AI insulation takeoff & estimating software

Most insulation takeoffs are wrong in the same direction: they bill the whole wall network as thermal envelope, and interior partitions quietly pad the number. JobReadyIQ separates envelope from partition before it prices anything, counts each envelope wall once instead of twice, and shows you the square footage it excluded and why. Then it splits coverage by assembly — walls, attic, floor, below grade — so you're bidding the building's thermal shell, not its floor plan.

Run a insulation plan free →

// what it reads

What JobReadyIQ reads for insulation contractors:

→Envelope walls separated from interior partitions, each envelope wall counted once — not two faces — with the excluded partition SF shown as its own line instead of silently rolled in
→Ceiling and attic coverage from measured room footprints, with acoustical-tile and exposed-deck rooms subtracted and the number of dropped rooms stated
→R-values from the wall-section and assembly callouts, tied to the specific area each one governs
→Where the plan is silent on R-value, the climate-zone minimum — IRC Table N1102.1.2 plus the Utah amendments, including 5B along the Wasatch Front and 6B for Park City, Alta, and Brighton
→Material by assembly — batt, mineral wool, blown cellulose or fiberglass, dense-pack, and rigid board — each priced on its own basis from your cost book
→Air sealing as its own category with its own labor line, the way subs actually bid it, rather than buried inside batt install
→Rooms with no ceiling height called out by name in a zero-dollar line, so missing information shrinks nothing quietly

…bid-ready in about 60–90 seconds, with a code-cited inspection checklist and every quantity tied back to the sheet it came from. You review and own the final number.

// how it works

How a insulation takeoff actually runs

01
Insulation rides on geometry you already traced
If you've measured the plan for drywall, paint, acoustical ceilings, or trim, insulation costs you nothing extra to add — the same surface model feeds all of them, with no additional AI read. Coming in cold on an insulation-only job, you upload the set and the system finds the floor plans, wall sections, and assembly callouts without you tagging sheets.
02
Envelope gets separated from partition first
The wall network is split into envelope runs, interior partitions, and anything it can't classify. Envelope walls are counted once, because the thermal assembly is the wall — not its two faces. Partition footage doesn't disappear: it comes back as a zero-dollar line naming the excluded square footage, there for you to add back if it's a sound or fire partition you're actually insulating.
03
Wall area comes from the best source available, and tells you which
There's a ladder, and the number carries its rung. Best case, envelope area is read straight off plan dimensions. Next, it's computed from the wall network's envelope segments times the wall height. Failing both, it falls back to traced room perimeters — and that line ships flagged as draft with a written reason explaining it's gross interior face and runs high. Same number of clicks either way; very different confidence, and you can see which one you got.
04
Ceilings come off measured footprints, minus what isn't insulated
Attic and ceiling coverage is the sum of traced room areas, not a per-square-foot factor on the building. Rooms with acoustical tile or an exposed deck are subtracted, and the count of removed rooms is stated so the drop is visible rather than mysterious. Rooms with no ceiling height are listed by name in a zero-dollar line — missing data surfaces instead of quietly shrinking your scope.
05
Material and R-value resolve per assembly
Each assembly prices on its own basis: batt or dense-pack in walls, blown cellulose or fiberglass in the attic, rigid board below grade, spray by the board foot where that's the assembly. R-values come from the wall-section callouts where the plan gives them, and from the climate-zone minimum — IRC N1102.1.2 with Utah's amendments — where it doesn't. Air sealing carries its own category and its own labor code, priced separately from install.
06
You check the arithmetic, then own the number
Every line arrives with the formula that produced it, the inputs it consumed, the sheet it came from, and its confidence level. Override a quantity, change a material, raise an R-value, edit a rate — the totals move live and the change carries to your next job. Alongside it you get a code-cited field checklist: rim-joist sealing, baffles at the eave vents, three-inch clearance from non-IC cans, vapor retarder on the correct side for the zone, RESNET Grade 1 installation — each tied to its code section.

// supported assemblies

Every insulation assembly it handles, and what comes back

Assembly	What it reads	What comes back
Exterior wall, above grade	Wall-type callouts and wall-section details for the assembly R-value; the wall network for which runs are envelope and which are partition.	Net envelope SF, counted once per wall, as a batt, mineral wool, or dense-pack line at your rate — plus a separate zero-dollar line naming the partition SF that was excluded from thermal scope.
Ceiling and attic	Traced room footprints, the reflected ceiling plan, and the ceiling-height columns of the room schedule.	Blown coverage SF with acoustical-tile and exposed-deck rooms removed and the dropped-room count stated, priced as cellulose or fiberglass at R-38 or R-49.
Floor over unconditioned space	Crawlspace or basement designation and the floor assembly's R-value.	Floor batt SF at the climate-zone or called-out R-value. Available on the dimension-driven estimate today — see the limits below for the plan-read path.
Basement and crawlspace wall	Foundation wall height and the below-grade R-value from the assembly callouts.	Rigid or batt SF by assembly, with XPS, polyiso, and EPS priced at 1", 2", and 3" thicknesses.
Rim and band joist	Framing depth and the sealing requirement at the floor band.	Air-sealing scope plus a code-cited checklist item under IRC N1102.4. Deliberately not auto-quantified as SF — the rim is where field conditions decide, so it comes to you as scope to confirm.
Vapor retarder and air barrier	The assembly callout and the climate zone that governs which side it belongs on.	Retarder SF at 4, 6, or 10 mil, or weather-resistive barrier, attached to the wall assembly it serves.
Air sealing	Opening counts, penetrations, and the plan's sealing notes.	Its own category with its own labor code — sealant kits by coverage and a separate air-sealing labor line, not folded into batt install.

// limits

Where it stops, stated plainly

Anyone selling you a takeoff with no caveats hasn’t bid enough work. Here’s what to expect before you put a number in front of a GC.

On a trace-only set, wall area comes back gross — and says so

When the drawings carry no envelope dimensions and no wall network, the fallback is traced room perimeters. That's gross interior wall face: it includes every interior partition, so it is larger than your thermal scope, sometimes substantially. The line ships marked as draft, needing review, with a written reason that says the number is too big and why. Set the wall envelope or add ceiling heights on the measure canvas and it re-derives against real geometry.

Diagrammatic drawings get flagged, not guessed at

Where the set shows an assembly without dimensioning it, the quantity is flagged to confirm rather than invented from assumed footage. Same for missing ceiling heights: instead of shrinking the ceiling scope, the rooms come back named in a zero-dollar line with the fix attached. You will sometimes get a flag where you wanted a number. That's the trade for never getting a wrong number dressed up as a right one.

It's a takeoff, not a bid

Nothing here goes to a GC without you. Every line carries the formula that produced it, the inputs it used, the sheet it came from, and its confidence level, so you can check the arithmetic rather than trust it. Waste factors, crew productivity, access difficulty, and what you actually know about the builder are yours to apply.

Insulation estimating — straight answers.

Does it read R-values off the plan?+

Yes — it pulls R-values from the wall-section details and assembly callouts, and ties each one to the specific area it governs rather than applying a single blanket value to the building. Where a callout is missing, it falls back to the climate-zone minimum and tells you it did.

Does it handle batt and blown-in together?+

That's the normal case. Wall coverage and attic coverage come back as separate lines with separate materials and separate labor rates, so batt in the walls and blown in the attic each price on their own basis. The cost book carries cellulose and fiberglass at both R-38 and R-49, plus dense-pack, so you pick the one you actually install.

What R-value does it use if the plan doesn't call one out?+

The climate-zone minimum from IRC Table N1102.1.2, with Utah's amendments applied — zone 5B for most of the Wasatch Front, 6B for Park City, Alta, and Brighton. It's a floor, not a guess: the line is marked so you can raise it to whatever the energy sheet or the GC actually requires.

What if the set has no wall sections, or I only have a rough plan?+

You still get numbers, but honest ones. With no envelope information to work from, wall area comes off traced room perimeters — which is gross interior wall face, including partitions, and therefore larger than your real thermal scope. That line ships flagged as draft with a written reason saying exactly that, plus the fix. It will not hand you an inflated number with a confident checkmark on it.

Can I price it with my own material and labor rates?+

Yes, and you should. The insulation cost book is 44 line items — mineral wool at R-15/19/23, blown cellulose and fiberglass, dense-pack, XPS, polyiso and EPS at 1", 2" and 3", vapor retarder at 4, 6 and 10 mil, weather-resistive barrier, attic baffles — with five separate labor codes by install method: batt, blown, dense-pack, rigid, and spray by the board foot. Every rate is editable per company, and your edits carry to the next job.

Are my plan sets used to train AI models?+

No. Plans are never used to train any model, they're stored in infrastructure you can audit, and they're deletable on demand. That's the default, not something you have to ask for.

// guides