Automating Takeoffs to Reduce Tender Preparation Time

The clock is ticking, and you’re juggling between tabs in Bluebeam and digital drawings stacked across multiple monitors—again.. You’re cross-checking the quantity for the third time. Sound familiar? 

For many contractors, preparing a tender often means long nights of manual takeoffs, second-guessing quantities, and racing against tight deadlines. But what if you could reclaim those hours and refocus on what drives your bids–strategy, pricing, and relationships? 

That’s the promise of automated takeoffs. In this blog, we dive into how automating the takeoff process can significantly cut down tender preparation time, so you can bid more competitively and stay ahead in a fast-moving market.

But before we talk about how to save time, let’s rewind a bit and look at what tenders are and why they’re such a crucial part of the construction industry.

What is a Construction Tender?

A tender is a formal invitation for contractors to submit bids for a construction project. It’s how governments, developers, and private clients select the most suitable contractor for the job

Think of it like this: a city plans to build a new metro station. The municipal body won’t just pick a contractor at random. Instead, they’ll issue a detailed tender asking contractors for proposals, pricing, qualifications, and timelines. The city ensures a transparent, competitive selection, and the contractor who gets it right wins the job.

What The Tender Process Looks Like

Here’s how a standard construction tender unfolds:

1. Prequalification- Shortlisting based on qualifications and past projects
   
2. Invitation to Tender (ITT): Contractors receive  project documents and drawings
   
3. Takeoff & Estimating: The grind begins–quantifying materials, estimating equipment costs, and building costs
   
4. Bid Submission: Final proposal, ready for submission
   
5. Evaluation: Client compares bids
   
6. Award of Contract: The project is awarded to the most suitable bidder. 

Why Manual Takeoffs Are Slowing You Down

‍The takeoff involves going through hundreds of pages of drawings to determine exactly how much material will be needed. They eat up to 40-50% of your bidding cycle. That’s valuable time lost for your estimators. 

Manual takeoffs can take days, even weeks, depending on the size of the project. And because they’re done by hand, they’re prone to costly mistakes—either overestimating (which makes your bid less competitive) or underestimating (which eats into your profits if you win the job).

Let’s say your team spends two weeks preparing takeoffs for a large commercial project. You submit the tender just in time, only to realize later that a spec component was included twice, inflating your materials cost. When you're juggling multiple bids, these small mistakes add up and can seriously impact your win rate. They can lead to:

• Increased chance of errors
• Less time for pricing, supplier quotes
• Lost potential to differentiate your bid
• Slower tender turnaround

Why It’s Time to Automate Your Takeoffs

Let’s say you spot a high-value infrastructure tender with a tight deadline. Manual takeoffs often compress timelines, leaving less time for strategic pricing or supplier negotiations.

With automated tools like Beam AI, you can streamline the takeoff process, freeing up valuable time for your team to focus on refining estimates and pursuing more bids.

Beam AI is an AI-based construction takeoff software built to automate material quantity extraction across 16+ trades–including concrete, HVAC, steel, and more.

Slash Tender Preparation Time with Beam AI

Let’s look at some of the features of Beam AI that help slash tender preparation time: 

100% Automated Takeoffs

With Beam AI, you can:

• Simply upload your plans, 
• Define the project scope, and hit submit. 
• Beam AI extracts quantities, considering all specifications and keyed-in notes. 

Every takeoff is reviewed by an experienced estimator, who validates the takeoff before it reaches you.
The result? 90% time saved on takeoffs, and your estimating team can bid on 30% more jobs. 

Automatic Change Detection Across Addenda

The dreaded last-minute addendum no longer means scrambling to redo your entire takeoff. Beam AI automatically tracks and updates revisions from addenda. It identifies modifications and updates the takeoff calculations accordingly. Whether it's a shift in layouts or changes in specifications, the AI spots the differences, recalculates quantities, and ensures your data is always up-to-date.

Multiple Export Options

Beam AI's cloud-based system enables seamless real-time collaboration on the same takeoff, anytime, anywhere.

• Custom Excel Reports: Streamline your workflow by exporting takeoff quantities directly into customizable Excel files that align with your existing estimating processes. 
• Shareable Link: Enhance team communication by sharing takeoffs effortlessly. Beam AI's cloud-based, view-only link feature allows you to share project takeoffs with general contractors, suppliers, and other stakeholders with a single click. They can access and review plans in real time from any location, eliminating the hassle of outdated spreadsheets and email attachments.
• PDF Reports: Present your takeoffs by exporting annotations directly onto the original plans. This gives clients and stakeholders a clear, visual understanding of the project details, making your submissions more impactful.

Takeoff Library

Managing multiple takeoff projects is easy with Beam AI's centralized Takeoff Library. The library feature stores all your completed takeoffs in one easily accessible location. Beyond storage, the Takeoff Library helps with collaboration. Your team can access project takeoffs in real time, ensuring everyone operates with the latest information.

Editing Toolbar

Beam AI's intuitive editing toolbar provides you with customization capabilities. Features include the ability to edit, add elements, rotate, split, cut openings, and more. A standout feature is Tags. Organize your quantities effectively by assigning tags based on various categories such as phase, trade, or any other relevant criteria. Each takeoff can have multiple tags or sub-tags, providing the flexibility to categorize data in a way that optimizes your workflow. 

How to Perform Takeoffs with Beam AI in 4 Simple Steps

Upload takeoffs with Beam AI in four steps:

1. Upload the site plan in PDF format
   
2. Define the scope of work and submit
   
3. The AI extracts quantities from the plans
   
4. An expert estimator reviews and delivers your takeoff within 1-3 days

Wrapping Up

Manual takeoffs drain time and energy that could be better spent strengthening your bid and securing more work. With Beam AI, you’re not replacing expertise but enhancing it. Automated takeoffs help your team move faster, reduce errors, and stay focused on the parts of the bid that truly move the needle.

So the next time a tender drops, don’t just open your takeoff tool—upgrade it. Get time back with AI Takeoffs.