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According to the 2025 U.S. Houzz State of AI in Construction and Design Report, more than one in three construction professionals have already adopted AI in their businesses. With AI awareness among construction professionals at 69% and 66% of them believing AI will transform their field within five years, ignoring AI now means falling behind in real time.
In the preconstruction space, how efficiently estimators are using AI is already deciding if they win or miss a bid by close margin. Long nights spent marking up plans manually are fading fast as AI-based material takeoff software now automates accurate material takeoffs in 2-3 days. For estimating teams, this shift is transforming the entire front end of a project from material takeoffs, bidding process, project scheduling and so on.
Why the old way no longer wins
Across North America, 94% of construction executives report using some form of AI in their operations (RSM US, 2025). That means your next bid is likely up against a competitor who’s using automation to cut bid prep time by 50 to 80% and turn around takeoffs in days, not weeks.
In a market where bid timelines are shrinking and projects are awarded faster than ever, relying solely on manual takeoffs or spreadsheets simply costs you opportunities and business.
The shift: AI enters the arena
AI-based takeoffs and construction bid software have transformed estimating from a bottleneck into a strategic edge. AI-based takeoffs, for instance, automate 50% of the bid cycle and hence save 90% of their time drained in manual takeoffs. What it means for the estimators is:
- Takeoffs that once took weeks are now completed in just a few days.
- Materials are detected automatically with near-perfect accuracy.
- Addenda and drawing revisions are handled instantly, without starting over.
- Weekends are no longer lost to manual markups and revisions.
With that kind of assistance on-board, estimators get time for what humans do best: Pricing strategy, stakeholder collaboration and bid selection.
The big wins
With quicker takeoffs and increased bid capacity, revenue comes rolling in. With Beam AI, Carolina Site Utilities unlocked $5M in growth without adding estimators. Bommarito Construction increased their revenue by $1M within 6 months, while Rays Stairs more than doubled their revenue from $900K to $2M using AI-based takeoffs. In today’s bidding wars, AI isn’t just a tool, it’s the decisive advantage.
Ready for the Next Bid War?
You can tap your next million-dollar win by freeing estimators for bid strategy and value-engineering tasks and by moving the material takeoff process to Beam AI. Book a demo or take a guided tour of Beam AI to see how AI-based takeoffs can bring speed to your bidding cycle.
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