In short:
- General Contractors juggle multi-trade takeoffs under tight deadlines, making manual measurements a major bottleneck and burnout risk.
- Takeoff Boost™ in On-Screen Takeoff® automatically measures footprint, net area, walls, ceilings, and key counts up to 95% faster than manual takeoffs.
- Faster AI-assisted takeoffs help General Contractors bid more work with the same team while improving accuracy and sub comparison quality.
As a general contractor, your estimating process looks a little different than your subs. You’re not just measuring for one trade. You’re pulling quantities across floors, walls, ceilings, doors, and fixtures all at once, and then turning around to cross-check what your subs are submitting. Throw in tight bid deadlines, plan changes halfway through, and a to-do list that keeps growing, and it’s easy to see why takeoffs can cause your team to burn out.
That’s where Takeoff Boost comes in. Built right into the On-Screen Takeoff you’re already familiar with, this AI-powered feature takes the grind out of initial takeoffs so your estimators can focus on what actually moves the needle: reviewing numbers, vetting subs, and making smart go/no-go calls.
Why Should General Contractors Use AI-Powered Takeoffs?
Manual takeoffs have always been the biggest time drain in preconstruction. For GCs especially, the volume of work across multiple trades means your estimating team could easily spend the majority of a bid cycle just drawing measurements. That’s time that isn’t going toward strategy, subcontractor networking, or winning more work.
The reality is GCs typically use takeoff numbers in one of two ways:
- To get quick budget numbers and unit cost pricing to check where a project budget lands
- To compare numbers against what subcontractors are submitting
GCs need accurate numbers fast. AI-powered takeoffs make it possible. Takeoff Boost runs an initial takeoff in less than a minute per page. Then, your estimators review, adjust, and verify the results. They’re no longer starting from scratch but instead have a draft that is 80% of the way done, in just a few minutes.
The benefits add up quickly:
Bid more work without adding headcount
Get budget numbers faster so you can make earlier go/no-go decisions
Reduce errors from manual measurement fatigue
Free up your estimators for high-value work like scope review and sub negotiation
Stay competitive in a market where speed and accuracy both matter
How Takeoff Boost Works for General Contractors
Unlike specialty trades that focus on one scope, GCs need coverage across a wide range of conditions. Takeoff Boost is built for that kind of breadth. In about the time it takes to pour a cup of coffee, it can scan a floor plan and hand your estimator a complete working takeoff across walls, floors, ceilings, and counts. Here’s what that looks like for your workflow.
Your total square footage, instantly
The first number most GCs need is simple: how big is this building? Takeoff Boost captures the total footprint area and net area in a single run. That’s your foundation for budget pricing, sub-scope comparisons, and early go/no-go math. No tracing. No adding up room by room.
Wall quantities without the grind
For most GCs, walls are the most time-consuming part of a manual takeoff. Takeoff Boost automatically identifies wall types and organizes them into separate Conditions by type, with default height already applied. If most of your walls are 9 feet, but a couple are 12 feet, you update the exceptions, not the whole list. What used to take your estimator a whole afternoon to measure takes a few minutes of review.
Ceiling plans measured room by room
Ceiling takeoffs are where GCs often lose time chasing details across an RCP. Takeoff Boost processes the ceiling plan and breaks it down by room and ceiling type (ACT, drywall, open-to-structure) with height conditions applied to linear takeoff based on what’s noted directly in the plan. Your estimator reviews the output and makes corrections, rather than building the whole thing from scratch.
Save hours on manual counts
Doors, windows, plumbing fixtures, elevator shafts: Takeoff Boost counts them all. For GCs doing a quick budget pass or building a sub comparison sheet, having those quantities ready without manual counting is a real time-saver. If you need more detailed counts later (interior vs. exterior doors, swing direction, hardware packages), you can build on the count foundation that’s already there.
Quick unit-cost pricing in On-Screen Takeoff
Once your takeoff is done, On-Screen Takeoff’s built-in Estimate Tab lets you apply unit-cost pricing, for labor, materials, equipment, and other expenses, directly to your Conditions, so you can turn square footage and linear results into a rough project cost in minutes. It’s not a replacement for detailed estimating, but for the early-stage number that drives your bid decision, it’s exactly what you need. If your workflow calls for full material and labor breakdowns, On-Screen Takeoff integrates directly into Quick Bid®, making it easy for you to get the pricing you need in one simple, integrated workflow.
Take Your General Contractor Business to the Next Level
GCs are under more pressure than ever to bid faster, bid smarter, and win more of the right work. Your estimating team is the engine of that process. The more time they spend on manual takeoff, the less time they have for high-value tasks that differentiate your business: scope analysis, sub vetting, value engineering, and building the kind of relationships that bring projects back.
AI-powered takeoffs aren’t replacing your estimators; it’s giving them a head start. When the grunt work of the initial takeoff is done in under a minute, your team can do what they do best: review, refine, and make smart decisions with confidence.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
More bids, same team: When each takeoff takes minutes instead of hours, your team’s capacity multiplies without adding overhead.
Better sub comparisons: With your own numbers in hand, you walk into every scope review knowing what the job should cost, not just what your sub told you.
Fewer surprises at bid time: Quick, accurate budget numbers early in the process mean fewer scrambles and corrections at the deadline.
Consistent takeoff organization: Takeoff Boost Conditions integrate directly with your existing styles and sets in On-Screen Takeoff, so your takeoff process stays clean and repeatable.
Estimators who actually want to stay: Nobody got into estimating to click and trace for hours. Freeing up your team from the most tedious parts of the job is good for morale and retention.
Want to dig deeper into how AI-powered takeoffs compare to traditional methods, and why GCs are making the switch? Read the full breakdown.
Try Takeoff Boost for Free. No Download Required.
See your plan measured in seconds with an online preview of Takeoff Boost. No software install. No credit card. No commitment. Just upload a single-page commercial plan and watch AI complete the first pass of your takeoff, right in your browser.
Stay tuned for the next installment in our blog series: AI Takeoffs for Drywall Contractors.
