# PreConstruct AI

> Takeoff and estimating software for drywall, concrete and framing subcontractors, working from the PDF drawing set. Built in Ontario, Canada. Your first bid is free, with no card.

## What it does

- Reads the drawing set: the scales off the title blocks, the wall types from the partition legend and typical notes, the door and room schedules, and the notes.
- Suggests the walls on the floor plans, as a beta. The estimator checks and approves each wall before it reaches the takeoff, or draws it.
- Gives quantities by wall type, ceiling and concrete element, with the arithmetic and the sheet beside every number.
- Prices them from the company's own material prices and makes a proposal PDF.
- Shows quantities in imperial, metric or both.

## What it does not do

- It does not find every wall: suggested walls are checked by the estimator.
- It reads text on the drawings; it does not count symbols.
- No accuracy percentage is published.
- It never sizes, designs or calculates a structural member. Sizes come from the drawings, the engineer and the truss supplier.
- It never suggests a sales tax rate; the estimator types it on every job.

## Who it is for

Estimators, and owners who estimate, at subcontractors who bid from drawings.

## Price

Your first bid is free, with no card: one drawing set of up to 75 sheets. Then, in US dollars:

- Estimator: $250 USD a month for 20 bids and 1 seat for the first 50 paying companies, who keep that price while subscribed; $350 after the first 50.
- Team: $499 USD a month for 50 bids and 5 seats for the first 50 paying companies, who keep that price while subscribed; $700 after the first 50.
- Business: $999 USD a month for 120 bids and 15 seats for the first 50 paying companies, who keep that price while subscribed; $1,250 after the first 50.

The lowest plan is Estimator at $250 USD a month. Cancel any time and export all your data.

## Pages

- [See it work](https://preconstructai.com/see-it): a five-minute walkthrough on a sample drawing set, from upload to proposal.
- [Features](https://preconstructai.com/features)
- [Pricing](https://preconstructai.com/pricing), and the same prices as plain text: [pricing.md](https://preconstructai.com/pricing.md)
- [Every guide and post in full, as text](https://preconstructai.com/llms-full.txt)
- [For owners](https://preconstructai.com/for-owners): the price, the risk and the data, for whoever signs.
- [How we verify](https://preconstructai.com/how-we-verify): where every number comes from.
- [Commercial drywall material takeoff](https://preconstructai.com/commercial-drywall-takeoff): the workflow on our sample set, from scales and partition types to the export.
- [Takeoff to estimate](https://preconstructai.com/takeoff-to-estimate): how quantities are priced from supplier quotes and your own prices; no purchase orders.
- [How to use it](https://preconstructai.com/guide)
- [For instructors](https://preconstructai.com/for-instructors): the calculators and guides, free to use and link in a course.

## Free calculators

- [Concrete calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/concrete-calculator): Slabs, footings, walls, pads, columns and stair flights — cubic yards, cubic metres and the half-yard order.
- [Drywall calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/drywall-calculator): Sheets by size, screws, tape and joint compound for walls and ceilings, less openings, at your own rates.
- [Stair stringer calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/stair-stringer-calculator): Riser height, total run and stringer length from the total rise, risers and tread — checked against Ontario's riser limits.
- [Rebar weight calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/rebar-weight-calculator): CSA 10M to 55M and ASTM #3 to #11: bars by length or a slab mat each way, in kilograms, pounds and tonnes.
- [Metal stud calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/metal-stud-calculator): Steel studs at your spacing, extras at openings and corners, and top and bottom track in 10 ft pieces.
- [Insulation calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/insulation-calculator): Bags of R14, R22 or R24 batts for walls and ceilings, less openings, at the coverage on the bag.
- [Paint calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/paint-calculator): Finish and primer for walls and ceilings in 3.78 L cans or 18.9 L pails, from the coats and the data sheet.
- [Concrete block calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/concrete-block-calculator): 8 × 16 or 20 cm metric block, mortar bags and core grout in cubic yards and cubic metres.
- [ICF calculator](https://preconstructai.com/tools/icf-calculator): Insulated concrete forms, straight and corner, and the concrete for the core, rounded to the half yard.

## Guides

- [How to read a footing schedule for takeoff](https://preconstructai.com/guides/how-to-read-a-footing-schedule): Marks, sizes and reinforcing — strip footings and pads, metric and imperial — and how to take off each row.
- [Concrete takeoff: footings, walls, slabs and rebar](https://preconstructai.com/guides/concrete-takeoff-footings-walls-slabs-rebar): Volumes in cubic metres and yards, forms by contact area, Canadian rebar weights, and the Ontario code minimums to check.
- [How to estimate framing for a house](https://preconstructai.com/guides/how-to-estimate-house-framing): Walls, openings, floors, roofs, stairs, hardware and labour — the counts framers use and what gets missed.
- [Drywall takeoff checklist: what goes missing](https://preconstructai.com/guides/drywall-takeoff-checklist): Twelve things that fall off interior takeoffs — backing, headers, control joints, clouds and eight more — and how to catch them.
- [How to read a drywall partition schedule](https://preconstructai.com/guides/how-to-read-a-partition-schedule): Studs, board layers, insulation, height and ratings, and how each partition or wall type becomes material.
- [Drywall per square metre](https://preconstructai.com/guides/drywall-per-square-metre): Square metres per sheet, screws, tape and compound per m², and a worked metric example.
- [Canadian rebar sizes: 10M to 55M](https://preconstructai.com/guides/canadian-rebar-sizes): Diameter, area and kg per metre for every CSA bar, what a 6, 12 or 18 m bar weighs, the nearest US bar, and a footing worked through.
- [Drywall screws per square metre](https://preconstructai.com/guides/drywall-screws-per-square-metre): The Ontario spacing rules turned into screws per sheet and per m², fire-rated work, Type W or S, screw length and a worked order.
- [Steel stud gauge chart and sizes](https://preconstructai.com/guides/steel-stud-gauges-and-sizes): Gauge to mils and millimetres for 25, 20 and 18 gauge, the two different 20 gauges, EQ studs, sizes in inches and mm, and studs and track per metre.
- [Division 9 takeoff: board, framing, finishing and waste](https://preconstructai.com/guides/division-9-takeoff): What a drywall package spans, board and stud quantities, levels of finish, where waste belongs, and the scope questions to ask before pricing.
- [Ontario stair rise and run](https://preconstructai.com/guides/ontario-stair-rise-and-run): Rise, run, headroom, width, landings, handrails and guards under the Ontario code, what changed in 2022, and a stair laid out in millimetres.
- [How to read an addendum before you bid](https://preconstructai.com/guides/how-to-read-an-addendum): Find every change on the revised drawings and specs, and carry it into the takeoff before close.
- [Choosing takeoff software as a subcontractor](https://preconstructai.com/guides/choosing-takeoff-software-subcontractors): What to compare before you buy: metric and imperial, trade assemblies, pricing by seat or by job, and what the software really reads.
- [Is AI takeoff accurate? How to check it yourself](https://preconstructai.com/guides/is-ai-takeoff-accurate): We publish no accuracy figure. What software reads well on a drawing set, where it goes wrong, and how to test any tool on a job you have already bid.

## Blog

- [Blog](https://preconstructai.com/blog): estimating articles for subcontractors.