Commercial bids / DREKI FIELD NOTES
Bid Automation for Contractors: AI Reads, Math Does the Math, Your Estimator Signs
Where AI belongs in commercial bids and estimates, where it doesn't, and why your estimator should approve every number.
Bid packages keep getting bigger. Specs, drawings, addenda, RFQs, takeoffs. And it all lands on one or two people who are also running work.
When the hours run out, bids go out late, or they don't go out at all. Good jobs get passed on because nobody had time to bid them.
Everyone is now selling "AI estimating." Some of it will help. Some of it will hand you a number nobody can explain. Here's how I think about it.
Three different jobs
A bid has three kinds of work in it, and they need different tools.
1. Reading. Pulling the scope out of a stack of documents. Roof areas and systems. Paving areas, depths, and mix. Spec requirements buried on page 40 of an addendum. This is where AI is useful. It's good at reading a lot of paper fast and laying out what it found.
2. Math. Square feet, square yards, tons, line items, your rates. This should not be AI guesswork. It should be standard formulas. Same inputs, same number, every time. Math is math.
3. Judgment. What to bid, what to exclude, what risk to carry, what the GC or owner will take. This is your estimator's job. It stays that way.
The mistake is letting one tool blur all three. If AI is doing your quantities, you can't tell where a number came from. If nobody signs off, a wrong depth or a missed area goes out the door with your name on it.
What good bid automation looks like
- Every item shows its source. If it says a roof area is a certain size, it points to the sheet it came from.
- The math is checkable. Your estimator can see the formula and the inputs.
- A second pass looks for gaps. Missing items, and numbers that look off, get flagged before anything is priced.
- A person approves. Nothing gets priced, sent, or committed until your estimator signs off.
AI proposes. People approve.
Questions to ask any vendor
If someone pitches you AI estimating, ask them to show you where one quantity came from. Ask what formula produced it. Ask what happens when the plans and the spec disagree. And ask who approves the bid before it goes out. If the answers are vague, the tool is guessing.
Where I'm building
At Dreki Solutions, I'm building two tools on this idea for Midwest commercial contractors. Neither one is finished or for sale yet.
RoofBid AI is coming soon for commercial roofing estimators, in early access now. The goal is to sort the bid package, draft quantities and line items with sources shown, and leave approval with the estimator.
PaveOps AI is in development for paving contractors, estimating first. The goal is to move an RFQ from intake through scope, quantity check, and a checked estimate, with plain math and a person approving every number.
Both are being built with a small group of founding pilot contractors. Their feedback decides what gets built first. I'm not going to tell you what they'll save you, because nobody knows yet. That's the honest answer.
Dreki is veteran-owned and based in Michigan. You'd work directly with me.
Next step
If you bid commercial roofing or paving work in the Midwest and want a say in how these tools get built, let's talk. For RoofBid AI, see https://roofbid.dreki-solutions.ai. For either tool, email brett@dreki-solutions.com with "RoofBid AI" or "PaveOps AI" in the subject, or call (517) 215-7573. Tell me the kind of work you bid and how you estimate today. I'll tell you how early access works.