts.
Dashboard—completed takeoffs, device totals by trade, and bid-ready status at a glance.
Estym8 project page with map, weather, jurisdiction, and demographic context.
Project workspace—location, code context, and market data from plan runs, plus folder uploads with takeoff progress and AI project overview when you drop a whole bid package.
Estym8 estimate detail with bid summary, discipline breakdown, and risk or RFI-style cards.
Estimate detail—bid summary, device counts and materials by trade, workbook KPI tooltips (with folder digest cross-checks when present), RFIs, and optimization-style insights from the same run.
Estee AI assistant chat panel in Estym8.
Estee—ask about counts, conflicts, draft RFIs, or what's printed on the sheets (codes, exceptions, allowances); on an estimate she can also preview select saved changes after you confirm.

What to expect

  • Request access with your email—you'll get a quick confirmation message right away.
  • We'll notify you when you're approved for testing.
  • You'll receive a link to create your account and sign in.
  • Upload a plan set or folder and get classification, AI project overview, and takeoffs on eligible drawing PDFs. Typical takeoff runs (one drawing PDF or one queued discipline bundle) take about 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on page count, symbol density, and model path; dense MEP sets or follow-on passes can run longer. Full bid-package folders usually queue several jobs, so total wall time adds up across runs.
  • On the project page: Verbatim "As Printed on the Sheets" pass—title block, applicable code editions, cited design guides, permit or jurisdiction lines, title-block stamp text when captured, exception clauses, printed allowances, calculation rules, and cross-sheet references lifted directly from each PDF (one focused pass per document) so every claim traces back to a sheet, not to model inference. Plan-harvest cross-checks—when code editions, energy standards, cited design guides, or permit and jurisdiction text disagrees across sheets or across discipline bundles (or a title-block stamp disagrees with the bundle summary), Estym8 surfaces it in the folder digest so you can reconcile or RFI before bid day. Deterministic digest quantity cross-checks run when device totals, raceway LF, or other rollups disagree across bundles.
  • Open an estimate for the Takeoff workbook: KPI tooltips (devices, conduit, wire) pick up folder digest cross-checks after multi-bundle runs, and materials lines plus proposal roll-ups include hover notes explaining quantity and dollar lineage. When the bid moves to buy-out documentation, spin up submittal packages that stay tied to the same BOM and workbook quantity rows.
  • Download the multi-discipline narrative report (Markdown / DOCX / PDF)—verbatim harvest, every completed takeoff, conflict log, draft RFIs, and bid-bucket reconciliation against engineer-printed totals (when fixture or equipment schedules are present).
  • Submittal packages from the same estimate—link line items to the shopping-list BOM and to structured device-quantity rows from the Takeoff workbook, attach rows to your reusable submittal product catalog (with PDF cut sheets), export a register plus compliance and substitution matrix as Markdown, and download one merged PDF (cover, register, matrix, and attached datasheets).
  • On supported takeoff runs, open the drawing in-app with overlays to sanity-check counts before bid day.
  • Estee answers from your projects and estimates—including what's printed on the sheets; from an estimate she can preview select number changes and apply them only after you confirm.

Why Estym8 Beats the Rest

Most takeoff tools handle one slice—counts, or RFIs, or pricing—and leave you stitching the rest together in spreadsheets and email. Estym8 runs the full arc on a single upload: multi-trade takeoffs, the verbatim "As Printed on the Sheets" plan harvest, conflict and code-mismatch alerts, draft RFIs, and a downloadable multi-discipline narrative report. One source of truth for the whole bid.

Who we position against on this page: Trimble (Accubid / LiveCount) · Countfire · Beam AI · MEPdetect · KonstructIQ · OpenConstructionERP · Bluebeam (Revu) in the compare table; plus PlanSwift, STACK, and Gordian Flash AI Estimating (RSMeans) in the written competitor analysis (not dropdown columns—different workflow lenses).

Compare: pick another product to see the same capabilities side by side with Estym8.

Side-by-side: Estym8 versus Trimble (Accubid / LiveCount) for each capability
CapabilityEstym8Trimble (Accubid / LiveCount)
How it fits your processOne run: upload a bid-package folder or PDFs → classified files, project overview, and quantities where sheets qualify—less glue between counting, pricing, and review.Drawing-centric estimating stack: assemblies, libraries, takeoffs—AI helps spot symbols; you still build and validate the bid inside the legacy workflow.
Whole bid-package folderNative—drawings, spreadsheets, text, images; per-file classification, run plan, and AI project overview.Drawing-first; package handling is mostly manual outside the core workflow
AI at the coreBuilt AI-native—not a manual workflow with AI patched inTraditional workflow first; AI assists pieces (e.g. takeoff hints)
Quantities by tradeYes—electrical, mechanical, plumbing, civil, architectural, and structural all on one pipeline (coverage and depth vary by sheet and trade)Yes (quality varies)
Conflicts, RFIs & code gapsConflicts, draft RFIs, code-edition mismatch alerts, optimization, and cross-file synthesis—every claim ties back to a filename or printed sheet line—
Time to bid-ready~15 min–2 hr per takeoff run (folders queue several; dense sets longer)Manual / semi-automated
Chat with your plansEstee: Q&A from your data; confirm-before-save updates on estimates (e.g. summary material overage)—
Change orders & GC handoffChange orders, multi-discipline narrative report (DOCX / PDF), exports, read-only GC link (no login)Enterprise workflows

Competitor info from public positioning (2024–2026). KonstructIQ is included as a financial-suite / residential-GC contrast (source)—not a takeoff-first tool. OpenConstructionERP is included as a self-hosted AGPL BOQ / construction-ERP contrast (source)—not Estym8's cloud bid-folder pipeline. See the competitor analysis for sourcing, caveats, and brands we track beyond this page. Line-by-line licensed catalog unit pricing for Estym8 is on the horizon but paused until cost-database licensing is in place—see What's on the horizon below.

What's on the horizon

These bullets are next chapters—additional depth on top of the live product. The paragraphs after the list summarize what already ships today.

  • Ruler-grade measured SF/LF from PDF geometry and optional CAD-linked alignment beyond today's graphic-scale checks, cross-parse warnings, and overlay verification path
  • Line-by-line unit costs from a licensed construction cost database (deferred until catalog licensing is procured)
  • Even richer automated cross-document synthesis on top of the cross-file intelligence pass, deterministic digest hints, schedule tallies, cross-bundle quantity checks, and plan-harvest mismatch surfacing
  • Deeper spreadsheet parsing and supporting-image extraction surfaced as actionable reviewer checklists beyond classified folder ingest
  • CAD-linked alternate-sheet alignment and structured punch-style closeout workflows beyond overlay review alone
  • Optional user-editable folder run plans (the plan is still generated automatically from classification today)
  • Takeoff math that applies AHJ-specific local amendments automatically—not only harvest citations, digest alerts, and edition or jurisdiction fingerprinting

The bullets above are the forward roadmap—themes we are extending on top of what already ships.

These capabilities are live today: post-folder cross-file intelligence; plan-harvest cross-checks when code editions, energy standards, cited design guides, or permit and jurisdiction text disagrees across bundles (including mismatched stamps); and deterministic digest quantity cross-checks.

Also live: workbook KPI and BOM-line provenance; project-wide conflict and RFI lists; in-app drawing overlays on supported runs; the multi-discipline narrative report; and estimate-to-submittal packages—link register rows to BOM lines or workbook device-quantity rows, reuse a product catalog with PDF cut sheets, export compliance and substitution-matrix notes, and download a merged submittal PDF when the package is ready.

The classify → plan → execute loop stays the same.

We're also building Bodi—a project-brain companion for BOD and low-voltage workstreams, designed to pair with Estym8 folder takeoffs and risk surfacing.

We share more in partner and investor conversations—not full product docs on the public marketing site.

Ready to try Estym8?

One upload runs the whole bid. Estym8 sorts the folder, takes off multiple trades where sheets qualify, and flags cross-file conflicts—then returns verifiable counts, draft RFIs, and submittal-ready packages.

Access is by approval today—request a spot and review pricing anytime.

Request accessView pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is Estym8 available to everyone?
During testing, access is by approval. Request access from the site; after approval you can verify and run takeoffs like production users.
What does Estym8 do?
Estym8 analyzes construction plan sets and bid-package folders: we classify every file, produce an AI project overview (game plan, estimate strategy, file roles, likely gaps), and run symbol takeoffs on eligible drawing PDFs. Estym8 classifies every file and runs takeoffs from eligible drawing PDFs across trades—electrical, mechanical, plumbing, civil, architectural, structural, and more—on the same folder pipeline. Typical takeoff runs (one drawing PDF or one queued discipline bundle) take about 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on page count, symbol density, and model path; dense MEP sets or follow-on passes can run longer. Full bid-package folders usually queue several jobs, so total wall time adds up across runs. Estym8 logs start/end times on completed jobs so we can publish tighter ranges as volume grows. On the project page you also get plan conflicts, draft RFIs, cross-file consistency intelligence, plan-harvest cross-checks (codes, jurisdictions, bundles), optimization notes, and a verbatim "As Printed on the Sheets" pass that lifts title block, code editions, cited guides, stamped lines, exceptions, and printed allowances directly from each PDF. On estimates, workbook KPI tooltips and materials or proposal rows explain where totals come from when you hover them. Download the whole story as a multi-discipline narrative report (Markdown / DOCX / PDF). Upload one PDF per run or a whole folder on a project.
What is the "As Printed on the Sheets" view?
Verbatim "As Printed on the Sheets" pass—title block, applicable code editions, cited design guides, permit or jurisdiction lines, title-block stamp text when captured, exception clauses, printed allowances, calculation rules, and cross-sheet references lifted directly from each PDF (one focused pass per document) so every claim traces back to a sheet, not to model inference.
Does Estym8 catch code or jurisdiction conflicts across plans?
Plan-harvest cross-checks—when code editions, energy standards, cited design guides, or permit and jurisdiction text disagrees across sheets or across discipline bundles (or a title-block stamp disagrees with the bundle summary), Estym8 surfaces it in the folder digest so you can reconcile or RFI before bid day.
Can I download a single hand-off document for a project?
Multi-discipline narrative report—download a single Markdown / DOCX / PDF report that stitches the verbatim plan harvest, every completed takeoff, conflict log, draft RFIs, and bid-bucket reconciliation against engineer-printed totals (when fixture or equipment schedules are present) into one decision-ready package per project.
Does Estym8 support submittal registers and merged PDFs after the bid?
Submittal packages from the same estimate—link line items to the shopping-list BOM and to structured device-quantity rows from the Takeoff workbook, attach rows to your reusable submittal product catalog (with PDF cut sheets), export a register plus compliance and substitution matrix as Markdown, and download one merged PDF (cover, register, matrix, and attached datasheets).
Can I see where workbook totals and materials dollars came from?
Bid-number provenance on each estimate—the Takeoff workbook exposes KPI tooltips (devices, conduit, wire) and merges folder digest cross-checks when your project has them; materials lines and proposal roll-ups use the same hover pattern so quantities and dollars trace to takeoff blocks and pricing rules.
Who is Estym8 for?
Built for commercial, institutional, and larger multi-family teams bidding real plan sets—electrical and MEP subs, GC precon, and similar. Smaller residential-only remodels are a weaker fit until we ship depth aimed at that segment. Estimators, subcontractors, GC precon teams, and similar roles who want full-package intelligence (not only counts)—faster classification, a clear read on the job folder, and reviewable takeoffs where the drawings support them.
How long does a takeoff take?
Each queued run is usually one drawing PDF or a discipline bundle. Typical takeoff runs (one drawing PDF or one queued discipline bundle) take about 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on page count, symbol density, and model path; dense MEP sets or follow-on passes can run longer. Full bid-package folders usually queue several jobs, so total wall time adds up across runs. Bid-package folders often schedule multiple runs, so total wall-clock time can add up—you’ll see progress per job in the app.
Does a folder upload count as one takeoff?
No. Folder ingest—classifying files, building the run plan, and the AI project overview—is part of the product experience. What counts toward plan limits are completed takeoff runs: each finished estimate from a discipline bundle or single-drawing action in the folder plan typically counts as one run. (Exact metering may evolve; we keep the pricing page aligned with how the app behaves.)
What do Solo, Studio, and Firm include?
Same core product: single-PDF uploads, bid-package folders, classification, project overview, conflict and RFI surfacing on runs, Estee (Q&A plus confirm-before-save edits on estimates where supported), and exports. Solo is one seat with 8–10 completed runs per month. Studio is 2–5 seats with pooled runs per seat. Firm (6–15 seats) and Enterprise are priced per seat with higher run allowances—contact us for onboarding.
Does Estym8 replace an estimator?
No. Estym8 accelerates the heavy lifting; the estimator stays in control—reviewing counts, adding contingency, and defending numbers on bid day.
Where can I see pricing?
Use the Pricing page for monthly or annual billing (annual saves about 12% vs a full year at the midpoint of each range).
What can Estee do?
Estee is Estym8’s assistant. On the public site she answers product and workflow questions. After you sign in, she chats from your projects and estimates—counts, materials, concerns, draft RFIs, conflicts, comparisons, and what’s printed on the sheets (codes, exceptions, allowances, manufacturers, code-edition mismatches). From an estimate she can propose changes with a clear preview; nothing is saved until you confirm (for example, a percentage on summary total material cost). Your existing Q&A behavior is unchanged; confirmations are extra.