Workflow Guide

BidIntell + AI Estimating Tools

Estimating software builds the number. BidIntell decides whether that number is worth building. They solve two different problems.

Two different problems in the estimating process

The estimating software market has gotten very good at one thing: helping you build a number faster. Stack, Togal, Buildxact, ProEst, Sage Estimating, and a dozen other tools have made the takeoff and pricing process more efficient. Quantity extraction that used to take two days now takes two hours. That is real value.

But none of those tools help with the decision that happens before you open the plans. Whether to do the takeoff at all.

That is the problem BidIntell solves. It is not estimating software. It sits upstream of estimating software — in the gap between receiving bid documents and deciding whether to price the job.

BidIntell

  • Scores the bid documents 0 to 100
  • Assesses your trade fit and location fit
  • Flags contract risk language
  • Tracks your GC relationship history
  • Helps you decide: go or pass

Your estimating software

  • Extracts quantities from drawings
  • Calculates material and labor costs
  • Applies assemblies and productivity rates
  • Builds the bid number
  • Formats the proposal

Both matter. They are just not solving the same problem. BidIntell is the go or pass filter. Your estimating software is what you use after you have decided to go.

The workflow

  1. Plan Room or Direct Bid documents arrive

    From Dodge, Construct Connect, BuildingConnected, a GC direct email, or any other source. You download the bid package to your computer.

  2. BidIntell Upload to BidIntell and score it

    Upload the document or forward the email. Get a BidIndex Score in about 60 seconds — trade match, location fit, GC relationship history, and contract risk. Make the go or pass call with the information in front of you instead of gut feel.

  3. Your Estimating Tool If go: open your estimating software

    Pull the plans. Run the takeoff. Price the work. Your estimating tool takes over from here — you have already decided the opportunity is worth the time investment.

  4. Submit the bid

    Your proposal goes out. The GC makes their award decision.

  5. BidIntell Log the outcome when the bid closes

    Won, lost, ghosted, or you declined. Each outcome makes the next score more accurate for your company with this GC in this territory.

Why this matters for firms already using estimating software

If you have invested in AI-powered estimating software, you may have noticed something: the tool makes takeoffs faster, but it does not reduce the number of takeoffs you are running on projects you do not win. The speed improvement applies equally to every bid — including the ones you were never going to get.

That is not a flaw in the estimating software. It is doing exactly what it is designed to do. The problem is upstream. The go or pass decision is still being made by gut feel, and faster takeoffs on wrong bids are still wasted hours — just shorter ones.

BidIntell addresses the decision that happens before your estimating software opens. A 60-second score on the bid documents is a filter that keeps your estimating capacity focused on the jobs with a realistic chance of winning.

A faster takeoff on the wrong bid is still a wasted takeoff. BidIntell is the filter that runs before your estimating software opens.

Estimating tools BidIntell works alongside

BidIntell does not integrate with estimating software — there is no data sync or API connection. It works independently, upstream of your estimating tool. Once you have made the go decision in BidIntell, you open your estimating software the same way you always have.

Stack

Score the bid documents in BidIntell, then open the plans in Stack for AI-assisted quantity takeoff. Two tools, two steps, two different problems solved.

Togal.AI

BidIntell handles the go or pass decision. Togal handles the plan measurement. Each tool does what it was built for.

Buildxact

Firms that use Buildxact for estimating and project tracking can use BidIntell upstream — to decide which opportunities are worth bringing into Buildxact in the first place.

ProEst and Sage Estimating

Enterprise estimating platforms benefit from the same upstream filter. The bid decision happens before the platform opens, and that is where BidIntell lives.

Planswift and On-Screen Takeoff

Traditional takeoff tools work the same way. BidIntell sits upstream of all of them regardless of which you use for the actual estimate.

Spreadsheets

If your estimating process still runs in Excel, BidIntell works exactly the same way. The workflow does not depend on what you use for the takeoff.

The compounding benefit over time

The most visible benefit of BidIntell is immediate: better information at the go or pass decision point. But the less visible benefit builds over time.

Every bid outcome you log — won, lost, ghosted, declined — feeds back into the scoring model for your company. After six months of consistent outcome logging, BidIntell knows which GCs in your market have awarded you work, which ones use your number for competitive purposes, and which project types in which locations you win at a higher rate.

Most specialty subcontracting firms do not have this data organized anywhere it can actually influence a decision. It exists in email threads and people's heads, but it is not connected to the next bid that comes in. BidIntell captures it at the point of decision, systematically, without adding significant time to the workflow.

Firms using AI estimating tools are already thinking about efficiency in the bid process. This is the efficiency gain that happens before the estimating software opens.

Score your next bid before you pull the plans

Upload your next bid package to BidIntell and get the BidIndex Score in 60 seconds. 7-day free trial, no credit card required.

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