Bid day still runs on spreadsheets and phone calls
An ITB lands with a plan set, specs and three addenda. Your estimators do the takeoff, build the scopes of work and send invitations through BuildingConnected. Then the sub bids come in: PDFs, emails, a number texted to a PM at 1:45 for a 2:00 close. Someone builds the bid leveling sheet by hand, reading every exclusion to see who carried what.
The work that wins jobs is judgment: which sub to carry, where the scope gaps are, how much risk to price. The work that eats the day is reading, retyping and reconciling. That's the part we build tools for.
- Sub bids arrive in every format, and exclusions are buried in the fine print
- Leveling sheets get built by hand under deadline
- Addenda change scope after quotes are already in
- Past bids and unit costs sit in old folders nobody searches
Tools for the estimating room
Sub bid intake and leveling
Reads incoming sub quotes, pulls out base price, alternates, inclusions and exclusions, and drops them into your bid leveling sheet format by trade. Your estimator reviews and picks. The tool doesn't choose the sub.
Scope review against the ITB
Compares each sub quote to your scope of work and the spec sections, and flags gaps: who excluded dewatering, who didn't carry the addendum 2 change, who priced a different spec.
Bid assembly
Pulls leveled numbers, self-perform costs, general conditions and markups into your bid form and summary, ready for the chief estimator's final review before submission.
Historical cost lookup
Search past bids, unit costs and job cost history in plain English. "What did we carry for 12-inch storm pipe on the last three DOT jobs?" gets an answer with the source attached.
From ITB to bid form
Step 1: Map your bid process
We sit in on a live bid, or walk through a recent one. We learn your leveling sheet, your scope templates, your markup structure and where the time goes.
Step 2: Connect your sources
We connect to BuildingConnected, your estimate files, your plan room and your ERP with read access scoped to what the tools need, nothing more.
Step 3: Build and test on real bids
We build against bids you've already turned in, so your estimators can check the output against numbers they know. Then we run it alongside a live bid before anyone relies on it.
Step 4: Run it and tune it
Estimators flag misses, and we tune the extraction and scope rules. New trades, new bid forms and new owners get added as you need them.
Works with your estimating stack
- BuildingConnected
- Bluebeam
- Procore
- Trimble Viewpoint Vista
- Microsoft 365 (Excel, Outlook, SharePoint)
- Google Workspace
Bid assembly tooling for a regional contractor
We built bid assembly tooling for a regional contractor as part of a larger build that connected their Vista ERP to Claude through an MCP server. The bid tools and the company's fleet dashboard run on that same scoped Vista connection.
- Bid assembly tooling for the estimating team
- Built on a scoped Vista connection shared with their fleet dashboard
Questions estimators ask us
Does the AI pick which sub to carry?
No. It reads, sorts and flags. Your estimator decides who to carry and what risk to price. Every number in the leveling sheet traces back to the source quote.
Can it do the takeoff?
We can build tools that support takeoff, like pulling quantities from schedules and specs or checking counts. We don't pitch it as a replacement for your takeoff software or your estimator's eye on the drawings.
What if we bid in our own spreadsheet format?
Good. We build to your leveling sheet and bid forms. You shouldn't have to change how your estimators work to use the tool.