Estimating Isn’t Broken. But the Way You’re Doing It Might Be.

If you’ve been in preconstruction long enough, you’ve probably heard someone say: “Estimating is part art, part science.” Fair.

But here’s the thing nobody talks about—most of us are spending way too much time on the parts that don’t involve either.

You’re not short on experience. You’re short on hours. And a big chunk of that is because takeoffs are still taking forever.

The smartest contractors across the US and Canada have started automating takeoffs to increase their bidding capacity and win more —without sacrificing accuracy.

Let’s Talk About the Real Time Sink

Estimators aren’t losing bids because they don’t know how to price a job. They’re losing bids because they’re still stuck tracing PDFs while someone else sends in their numbers first.

It’s common to spend 10 to 40 hours on just one takeoff. If you’re doing four bids a week, that’s your week—gone. And over a year? That’s over 1,000 hours lost to clicking, counting, and formatting. For what?

Estimators have gotten used to it. But that doesn’t mean it’s working.

“That’s How We’ve Always Done It” Isn’t a Growth Strategy

Here’s something that might sting a bit: some contractors aren’t better than you. They’re just done wasting time.

They’re submitting more bids. Responding to addenda faster. Getting quotes back sooner. Not because they have more people—but because they’ve given their teams space to actually think.

The bottleneck isn’t your estimators. It’s the way we’re asking them to work.

And it shows up in all kinds of ways:

  • Late bid submissions

  • Rushed pricing calls

  • Zero time for value engineering

  • Teams constantly in catch-up mode

By the time the estimator’s done measuring quantities, there’s no energy left for strategy. And that’s the part that wins jobs.

First to Bid Often Means First to Win

You’ve probably seen it happen. The job goes out for pricing, and the GC awards it before you even finish your sheets.

It’s not always about the lowest price. It’s about timing, clarity, and how fast you can send a clean, understandable bid.

Studies say that 60% of awarded jobs go to the first completed submission. That’s not a margin problem. That’s a workflow problem.

And it’s avoidable.

AI Isn’t Coming for Your Job. But It Might Save Your Time.

Let’s clear this up. AI’s not here to take over estimating. It can’t replace what you know about scope gaps, vendor history, or how to read between the lines of a spec sheet.

What it can do is get the boring stuff out of your way.

That includes:

  • Tracing every wall and pipe

  • Copying numbers into spreadsheets

  • Rechecking counts when addenda drop

  • Comparing drawing versions and flagging changes

Tools like Beam AI are being used quietly by contractors and subs who’ve stopped trying to do it all by hand.

With it, they’re getting takeoffs turned around in 24–72 hours, already QA-reviewed. That means estimators get to skip the grind and jump straight to what matters, pricing the job right.

What Happens When You Actually Have Time Again?

Let’s say your team saves 20 hours this week. What could they do with it?

You’d probably:

  • Call suppliers earlier and lock better pricing

  • Run a risk review instead of skipping it

  • Add alternate options to stand out

  • Tighten up coordination with subs

  • Review more jobs you normally pass on

That’s not a theory. That’s what other contractors are already doing.

One HVAC sub in California

Used to take 3 days just to prep a bid. After switching to automated takeoffs, that dropped to a few hours. They doubled their revenue in 12 months—with the same team.

A GC in Texas

Shaved 80% off their takeoff time and started submitting bids 2 days earlier than usual. That bump in speed improved their win rate by 40%.

A steel sub in Utah

Went from 5 bids a week to 10. Won 10 new jobs in a single month. Their revenue jumped from $900K to $2M. Same estimator, more time.

None of them hired more people. They just stopped letting takeoffs dictate their pace.

You Don’t Need to Automate Everything. Just the Right Things.

We’re not saying to toss out your process overnight. That’s unrealistic. But you can start small.

Try automating one takeoff. Just one.

Watch how much time it saves. See how much more attention you can give to pricing. You might be surprised at how many things you’ve been rushing through, just to meet a deadline.

Start there. No commitment. No overhaul. Just one job done differently.

Why Estimators Can’t Ignore AI Any Longer?

Most construction folks don’t resist tech because they hate it. They resist it because they’ve been burned by tools that promised the moon and delivered chaos.

But this isn’t about learning a new system. It’s about making space for actual thinking again.

Estimators didn’t join this industry to highlight PDFs. They came in to solve problems, find better ways to build, and put together smart bids that win.

If AI helps them do that, why not use it?

A Final Thought

The most expensive part of your estimating process might not show up on your balance sheet.

  • It’s the job you didn’t have time to bid.
  • The error you didn’t catch.
  • The GC you couldn’t follow up with.

That’s what manual takeoffs are costing you. Not just hours. Opportunity.

Some teams are figuring that out now. Others will figure it out after another year of burnout and missed deadlines.

You don’t have to be the first to change. But maybe don’t be the last either.