The problem
Pricing an extension or loft conversion from the architect's drawings starts with measuring: floor areas, wall lengths, openings, roof area. Done with a scale rule or a PDF viewer, that's about 3 hours a job before a single price goes in. At 4 jobs priced a month it's 12 hours, and a missed wall or a misread scale goes straight into a fixed price.
What the AI does
Kreo is takeoff software that works on PDF and CAD drawings in the browser. On the Pro plan, Auto Measure finds the areas and elements on a drawing and groups them by type in a few minutes, AI takeoff covers rooms, walls, doors and windows, and auto counting finds every matching symbol. Kreo says its AI tools work on residential floor plans only. You check each measurement against the drawing, add what it misses, then export the quantities to Excel and price as usual.
A worked example
A builder in Reading with a team of four prices about 4 extensions and loft conversions a month from architects' PDF drawings. The owner does all the pricing, so one Kreo Pro seat ($166£125€149A$240C$235 a month, billed as $1,995£1,500€1,785A$2,880C$2,820 a year excluding VAT) covers it.
Before
About 3 hours measuring each set of drawings, 12 hours a month
After
About 1 hour a job checking and finishing the AI measurements, 4 hours a month
What it's worth
About $532£400€476A$768C$752 a month of the owner's time saved, against $166£125€149A$240C$235 for one Kreo Pro seat. That is 8 hours a month (2 hours saved on each of 4 jobs) at an assumed $67£50€60A$96C$94 an hour. Pro is sold yearly only, so it's a $1,995£1,500€1,785A$2,880C$2,820 commitment; with just one job a month to price, it would cost more than it saves.
How to set it up
- Start Kreo's 7-day free trial on Pro and upload the drawings for a job you've already priced by hand.
- Check the scale on each sheet against one dimension you know, then run Auto Measure and compare its areas, wall lengths and counts with your own figures.
- Group the measurements the way you price, such as brickwork, blockwork, floors, roof and openings, so the export lines up with your pricing sheet.
- Measure by hand whatever the AI doesn't cover, such as elevations, sections and structural details.
- Export to Excel, price as usual, and keep the marked-up drawing with the quote so you can show what was measured.
- Only buy the yearly plan once the trial job's quantities match yours closely enough to trust.
What goes wrong
- Pro is billed yearly only: $1,995£1,500€1,785A$2,880C$2,820 a year per user excluding VAT, with no monthly option. Essential, at $106£80€95A$154C$150 a month billed yearly, has the measuring tools but no AI.
- Kreo describes its AI as working on residential floor plans only. Elevations, sections, engineer's drawings and poor scans still need measuring by hand.
- A wrong scale makes every number wrong. Check one known dimension on every sheet before trusting the rest.
- Quantities aren't a price. Read the specification and the engineer's details yourself; drawings don't show everything that costs money.