The bid desk that doesn't need typing
Most construction software promises to organise your data entry. IntelBid is built so there almost isn't any. You mark up the plan and you decide the price — the scope, the quantities, the proposal, the follow-up emails, and every record behind them are drafted from work you already did. Nothing sends without you reading it.
Your takeoff is the input
Measure the plan in IntelBid, or upload one you already measured. The area measurements are read off it, matched to finish codes through the legend and finish schedule, and totalled per product.
Invitations type themselves
Project, client, location, due date, and square footage are pulled from the email, scored for confidence, and de-duplicated before they reach your pipeline.
Emails arrive written
Follow-ups, proposal cover notes, and insurance-certificate requests come pre-drafted with the project details already in them.
Outcomes record themselves
Replies are read for awards and regrets and logged against the right general contractor, so win rate is a filter rather than a data-entry chore.
What do you still do yourself?
Four things. They are the four that require judgement, and they are the reason you get paid:
- Mark up the plan and do the takeoff. Nobody should automate the decision about what is in your scope and how much of it there is.
- Decide the price. Your margin, your risk read, your relationship with that GC. The software holds your cost data; it does not set your number.
- Read the draft and press send. Every proposal and every email waits for you.
- Make the calls only you can make. Bid or no-bid, what to qualify, when to walk.
How does a takeoff become a proposal?
IntelBid reads your measurements off the plan and drafts the proposal from them. This is the part most estimators do not believe until they see it. You do the takeoff, either in the takeoff tool built into IntelBid or on the plan in Bluebeam or similar. That markup is not just your working file; it is structured data, and IntelBid reads it:
- Measure it, then file it as a QTOMeasure the plan in IntelBid's takeoff and extract the sheets into Bid Docs, or upload the marked-up PDF from Bluebeam or similar. File it as a QTO either way. No re-keying quantities into a form.
- Your measurements are extractedThe area measurements you drew are pulled from the file — specifically your measurement values, not the architect's room areas, which is the distinction that makes the numbers trustworthy.
- Each area is matched to a finishUsing the plan location, the legend hatch, and the finish schedule, every measured area is assigned to the right finish code — and resolved through the specification chain to the actual product, even when the schedule points through two or three references.
- Quantities are totalled and pricedAreas are summed per finish, matched against your catalogue, and priced from your data. Anything the system is unsure about is flagged for review rather than quietly guessed.
- The proposal is draftedLine items, scope language, and your standard exclusions and qualifications, assembled into your branded PDF. You review, adjust, and send.
What else is drafted for you?
Most of the record-keeping around a bid, from the first invitation to the finished job:
| The task | Traditionally | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Logging a bid invitation | Read the email, open the spreadsheet, type six fields | Extracted with a confidence score, de-duplicated, queued for one-click approval |
| Adding the client and contact | Copy and paste from the signature block | Resolved from the message — including the real GC behind a PlanHub or BuildingConnected relay |
| Building the proposal | Retype quantities, copy exclusions from the last PDF | Drafted from your takeoff and your scopes library |
| Following up on a quiet bid | Remember, then write it | Surfaces on its own, grouped by GC, already written |
| Recording the outcome | If someone remembers to | Read from the reply and logged against that specific contractor |
| Answering a phone lead | Take a message, hope you call back | Answered and qualified by an AI phone agent, captured as a lead |
| Change orders, materials, work orders | Rebuilt by hand per job | Generated from the project record |
| Moving off your old system | Months of re-entry | CSV or Excel import with AI column mapping and de-duplication |
| Researching a new client | Search the web, copy what you find | Researched from the web, each cited page checked, staged for your review |
| Answering a question about a job | Dig through the emails and PDFs | Ask Bidsy AI in plain English; it answers from your own bids and documents |
| Cleaning up names, addresses and duplicates | Whenever someone gets to it | Night Crew, an add-on, fixes them overnight with a 30-day undo, and asks about anything it won't guess |
Why does removing data entry matter?
Manual entry does not just cost time. It decides what gets recorded at all — and on a busy desk, the answer is whatever someone had time for. That is why so many contractors cannot answer "what's our hit rate with this GC?": the data was never entered consistently enough to ask.
When capture is a by-product of work you were doing anyway, the record is complete by default. The win-rate analysis in our benchmarking guide only becomes possible at that point.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to enter my bids manually?
No. Bid invitations are read from your Gmail or Outlook and parsed for project name, client, location, due date, and size, then queued for your approval. Website form submissions and inbound phone calls captured by an AI phone agent land in the same queue. Manual entry exists for anything that arrives another way, but it is the exception rather than the workflow.
Can it build a proposal from my takeoff automatically?
Yes. Measure the plan in IntelBid, or use one you marked up elsewhere, and file it as a QTO. Your area measurements are extracted, matched to finish codes via the legend and finish schedule, resolved to the actual specified product, totalled per finish, priced from your data, and assembled into a branded proposal draft. Low-confidence matches are flagged for review rather than guessed silently.
Does it send emails on its own?
No, and that is deliberate. Follow-ups, proposal cover notes, and insurance-certificate requests arrive pre-written with the project details filled in, but a person reads and sends every one. Automatic sending is the fastest way to email a general contractor the wrong project name, and the relationship cost of that far exceeds the time saved.
What do I still have to do myself?
Mark up the plan and do the takeoff, decide the price, review drafts before they go out, and make the bid or no-bid call. Those are the judgement tasks. Everything between them — transcription, drafting, filing, and record-keeping — is handled.
See how little you actually type
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