Case Study — Interiors Contractor
12 Stories. Four days of Takeoff.
How One Interiors Estimator Cut a 12-Story Tower from Two Weeks of Takeoff to Four Days
On-Screen Takeoff® with Auto Takeoff, part of Takeoff BOOST™
Commercial and residential interiors: drywall, metal framing, acoustical ceiling tile
Columbus, Ohio
Todd works for a growing commercial interiors operation that bids drywall, metal framing, and acoustical ceiling tile out of Columbus, Ohio. In four years, it has grown to seven field managers and crews that run from 70 to 120 people depending on backlog. Todd is the only estimator.
- One estimator, three scopes. Todd prices framing, board, and grid for a company whose field crews can nearly triple in size.
- Interior takeoffs are detailed, not just big. Wall types, ceiling types, wall finish types, opening counts, and existing walls all have to come out separately. One lump quantity will not survive a scope review with a GC.
- A 12-story residential tower meant about two weeks of tracing. Wall runs, ceiling areas, and openings, floor plate by floor plate, before a single price went in.
- Columbus is in a building boom. More bid invitations come in than one estimator can physically reach. Every job Todd cannot get to is work the company never bid.
Auto Takeoff gave Todd a faster first pass on the parts of interior takeoff that usually eat the most time. Instead of starting from a blank page, he could begin with organized quantities already built inside On-Screen Takeoff:
- Net room areas measured in one pass. It segments each room and measures net area along the inside face of the walls
- Ceilings separated by type, including gypsum board and acoustical ceiling tile when the plans supported that distinction
- Wall linears broken out by partition type when wall tags were present
- Existing walls identified on rennovation and tenant improvement work
- Doors, double doors, and windows counted with their locations on the sheet
The result: a 12-story tower takeoff in four days instead of two weeks, roughly 70% less takeoff time overall, and room for three to five more bids a month with the same single estimator.
Columbus is in a building boom, and for a sole estimator that can be a problem, not a gift.
"It's a blessing to have all the work coming in. But there's only one of me, and only so many hours in the day."
Every bid Todd cannot takeoff is a job that his interiors contractor company never got to bid.
Todd recalls the moment a 12-story apartment tower landed on his desk. Metal studs and ceilings on every floor plate, plus board. Taken off by hand, that is two weeks of tracing wall runs and measuring ceiling areas before a single price goes in.
"If I'd done it without Auto Takeoff, it would have taken me about two weeks. With Auto Takeoff, I finished the whole thing in three or four days. I got to the Quick Bid® stage way faster."
He does not run it on everything, and he is specific about why.
"The plans we get don't always have wall tags on them, so I use my discretion there."
Breaking walls out by partition type depends on the drawing tagging those types. When it does not, Todd takes the walls off himself and lets Auto Takeoff handle the ceilings, room areas, and counts. Cleaning up 20% of a takeoff is faster than building 100% of it by hand.
The biggest value was not just getting through a tower faster, but in what Todd was able to do with the extra hours back.
On the 12-story project, he was reviewing quotes from twelve vendors across metal ceilings, grid, specialties, and wall protection. Normally, those reviews would have been compressed by the deadline.
"I often speed through vendor quotes just because I'm trying to get a material number and I have a due date. The extra time let me spend more time looking through them."
That extra time also created room to walk scope with the GC, and to go looking for savings.
"I often use that time to research alternative products that provide cost savings to the owner while maintaining the same level of quality and performance."
Same quality, same performance, lower cost to the owner. That is the argument behind a higher number.
"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 takeaway for interior contractors. Faster takeoff is valuable because it creates more time for the parts of estimating that truly help win work: validating scope, checking risk, reviewing supplier input, finding savings the owner will actually feel, and building the relationships that get you picked.
- 70% faster takeoffs. A 12-story apartment tower would normally take Todd about two weeks of takeoff. With Takeoff BOOST’s Auto Takeoff, it took 4 days.
- 30-60 minute takeoffs. What used to eat a full day of work (5-8 hours) now takes Todd 30-60 minutes.
- About 50% faster overall. That’s Todd’s everyday average across every takeoff, not just the big jobs.
- 13-15 bids a month, up from 10. The hours that Todd saved goes straight back into the pipeline.
- One estimator, more output. Todd didn’t add headcount to hit these numbers. He just got more done with the help of Auto Takeoff.
Columbus is not slowing down, and neither is Todd’s bid list. He is still the only estimator at the company, and at this point that is a choice the business can afford to make.
Auto Takeoff delivered a faster first pass on ceilings, room areas, counts, and selected wall scope, then pushed usable Conditions into Quick Bid so he could get to pricing faster. The result was not just less tracing, but more capacity to review quotes, walk scope, and compete more effectively in a busy market.
If your team bids framing, board, and grid, the value of AI-powered takeoff software is not just speed. It is getting a meaningful head start on the interior scope that is hardest to separate, so your estimator can spend more time validating, pricing, and winning the work.
Bring one multifamily floor plan or tenant improvement plan from your pipeline. We’ll run Auto Takeoff on it, show you what comes back, and identify what still needs estimator review.