Takeoff with KAI. For ANZ commercial builders and estimators. Part of the Deep Space platform.

AI Takeoff Connected to Your Estimate, Budget and Xero

AI takeoff is the easy part. What happens next is where you win or lose margin.

Plenty of software can count symbols on a drawing now. KAI measures inside the same platform that runs your estimate, budget, subcontracts, claims and Xero. One quantity, accepted once, carried all the way through.

Run KAI on a drawing set you're pricing now

Takeoff with KAI in Deep Space: scale verified on a floor plan, with LED downlights, power outlets and data outlets counted at high confidence

KAI checks every sheet's scale against its printed dimensions.

Counts and room areas suggested on the drawing, with the reason.

Accepted quantities flow into the BoQ, estimate and budget. No export.

Your cost codes on every line. Your estimator has the final say.

The standalone AI takeoff problem

Why AI Takeoff on Its Own Doesn't Protect Your Margin

A faster count that still ends in a spreadsheet is still a re-key. Every handoff between systems is where errors creep in and margin leaks out.

01

Standalone AI takeoff stops at Excel.

US takeoff products and per-seat estimating add-ons measure quickly, then hand you a spreadsheet. Someone still has to rebuild the BoQ, re-code it and push it into the budget.

02

Every licence is another seat, another login, another copy of the numbers.

Standalone AI takeoff runs $299 to A$450 per estimator, per month, on top of Bluebeam, CostX, Excel and your project platform. The quantities live in one, the budget in another, and nobody trusts which is current.

03

A drawing revision means measuring it all again.

Addendum lands four days before submission. In a standalone takeoff, the old quantities, the estimate and the subbie scopes all need rechecking by hand.

“We just need something that connects to everything. Everything needs to be talking.”

-- Estimating lead, Melbourne commercial builder. April 2026.

How it works

From Drawing Set to Estimate in Eight Steps

Link the PDFs from Project Documents to a takeoff package and press Takeoff with KAI. KAI reads up to 60 sheets in one run while you keep working.

Takeoff with KAI

KAI does the measuring. Your estimator makes the call.

Nothing KAI produces counts toward a quantity until a person accepts it. Every quantity traces back to a shape on a sheet at a pinned revision.

Link drawings
Read the set
Check scales
Measure
Review
Accept
Estimate
Budget

Pick drawings straight from Project Documents. No exporting, no second piece of software.

KAI lists every sheet with its number, revision and discipline, and tests the title block scale against printed dimensions.

Counts of legend symbols and named room areas appear on the sheet as suggestions, grouped by trade.

Accepted suggestions become ordinary takeoff lines, badged KAI, and sync into the estimate and budget.

Review with confidence

Every Suggestion Shows Its Reasoning

No black box. Each count and area carries a confidence level, the reason KAI believes it, and any check that failed. Accept the clear ones in one click and step through the rest.

KAI suggestions

Scale verified. Quantities suggested. You decide.

KAI shows where the title block and the printed dimensions agree, what it counted and measured, and what a person should check before it reaches the estimate.

LED downlight 28 no.

High confidence: Legend symbol matched on every instance. Scale verified on sheet A-101.

Open office 158 m²

Room area. Outline traced from the named room. Accept, adjust with the normal tools, or reject.

Query: doors 42 vs 40

Check: Door schedule says 42, plans show 40. Raise an RFI at tender, not on site.

Scale confirmed on every sheet before anything is measured. Disagreements are flagged, never guessed.

Confidence level and reason on every suggestion, in plain language.

Accept all high-confidence lines in one click. Fix shapes with the normal measuring tools.

Queries show where drawings disagree, so scope gaps become RFIs, not variations.

Inside the takeoff package

KAI Works Where Your Estimators Already Work

Takeoff with KAI is a button on the takeoff package, not another login. It uses your cost codes, your locations and your price lists, so every line is ready for the estimate the moment it is accepted.

Takeoff with KAI

Press the button. Let KAI read the set.

A simple sheet takes under a minute. A dense sheet takes a few. Progress shows on the button, so the estimator keeps pricing other trades while KAI works.

Reads PDFs from Project Documents. Vector drawings from the designer, up to 60 sheets per run.

Counts symbols from the drawing legend and measures named rooms. Lengths, walls and volumes are next.

Takeoff lines carry code, location, category, cost code, quantity, unit and rate. Totals calculate automatically.

Run the same drawings again and nothing is duplicated or charged twice. Every run is logged.

Connected, not exported

KAI's quantities are live-linked to your BoQ. No re-keying. No drift.

Every BoQ item links back to its takeoff source. Change a quantity in the takeoff and the BoQ updates. A manual override is flagged, so nobody overwrites a number without knowing.

Synced item warning

This item is synced from Quantity Takeoffs.

Manual changes may be overwritten on the next sync.

BOQ synced from takeoff

Synced Item Warning. Override knowingly or not at all.

The Source column on every line shows where the item came from: Takeoff, Manual or Imported. One look at the BoQ tells you what is connected and what was hand-keyed.

Takeoff
Manual
Imported

Budget categories roll up through the BoQ, so each category sums its items.

Source column on every item. Takeoff, Manual, or Imported. See at a glance what is connected.

Cost codes carry from takeoff to BoQ to estimate to Budget Register to Xero.

Already measured in CostX, Cubit or Buildsoft? Import the BoQ and KAI matches the columns automatically.

Drawing revisions

Revisions Without Starting Again

When a drawing is revised, KAI compares the sheets, re-measures only the regions that changed, and carries everything else forward. Coming next.

Change set

See what changed. Price the difference, not the whole set.

Packages that pin the old revision show "2 drawings revised, review changes". You get a change set: unchanged, changed, new and removed, each with the old and new quantity.

Unchanged pages cost nothing. Their measures carry forward as they are.

Shapes a person drew in a changed region are flagged to check, never altered.

Update estimate from revision creates a new estimate version with the quantity and dollar change per line.

The budget only moves when you push that version. Your approved numbers stay protected.

One quantity, all the way through

From the Drawing to Xero Without a Single Re-key

This is what standalone AI takeoff can't do. Each stage carries the quantity from the stage before. On award, the BoQ becomes the Original Budget.

01 Drawings
Registered in Project Documents, revision controlled. Linked to the takeoff package.
02 Takeoff with KAI
Scales checked, quantities suggested. Your estimator accepts what is right. Badged KAI.
03 BoQ
Live-linked to the takeoff. Cost codes from your company library. Locations and categories on every item.
04 Estimate
Rates from your price lists. Markup, prelims and margin layered over the BoQ.
05 Subbie tendering
Scopes go out with the measured quantities. Subbies respond by secure link, no login. KAI levels the quotes.
06 Proposal

Branded proposal pulls quoted items from the BoQ. Version control and e-sign. Tracked client view.
07 Budget
On award, the BoQ becomes the Original Budget. Every quantity still traces to its sheet.
08 Contracts, claims and Xero
Subbie pricing becomes subcontract commitments. Claims and payment schedules run off the same lines, straight into Xero.

Standalone AI takeoff vs Takeoff with KAI

Why Connected AI Beats Another Takeoff Licence

Standalone AI takeoff saves your estimator hours. Takeoff with KAI on a connected platform protects the margin on the whole project.

Live lines, not a spreadsheet

Standalone AI takeoff exports to Excel. KAI's accepted quantities are live takeoff lines that sync into the BoQ and estimate.

Your cost codes from line one

No re-coding for the budget. One library flows from takeoff to BoQ to estimate to Budget Register to Xero.

No per-seat AI bill

Standalone AI takeoff products are priced per user, per month, and some also need your own AI subscription on top. KAI is included in one flat subscription with unlimited users.

Built for ANZ builders

Metric drawings, AU and NZ cost structures, Xero, and a local team that migrates you across. Not a US product with an ANZ price list.

Takeoff to subcontract to claim

The quantity you measured becomes the scope you tender, the commitment you award and the claim you assess. Standalone takeoff stops at the estimate.

An audit trail on every quantity

Every number is a shape on a sheet at a pinned revision, accepted by a named person. Ready for your QS, your client's PQS and any dispute.

Accuracy gated on real drawings

Code measures, AI reads. Each element type is switched on only after it passes an accuracy bar against human takeoffs on real ANZ drawings.

Revisions that update the estimate

KAI re-measures only what changed and creates a new estimate version with the dollar change. Coming next.

“Everything is included. No modules, no add-ons, no getting stung every time we need one more thing.”

Matt Hornby, Construction Manager, Matland Group

Always shipping

What KAI Measures Today, and What Comes Next

Live today: legend symbol counts, named room areas and scale checks on vector PDF drawings. Next: lengths and walls by type, areas with deductions, volumes, revision change sets, schedule reconciliation queries and scanned sheets.

The full platform

Takeoff with KAI Runs on One Connected Platform

Commercial

From bid to final account

Programme

Linked to procurement and cost

Delivery

Site execution and HSEQ

Correspondence

Notices that go from your email

Documents

Drawings, registers, transmittals

See Takeoff with KAI on your drawings.

$27,500/year. Flat. Unlimited users. Unlimited projects. KAI included.

Bring a drawing set you're pricing now. We'll run KAI on it live, check the scales, accept the quantities and show them land in the BoQ, estimate and budget.

Book a KAI takeoff demo