Togal vs. BeamAI: The Truth About AI Takeoff Accuracy & Usability

Takeoffs take up more than 50% of the bid-prep time. Legacy takeoff software usually requires you to manually trace site plans, drawing polygons, and measuring endlessly to complete each takeoff. AI takeoff tools are changing that reality, but how they do it varies a lot.

Beam AI offers fully automated takeoffs where material quantities are generated by the system and then verified by a QA team before they reach you. This model is designed to save time and reduce the amount of manual review needed on the estimator’s side. If your projects involve multiple trades, sheet notes, spec references, and revisions, Beam AI factors in all information to perform your takeoffs.

On the other hand, Togal.AI uses AI to identify areas, walls, and symbols on floor plans. To understand this better, let’s look at the difference between floor plans and site plans first.

Site Plans Versus Floor Plans

Floor plan shows the interior quantities of a building such as walls (lengths, thickness), doors, windows, room layouts, interior dimensions, fixtures (toilets, sinks, kitchen equipment), stairs, corridors, openings and interior finishes or notes. Estimators can derive quantities such as areas of flooring, wall lengths to paint, fixture counts for plumbing or electrical and similar quantities from a floor plan takeoff. Since these elements are mostly visual and geometric, Togal has good accuracy here. 

Site plans on the other hand show the entire plot of land and everything that surrounds it. Details such as property boundaries, grading contours (slopes, elevation changes), paving areas (asphalt, concrete roads, sidewalks), curbs, gutters, drainage structures, landscaping (trees, turf, irrigation), utilities (water, sewer, storm, gas, electrical), parking lots, zoning requirements, exterior hardscape are all covered in a site plan. 

From site plan takeoffs, estimators can derive advanced quantities such as cut/fill volumes (earthwork), Utility trenching lengths & depths, Asphalt, curb and sidewalk quantities, Landscaping areas & counts, Concrete flatwork quantities. 

Since these civil, paving, grading, earthwork, utility, and landscape quantity calculation needs advanced capabilities such as spec parsing, sheet coordination and detailed logic, visual-only tools such as Togal.ai fail to derive quantity takeoffs. 

Beam AI can interpret material assemblies, understand layers like base, subbase, asphalt course, slope % and consider elevations and shapes instead of just the geometric shapes. It can read specs, civil details and interpret utility logic to automate complex trade takeoffs from site plans. So, if you need a tool which spans across and integrates plan specs, elevations, utilities, grading and civil details to give you comprehensive material quantity takeoff, Beam AI is the ideal choice to make.

Togal ai is helpful for simple floor plan takeoffs providing counts for only the visual and geometric elements on the plan. However, because it primarily reads geometric shapes and does not interpret specifications, notes, or trade-specific context, users still need to review, adjust, and complete the takeoff manually before it can be used in estimating. So while Togal speeds up the markup, you still need to manually complete the takeoff.

So the choice often comes down to how your team works today:

• If your projects span multiple trades and you want to scale bid volume, increasing your current team’s overall output without adding estimators, Beam AI is built for that.
• If your plans are mostly floor layouts and your team prefers reviewing quantities manually, Togal.AI offers a faster way to get there.

This blog breaks down those differences across accuracy, trade coverage, usability, and real-world project complexity, so you can see which model fits your estimating workflow best.

Togal.AI vs. Beam AI: Quick Comparison Overview

Different estimating teams approach takeoffs differently. Some are trying to increase bid volume because they’re running up against capacity. Others want to reduce rework or get more predictable accuracy. And some simply want to stop spending nights and weekends tracing drawings.

Beam AI and Togal.AI both help streamline takeoffs in fundamentally different ways.

• Beam AI automates the entire takeoff and has a QA team verify the final quantities before it reaches the estimator. The goal is to remove the manual work and deliver bid-ready outputs so you can move straight into pricing and proposal stage.
• Togal.AI speeds up the measurement part of the process. It uses AI to quickly detect and label areas, walls, and fixtures on floor plans. But since it doesn’t interpret specs, notes, details, assemblies, or trade-specific logic, you still finish and adjust the takeoff manually before it can be used for bidding.

This is how the two workflows differ:

This is the key distinction that shapes everything else: accuracy, coverage, effort, and scalability.

Key Differentiators at a Glance

1. Automation Depth
   
   • Beam AI delivers completed takeoffs that are QA-reviewed and aligned to the project scope.
     
   • Togal.AI accelerates measuring and markup, but the estimator still reviews, adjusts, and completes the takeoff manually.
     
2. Trade Coverage
   
   • Beam AI supports multiple trades end-to-end (concrete, steel, HVAC, plumbing, sitework, utilities, roofing, etc.).
     
   • Togal.AI primarily detects areas, lengths, and counts on floor plans, so trade-specific logic and spec interpretation remain manual.
     
3. Understanding Specs & Notes
   
   • Beam AI reads and applies spec sections, keynotes, and sheet-level instructions to generate material quantities.
     
   • Togal.AI does not parse specs and focuses on visual geometry, so interpretation is done by the estimator.

Beam AI's 'Done-for-You' Approach to Takeoffs

With Beam AI, estimators need to follow 4 simple steps to get fully automated material takeoffs:

Step 1: Upload your project plans

Estimators can start by uploading site plans: architectural, mechanical, electrical, or civil drawings in PDF format. Beam AI supports multi-trade PDF-based plans, so they can handle all scopes from one place.

Step 2: Confirm your scope of work

Next, estimators simply review and confirm the pre-aligned scope tailored to their trade (HVAC, steel, concrete, or multi-trade). If there are any project-specific changes or exceptions, estimators can note them in the “Project-Specific Deviations” box.

Step 3: Let AI handle the takeoff

Once the scope is confirmed, estimators can sit back as Beam AI automatically extracts all material quantities directly from the drawings with no manual tracing or clicking required.

Step 4: Receive QA-reviewed takeoffs

Finally, estimators get takeoffs that have been QA-reviewed by Beam’s team and delivered within 24–72 hours, hence ensuring accuracy, consistency, and bid-readiness.

Before adopting Beam AI, Grizzly Contractors found themselves buried under manual takeoff processes. Each takeoff required a week or more of manual scoping and calculating material quantities. With Beam AI handling takeoff heavy lifting, estimators could quickly move into creating orders and preparing the estimate. This reduced their estimation time by 80% and doubled their bidding capacity.

Togal.AI's AI detection and trade-specific features

Togal.AI’s AI detection automatically detects, measures, compares, and labels project spaces & features on architectural plans & drawings. However, the estimator must review Togal’s takeoff to customize it to their needs for the project, as the AI output is delivered directly to the estimator without any double-checks.

Togal.ai supports a broad range of trades but lacks specific mention of trade-specific automation in the provided context. It focuses on geometric quantities, areas, perimeters, and counts, across architectural and interior plan sheets. 

Reddit and G2 reviews suggest Togal.AI performs well for straightforward layouts but may need manual cleanup on dense or highly annotated plans. Some users also report lag or crashes on large drawing sets. Users often have to step in to fine-tune results for specialized trades. In short, Togal can be used for small to mid-sized projects, though it can feel limited when handling complex, multi-trade work.

Advanced editing capabilities of Beam AI

Every project has unique needs best understood by the experienced estimators. If you spot something minor that needs to be changed on the takeoff or a small detail that wasn’t mentioned in the plan specifications, Beam AI’s editing toolbar makes your reviewing experience smooth and intuitive. It lets you quickly make edits to your takeoff, with drawing, measuring, selecting, and markup tools, making it very easy for estimators to split a footing, adjust a slab edge, or add markups directly on the plan.

You can easily edit existing features and polygons by dragging points or lines. To add new point, line, and surface features to your AI takeoff, you can use the add count and polyline tool within the platform. All you need to do is just create a point, line, or polygon feature, name it, and start dropping points or drawing shapes on the takeoff. These editing tools make it a reviewing experience rather than a redoing one.

Beam AI also allows you to easily add a custom calculation or attribute to your takeoff and generate instant and accurate results automatically. This means you can add custom values, attributes, materials, and measurements to takeoff details. 

Beam AI auto-computes quantities like volume and area as soon as attributes are set.

For example, if a wall footing already has height and width defined, Beam AI multiplies those attributes with the length and instantly returns the cubic yardage. You can also add your own attributes, like height or a waste factor, and Beam AI recalculates everything automatically.

This helps you t quickly apply project-specific factors, adjust dimensions, or add custom materials to ensure every estimate reflects real job conditions. 

Reviewing Takeoffs Experience with Togal AI

As we have already seen, takeoff reviewing experience with Togal AI requires a lot more rework from the estimators than a simple recheck. To edit the takeoffs, Togal AI provides tools to subtract an area from the classification, extend an area by adding or merging two areas, and to split a classification into multiple areas.

Users have noted that on architectural plan drawings, Togal AI might not find all the needed components. This means that after Togal.AI automatically identifies and measures elements such as areas and lengths, estimators sometimes have to use SnapAI or the standard takeoff tools on drawings to manually complete the missing Togal.AI data.

Estimators can also make adjustments and edits using Togal’s editing functions, such as Edit Points, Add Points, Move/Copy, and Disconnected Point, to correct the inaccuracies. 

Users note that some measurements on takeoffs might include areas that should be excluded, and such cutouts are not identified by Togal.AI. For example, on a plan with a swimming pool in the middle of a room, Togal can identify the pool room area, but the area of the swimming pool needs to be subtracted from the room total for an accurate non-slip tile measurement. 

Estimators have to manually perform such cutouts by clicking on the measurement to select it, pressing the G key to add a disconnected measurement, and clicking on points of the pool outline in a counter-clockwise direction to cut out that section. In short, while the takeoffs with Togal AI are generated quickly, estimators have to spend extra time cross-checking all plan details manually.  

Interpretation of specs, notes, and drawing details

Accurate estimating starts with how well your software understands context, from specs and notes to annotations. Here’s how Beam AI and Togal.AI differ in that process.

How Beam AI handles complex instructions and sheet-level notes

Beam AI really stands out when it comes to reading and understanding specifications, plan notes, and project details. It automatically picks up material callouts and weaves them into the takeoff without extra effort. This makes it especially useful for complex projects that come with detailed design documents. If any note on the plan doesn’t align with a measurement, Beam AI calls out the discrepancy immediately. This helps estimators to catch conflicts early, saving them from the painful discovery of mismatches after a bid is submitted. 

With Beam AI’s automated detailed measurements for siding, trim, and flashing, JBW achieved 99% material accuracy and virtually eliminated leftover materials. This reduced material waste also slashed down extra labor, fuel, and transportation costs, and improved margins for the firm.

Togal.AI's focus on visual elements and quantities

Togal.AI makes it easy to spot and measure visual elements on plans. Its AI image search feature is also designed with a focus on visual elements. It can read some annotations, but it’s not meant for deep spec interpretation. However, many users leverage the Togal.CHAT feature to clear up confusion in drawings. 

How Beam AI handles addenda?

As an estimator, you know last-minute addenda bring chaos, forcing you to recheck quantities, update sheets, and revise bids under impossible deadlines. To ease this experience, Beam AI lets you resubmit a takeoff easily and automatically detects all plan changes to provide you with an updated bid-ready takeoff. 

If you have updates and changes in the existing plans, you can add an addendum for the same. You can also request a correction in the existing takeoff if you want to reprocess the takeoff for the existing workable sheets. However, if you want takeoff for sheets that were not part of the initial scope, Beam AI gives you the option to request takeoff for a new workable sheet as well.

Using Beam AI, estimators can compare up to 10 addendum versions and also look at the built-in variance report, offering a side-by-side comparison of pre and post-addenda versions, highlighting quantity changes, newly added or removed items, and sheet-level updates. 

Estimators can toggle between the version changes in-platform, and can also export Excel reports with color-coded, trade-wise side-by-side breakdowns. Watch this quick video to understand how easy it is to resubmit a takeoff on Beam AI and what the variance report looks like.

Without starting over, you can handle plan changes and instantly spot what’s new, what’s changed, and how quantities shift across versions. Addendum handling by Beam AI saves estimators hours of manual rework, reduces costly oversight, and keeps bids accurate even when addenda arrive last minute.

How Togal AI Handles Addendums?

Togal.AI allows users to compare different versions of construction drawings by overlaying them and helps with automatically identifying and quantifying changes between them. Users can perform this comparison by navigating to the compare section, clicking the "add overlay" button, and selecting the drawing version to compare against the original. 

So while Togal.AI’s overlay tool is useful for spotting changes between drawing versions, you’ll still need to spend time reviewing and comparing those differences manually before finalizing quantities.

User experience, learning curve, and support

Poorly designed takeoff tools lead to team burnout, manual rework, and missed bids, ruining the estimator experience. On the contrary, user-friendly takeoff software is built to ensure fast onboarding, low errors, and higher adoption. Read this blog to learn more about choosing a user-friendly takeoff software that your team won’t hate using.

Intuitive navigation, easy exports, visual clarity, and a shorter learning curve are the top four factors you should consider while picking a takeoff tool for enhanced user experience. Let’s see what users have to say about their experiences with Beam AI and Togal AI:

Navigating Beam AI's interface and workflow

Submitting takeoffs with Beam AI is as simple as uploading your PDF plans, confirming your scope, and hitting submit. No tracing, clicking, or manual effort is required. The platform’s AI handles all quantity extraction and delivers QA-verified takeoffs within 24–72 hours in the preferred format.

Estimators can choose to share and export these quantity takeoffs as detailed Excel reports, PDFs, or also share interactive takeoff links. They can control how the quantity outputs show up and customize their formatting for streamlined sync with the subs.

Rays Stairs, a Georgia-based stair construction and metal fabrication company, mentioned that using the Beam AI interface is a no-brainer and as easy as sending out an email. The company was able to double its bid volume by more than 2X and increased their revenue from $900K to $2M in just 2 months using Beam AI takeoffs.

The platform is designed to reduce the learning curve. Estimators can typically become productive within days, without extensive training or complex onboarding. As users on Capterra note, it is easy to learn and comes with wonderful customer support.

Built-in learning materials such as short videos and interactive tutorials help users get quick answers and ongoing assistance when needed. Every Beam AI customer gets a dedicated

Navigating Togal.AI's workflow

Togal.AI also has good reviews for its intuitive design and ease of use. Users mention that its Togal.CHAT acts like a built-in guide that helps with takeoffs and clarifies plan details.

Users acknowledge Togal.AI’s steady improvements but point out that mastering its AI tools requires some effort early on, which can slow initial adoption. Some users note that while Togal.AI’s features are advancing steadily, there’s an initial learning curve that can make adoption feel challenging at first. Other users on G2 mention navigation issues with Togal.AI, particularly with latency and difficulty in selecting specific areas in drawings.

Time savings, efficiency, and bid volume

With traditional methods, estimators could spend hours and days on a single takeoff or project. Beam AI reduces this workload dramatically. With fully automated takeoffs, estimating gets quicker and hence enables contractors to bid on more projects, increasing competitiveness and revenue potential, all without adding additional headcount. 

Irana Perez, a Civil Engineer and Project Estimator at Petticoat-Schmitt Civil Contractors, discussed with us how Beam AI has helped her win more bids. 

Togal.ai users also mention time saved in takeoffs and increased bid volume, but lack mention of full automation of complex specifications. Togal’s case studies tend to focus on speed/time savings but offer fewer detailed metrics around revenue growth or multi-year strategic impact.

Collaboration, cloud features, and integrations

Both platforms offer cloud-based collaboration. Togal.ai emphasizes real-time internal and external collaboration, allowing multiple users to work simultaneously on takeoffs. It provides export filtering and supports various file types, including PDF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF.

Beam AI can handle multiple takeoffs at the same time, and also enables multiple stakeholders to collaborate on a single takeoff. Additionally, Beam AI supports cloud-based collaboration and allows for easy integration with estimating software through multiple export options. 

Once Beam AI takes quantities off plans, it gives you clean and easy-to-share takeoff data ready for estimating and bid package submissions in formats including PDFs, Excel reports, and shareable links. The view-only shareable link allows external parties like GCs or suppliers to add notes directly to the takeoff, hence resolving quantity discrepancies, or can also be used to send quantities to suppliers for quotes. 

You can also export the takeoff data in a comprehensive Excel report, which is structured by measurements, assemblies, and materials in multiple tabs for easy analysis. This helps you verify quantity totals without jumping between drawings and isolate material or assembly costs for faster adjustments and bid validation. Beam AI’s customized Excel outputs can be directly imported into your existing estimating workflows without reformatting.

Beam AI also allows you to export your takeoff data as enhanced PDFs, where you can control exactly what appears in the PDF exports. For instance, you can enhance the image quality, maximize space, hide irrelevant annotations, and exclude unnecessary material details to prepare a cleaner, trade-focused takeoff report, both in A3/A4 formats. 

These PDFs save time during bid submissions by ensuring the visuals clearly support the quantities and scope being priced, while also reducing the confusion from cluttered markups.

Read here how a West Georgia-based structural steel firm streamlined their estimating process with consistent output quality using Beam AI.

Bid tracking with Beam AI

As an estimator, you’ve probably had bids scattered across spreadsheets and whiteboards. With Beam AI’s Bid Dashboard, you can finally track every bid across your pipeline in one organized view. 

You can see each project’s status, deadline, owner, priority, and value, in an easy-to-follow view. It allows you to keep tabs on every moving part, such as the RFIs, ITBs, and addenda, to ensure that nothing slips through on your bid day. You can also use Beam AI’s default stages or customize them to match how your team tracks work. Additionally, Beam AI enables automated reminders for you before each due date, putting an end to the last-minute scrambles.

In one click, you can export any file you’re viewing, after filtering and sorting it into a clean, report-ready workbook. With Beam AI, you can create a bid while submitting a takeoff or start a takeoff directly from a bid; as the ecosystem keeps both connected.

You can also get totals, win rates, RFI/ITB/addenda logs, and estimator rollups for pipeline decks, money-by-stage, win/loss by GC, aging, and capacity planning. 

Togal.AI, on the other hand, does not appear to offer dedicated bid tracking functionality. 

Pricing Models: Understanding Custom Quotes for Value

• Beam AI Pricing: With Beam AI, your investment directly translates into doubled bid capacity & higher revenue. As per the model, you buy a bundle of measurable sheet credits upfront in an annual plan, and don’t get pay-as-you-go or per-job pricing. At the same time, customers pay only for what AI actually measures, and up to 10 users can easily collaborate on the project with no extra charge.

To deliver the most value, Beam AI is designed for estimators working with 500 or more measurable sheets annually. Beam AI users note that it provides value in reducing manual work and increasing the bid volume. Keith Wright, Vice President of JBW Installations Inc. mentions in his testimonial that Beam AI paid for itself many times over just by reducing their labor costs. For more information on Beam AI’s pricing, you can visit the pricing page here. You can also read this blog to understand Beam’s takeoff pricing better.

• Togal.AI Pricing: Togal follows subscription tiers with a focus on volume-based usage. Its pricing appeals to small and mid-sized contractors looking for fast AI-assisted takeoffs.

Which AI takeoff software is right for your business?

Choosing between Beam AI and Togal.AI totally depends on the kind of projects you handle and what your team values most. Some estimators need deep automation and accuracy, while others just want a fast, easy way to handle simple plan takeoffs. Let’s break down when each tool makes the most sense for your business.

When to Choose Beam AI

• If you're an estimator juggling complex, multi-trade projects, Beam AI is built to handle it all, from plumbing and electrical to HVAC and concrete.
• If you don’t have hours to manually review quantities or would rather spend that time scaling your team or value-engineering, Beam’s ±1% QA-verified takeoff accuracy ensures your takeoffs are rock-solid and bid-ready.
• If you want to scale your preconstruction output without adding headcount, whether you’re a small team needing extra horsepower or a large team trying to double bid volume, Beam AI is the right choice for you.
• If you often deal with lengthy specs and plan notes, Beam AI automatically reads and interprets them, saving hours of manual work.
• If your team collaborates across multiple trades or offices, Beam’s cloud-based platform keeps everyone aligned with structured workflows and shared access.‍
• If you want a cost-efficient takeoff solution that charges only for measurable sheets, with no access fees or user limits, Beam AI is the right choice for you.

When to Choose Togal.AI?

• If you mostly work with clean, straightforward floor plans, Togal.AI helps you get quick, reliable takeoffs without heavy setup or complexity.
  
• If speed and simplicity matter more than deep automation, Togal.AI’s AI-assisted workflow helps you finish takeoffs in minutes instead of hours.
  
• If you like interactive guidance while working, Togal.CHAT acts like a built-in assistant, helping you clarify plan details and stay productive.

Final Thoughts

Now that we’ve explored both Beam AI and Togal.AI, it’s clear that each brings something valuable to the table. Beam AI stands out for its automation and ability to handle multi-trade, complex projects with ease. Togal.AI, on the other hand, shines when you need speed for straightforward plans. The right choice really comes down to your project complexity, trade mix, and how your team likes to work.

For contractors ready to streamline pre-construction workflows, explore Beam AI through a free guided tour or schedule a demo to experience its automated takeoff capabilities firsthand.

*The details presented in this blog regarding Togal AI are accurate and based on publicly available information from Togal’s official website as of 10th November, 2025.