AI estimating for contractors, priced the way you price

Why estimating eats your nights

For most contractors the estimate is where the money is made or lost, and it is also the job that gets done at the kitchen table after the crew goes home. Measuring plans by hand, building a material list, remembering what you charged last time and writing the same exclusions again takes hours per bid.

Northdesk splits that work in two: the measuring (takeoff) and the pricing and writing (the estimate). Dex helps with both, and you stay in charge of the number.

AI takeoff from your plans (add-on)

Pick the plan files on a project, choose your trade and the work types to look for, and Dex reads the plans. You get:

• Measurements and a material list with quantities, grouped by part of the job.
• The scope of work and the order of operations.
• Its assumptions and questions spelled out, so you can confirm what it couldn’t read.

Open the takeoff as sheets, export it to Excel, or get a marked-up plan. Foundation and site-work takeoffs go straight into the estimate. AI takeoff is an add-on a company switches on.

Estimate drafts from your own numbers

When a project has its scope, Dex can draft the estimate. The quantities come from the project and the takeoff. The prices come from your company’s own records: what you taught Dex, your past estimates, your saved items and your vendors’ prices. Dex writes the wording around them: the sections, the inclusions, the exclusions and the assumptions, in the format you use.

It learns your style from the estimates you have already sent: whether you show a lump sum or a price per section, your usual terms, how long your prices are good for. Each correction you make is remembered, and you can see and forget anything Dex learned.

Labor stays internal. Your crew-days and labor cost are used to price the work, but the client sees the scope priced your way.

Nothing goes out until you press Send

Dex saves a draft. You open it, change what you want, and send it with your logo and colors, emailed in your company’s name. Clients approve the estimate online, and an approved estimate becomes the invoice when the work is done. See estimates and invoices.

Quick numbers on site

For the quick math, the free calculators cover concrete yards, block counts, pavers, roof squares and more, and Dex answers those questions in plain words too.