In short:
- Interior estimating is a cross-reference job, and your takeoff tool should reflect the way interior contractors actually bid.
- On-Screen Takeoff®, powered by Takeoff BOOST™, helps organize complex plan sets across drywall, framing, ceilings, acoustics, and paint workflows.
- Customer feedback continues to shape improvements, making the tool more useful for real interior plan sets.
- Faster takeoff gives estimators more time to review scope, price strategically, bid more work, and support business growth.
Interior plans do not live on one sheet.
Wall tags sit on floor plans. Assemblies live in partition details. Heights appear on reflected ceiling plans. Finishes live in schedules. Existing conditions can change the scope again.
That is the reality interior contractors work with every day. Your takeoff tool should be built around it.
On-Screen Takeoff is designed for the way interior contractors actually bid. It helps turn complex plan sets into an organized first pass, then keeps your existing estimating workflow at the center of the job. More importantly, it continues to improve as interior estimators show us where the work can be better.
Interiors takeoff is a cross-reference job
Ask a general contractor what takeoff means and you may hear about measuring areas. Ask a drywall, framing, ceilings, acoustics, or paint estimator and you will hear about the details.
You need to separate gypsum board from acoustical tile. Type A partitions from Type C. Existing walls from new. Paint by finish tag, not one generic line. One lump quantity will not hold up when a GC asks you to walk the scope.
Auto Takeoff, part of the Takeoff BOOST suite in On-Screen Takeoff, is built around that complexity. It reads the plan set and creates organized Conditions you can review and price, including:
- Net room areas measured in one pass. It segments each room and measures net area along the inside face of the walls.
- Find ceiling areas and split gypsum board from acoustical ceiling tile, or break ceilings out by type when plans include those labels
- Measure the building footprint along the outside face of exterior walls
- Calculate wall linear footage and break it out by partition type when the wall tags are present on plans
- Generate paint linears for both faces of interior walls, reading wall tags and finish schedules so paint comes back as separate Conditions instead of one generic line
- Identify existing walls so you can include them, leave them out, or track them separately on renovation and tenant improvement work
- Count doors, double doors, and windows with their locations on the sheet, classifying windows by type from plan tags
- Count plumbing and building fixtures so you are not clicking through symbols one at a time
The common thread is not just speed, but a tool that truly understands how you work. Interior contractors need takeoff software that returns quantities they can drop into a bid without rebuilding everything by hand.
Built by listening to interior estimators
Trade-specific software should mean more than a list of supported trades. It should reflect the decisions those trades make when they bid.
Jim Staggs, Director of Estimating at Turman Commercial Painters, has spent 46 years in the trade and trained 60 to 70 estimators during his career. He knows what a paint takeoff needs to include, and he was candid when the first version of Takeoff BOOST did not meet that standard.
Turman had two Takeoff BOOST licenses but rarely used them because the first pass was not coming back right for paint. Then the team improved ceiling tag recognition and the ability to take off both faces of an interior wall at their own heights.
“We had two Takeoff BOOST licenses and never really used them. Once ConstructConnect® integrated the ceiling tags and the two-sided wall heights, that sold us.”
That is what product investment should look like. An estimator identifies what is missing. The development team takes that feedback seriously. The next release reflects how the work is actually done.
Jim has since used Auto Takeoff on complex interior work, including a 15-building apartment project with multiple building footprints and unit types. By taking representative areas and carrying the reviewed work across repeated spaces, he completed the full interior takeoff for an approximately $2.6 million project in under 45 minutes.
Today, his team reports typical takeoffs dropping from a full day to 30 to 60 minutes, with 7 to 10 hours returned each week and more bids handled each month.
The time back should go to better estimating
Todd is the only estimator for a growing commercial interiors operation that bids drywall, metal framing, acoustical ceiling tile, and paint. When a 12-story apartment tower landed on his desk, he estimated that a manual takeoff would take about two weeks.
With Auto Takeoff, he completed it in three to four days and reached the Quick Bid® stage much sooner. Across his workflow, a typical takeoff that once took five to eight hours can take 30 to 60 minutes, and his monthly bid volume grew from about 10 bids to 13 to 15 with the same single estimator.
The value was not only the faster first pass. The time gave Todd room to review vendor quotes, walk scope with the GC, and research alternative products that could save the owner money without sacrificing quality or performance.
“A GC isn't going to go on a limb and choose some random guy who just did a quick takeoff and handed them a number. They're going to give it to the guy who's been asking the right questions, going over scope, and offering new solutions and products, even if that guy's the higher number.”
That is the real value of faster takeoff. It gives estimators more time for the work that helps win the job and protect the margin.
Built to help interior contractors grow
Sheri Winslow, Lead Estimator at AKS Interior Systems, uses On-Screen Takeoff for steel framing, drywall, and specialty acoustics. Her team takes on complex work, including acoustic wall panels and baffle ceilings, while working toward significant company growth.
Before Takeoff BOOST, adding bid volume meant adding more manual counting and drawing. Now, Sheri uses the technology to create a first draft for her team to review and can complete three projects in 20 minutes instead of spending days on the same work.
“If you can turn days of work into 30 minutes, that alone pays for itself. The more jobs you bid, the more you win.”
For AKS, Takeoff BOOST became a standard starting point for roughly 80% of projects. The benefit was not only speed. It also gave the team more time to focus on complex analysis, send quantities to suppliers sooner, and train new estimators on scope and strategy instead of repetitive clicking and drawing.
More than a faster pass
The value of On-Screen Takeoff does not stop when the measuring is done.
Your Conditions carry into Quick Bid without rebuilding the job. Your quantities move into the pricing process. Your takeoff and production information can stay connected so your team can build a stronger history of the work it has completed.
That continuity matters. The goal is not to add another disconnected AI tool to your estimating process. The goal is to give your team a faster starting point inside the workflow it already knows.
The advantage of staying current
Interior contractors should not have to choose between a tool that understands their trade and a tool that keeps improving.
With On-Screen Takeoff, you get a workflow built around the realities of interiors and a product team that continues to learn from the estimators using it.
- Jim’s feedback helped improve paint workflows.
- Todd’s experience shows how a single estimator can use a faster first pass without giving up control.
- Sheri’s results show how that time can support growth, specialty work, and a stronger estimating team.
You are not renewing access to a static takeoff tool. You are staying with an interiors-focused workflow that is built to keep moving forward with your business.
Keep building on the workflow you already know
If you are an On-Screen Takeoff customer, talk with your Customer Success Manager before renewal to review the latest improvements and what your current plan includes.
Your trade is specific. Your takeoff tool should be, too.
