“Don’t Play Catch-Up": A Painting Contractor’s Take on AI-Powered Takeoff

In short:

• Takeoff Boost™ helps painting contractors like Bill Brady move from skepticism about AI to using it on almost all their projects to speed up estimating and bidding.
• On large, complex jobs with many unit types, AI-powered takeoff saves Bill several hours per project, time he reinvests into submitting more bids.
• Consistent weekly time savings quickly deliver ROI, reducing late nights while freeing Bill to focus on budgets and training estimators.
• With competitors already adopting AI, Bill urges painters to get ahead by trying Takeoff Boost on real projects instead of sticking with manual takeoffs.

For painting contractors, speed and accuracy in estimating are nonnegotiable. When plans are complex and deadlines are tight, every minute you spend clicking a mouse to measure walls is a minute not spent bidding on the next job or managing a current project.

We recently hosted the webinar, Win Bids Before the Paint Dries: How Painters Find Projects and Finish Takeoffs Faster. The session featured a conversation between Blake Beal, Senior Product Manager at ConstructConnect®, and customer William ‘Bill’ Brady, Chief Operating Officer at KBI Painting Inc., a successful painting contractor business in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bill shared his journey from being skeptical about AI to using AI-powered features on almost all of his projects. He shares how Takeoff Boost has evolved over time to meet the specific needs of painters and the real impact it has had on his business.

The Evolution of AI for Painters

Q: What was your experience when you first started using Takeoff Boost? How has it changed since then?

Bill: When I first started using Takeoff Boost, I did a demo 3-4 years ago when it was first coming out. At that time, it only measured single-sided walls. I tried it, and it ended up being a little too hard to reassign everything, so I gave up on it for a while.

Then I got some emails coming out about single-sided wall recognition and other features for painters, so I decided to do another demo, and I really liked it, so I’ve been using Takeoff Boost since. I use a lot of the training videos on YouTube, and I’ve gotten a lot better with it.

Q: What was the learning curve like for you?

Bill: There wasn’t much of a learning curve. It’s pretty simple to use. The biggest thing I had to learn was reassigning Conditions, since it's not something you do when doing manual takeoffs. But once I got it, it was pretty simple.

Saving Hours and Winning More Bids

Q: Tell us about a big project that you used Takeoff Boost for recently. How much time did you save compared to if you had to do it manually?

Bill: The last project I did was a teacher housing in Pacifica. It was 14 buildings, 70 units, and about a 96,000-square-foot footprint. So, a very heavy takeoff.  

On that one, there were different unit types. Maybe five or six different unit types. So, it probably saved me at least 3-4 hours just doing a takeoff on the unit types alone.

Q: What would you do with the 3-4 hours that you got back?

Bill: Do more bids.

ROI and Business Impact

Q: If you had to go back to manual estimating tomorrow, what would you miss most about Takeoff Boost?

Bill: The time savings—being able to free up extra time and not having to work such late hours. I’d definitely miss using Takeoff Boost on budgets. It’s something you don’t have to be accurate for. You can run Takeoff Boost to get a rough number for a budget instead of doing the whole takeoff manually for something that you’re going to end up measuring again down the road with a different set of drawings.

Q: Do you feel like you're getting a return on your investment with Takeoff Boost?

Bill: Yes—even if you can save a couple of hours a week, it pays for itself fairly quickly. It frees you up to get more bids out, which is how you’re going to get your numbers higher. For me, personally, it has freed me up to do other things within our company to help run the business and train some of the other estimators on our team. We’re definitely getting a return on investment.

Advice for Other Contractors

Q: What would you tell another painting contractor who is on the fence about trying AI for takeoffs?

Bill: AI is the way the industry is moving. I would recommend getting in front of it rather than playing catch-up because most of your competitors are probably using it. For anybody interested, just do a demo or watch some YouTube videos. If you got a big project coming up, do a trial, run it on that, and see if you like it.

More from the Webinar: Finding the Right Paint Jobs

Finding the time to bid is half the battle. Finding the right jobs to bid on is the other half. This blog is part of our webinar recap series.

During the webinar, Christina Rodriguez, Product Manager at CostructConnect, also showed painting contractors how ConstructConnect Project Intelligence can help them find the right painting projects faster.

Take Bill’s Advice: See it for Yourself

Bill Brady’s experience shows that the right AI tool can improve the entire bidding process for painting contractors. His advice for those curious to see the benefits for themselves? Don't hesitate.

Ready to take Bill's advice?

• Schedule a demo to see your own plans measured in minutes, not days.
• Visit our YouTube Training channel to master the software.