Construction estimating begins long before a crew reaches a site. Estimators must interpret drawings, measure areas and lengths, calculate material quantities and turn those details into a competitive bid. Manual repetition can slow the process and introduce errors that become expensive during delivery.
Bobyard 2.0 aims to compress that workflow for landscaping and construction contractors. The update combines faster quantity takeoffs, pricing and AI review inside one workbench, reducing the need to rebuild measurements across separate tools.
Bobyard says its platform automates up to 70% of quantity and material takeoff work. Customers report average time reductions of 65% and the ability to submit three to five times more bids, though results will depend on project complexity and data quality.
Measure once and reuse the result
The new Multi-Measure feature lets an estimator draw one shape and receive related area, perimeter and volume calculations simultaneously. A wall, planting bed or paved section no longer needs separate geometry for every measurement.
Bobyard uses a “measure first, price later” model. Quantities can be established before materials, assemblies and costs are applied, keeping the geometric interpretation separate from commercial assumptions.
Legend Manager provides a dedicated place to create and run symbol or pattern legends. Text Count converts labels in drawings into count measurements. Cross-page search helps teams find relevant elements across larger plan sets.
These improvements target ordinary friction rather than replacing the estimator’s role. Faster measurements create value only if the underlying drawing has been interpreted correctly and exclusions are documented.
AI outputs enter a review workflow
Bobyard has brought its AI tools into a unified workbench with a Review Workflow. Estimators decide whether to trust or adjust AI-generated findings before adding them to the takeoff.
That approval step is important because construction drawings contain ambiguous symbols, revisions and project-specific conventions. An automated count can look precise while missing a note that changes material or scope.
The platform also connects completed takeoffs directly to an Estimate Table. Users can import pricing and assemblies and prepare a production-ready estimate without exporting to Excel or recreating quantities in another context.
Removing handoffs reduces transcription errors and preserves a connection between the bid and its source measurements. When cost changes, teams can update pricing without repeating the geometry. They can also trace a final figure back to the drawing element that produced it.
More bids still require disciplined judgement
Submitting three to five times more bids can increase opportunity, but speed is not the same as accuracy or profitable selection. Contractors need to track win rates, change orders and margin performance to determine whether automated estimates remain realistic.
AI should flag uncertainty rather than force every symbol into a confident category. High-value or unusual items deserve manual verification, and reviewers need enough context to understand why the system proposed a quantity.
The platform launched for landscaping contractors on April 8 and is expected to reach additional construction trades later in April. Bobyard raised a $35 million Series A led by 8VC with Pear VC and Caffeinated Capital in the previous year.
Specialising by trade may help it capture the language and measurement patterns that generic document AI misses. Landscaping, electrical work and structural construction each use drawings differently, so expanding responsibly requires domain-specific validation.
Bobyard 2.0 illustrates a productive role for AI in construction: automate the repetitive interpretation around an expert decision, keep the evidence visible and let the estimator approve the output.
The economic benefit comes from faster, more consistent preparation—not from removing responsibility. If contractors can measure once, price flexibly and review uncertainty before submission, they can pursue more work without multiplying the manual errors that often make a winning bid unprofitable.
