Can you bid a job from just a PDF plan set?
Short answer: yes. Drop in the PDF — or DWG, or a full plan-set ZIP up to 500MB — and JobReadyIQ returns a bid-ready scope a trade in about 60–90 seconds: quantities, costs, and a code-cited inspection checklist. No pre-splitting sheets, no labeling trades.
For twenty years, "bidding from plans" meant a printout, a scale, a highlighter, and a long night. It doesn't anymore.
What you drop in
The plan set, as-is. PDF, DWG, or a ZIP of the whole set, up to 500MB. You don't need to separate the sheets, tag the trades, or clean anything up first — the AI reads the set the way an estimator would and detects what's on it.
What comes back, per trade
Each trade gets its own purpose-built read, not a generic keyword scrape:
- Quantities — the takeoff, tied back to the sheets they came from.
- Costs — material and labor against your cost book, so it's your pricing, not a generic catalog.
- A code-cited inspection checklist — each item naming the code section and the sheet, flagging what to field-verify before it's in your scope.
- A written scope of work you can drop straight into a proposal.
So you go from a raw PDF to a number you can defend — and the scope language to sell it — in minutes.
Where the limits are
It's honest about plan quality. A clean vector PDF returns a tighter takeoff than a fuzzy scan or a thin schematic. When the plan is unclear or contradicts itself, the tool flags the line for review and tells you why, citing the sheet — it doesn't paper over a gap with a guess. Detail in, detail out, with the gaps marked so you know exactly where your judgment is needed.
For GCs: the whole building at once
A subcontractor signs up by specialty and gets a read tuned to their trade. A general contractor gets the multi-trade version: the AI detects most every trade on the set (50+) and reads them together — plumbing, electrical, framing, roofing, HVAC, concrete — so you can scope an entire building from one upload and compare it against sub bids without manually mapping scope.
You still review and own the final number. But the three-day grind of turning a PDF into a bid? That's the part the software takes.
Run your own plan set free — no card, first three on us.
FAQ
What file formats can I upload?+
PDF, DWG, and full plan-set ZIPs up to 500MB. Drag them in or paste a link. You don't need to pre-split sheets or label trades — the AI reads the set and detects what's on it.
Does it work on scanned or photographed PDFs?+
Yes, though detail-in-detail-out applies: a crisp vector PDF returns a tighter read than a low-resolution scan. Either way it flags what it can't read clearly instead of guessing, so you know exactly where to look.
How long does it take?+
About 60–90 seconds per trade. A single-trade read is back in a minute or two; a full multi-trade set takes a bit longer because it's running each trade's purpose-built read.
Can it bid every trade on the set at once?+
Yes. The AI detects most every trade on a plan set (50+) and the GC version reads them together — plumbing, electrical, framing, roofing, HVAC, concrete, and more — so a general contractor can scope the whole building from one upload.
Run your next plan through JobReadyIQ.
A bid-ready scope in minutes — free, no card.
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