What If A Bot Could Do Your Preconstruction Work For You?

• Kevin Allen
automatebetter.ai


Manual material takeoffs are still the norm in most civil and structural workflows. But they’re slow… prone to error … and a bad use of engineering time. We built a process for a client recently that automates the whole process - starting from just a photo.

Here’s how it works

  • Send a drawing image to a Slack channel
  • OCR extracts the raw text
  • OpenAI filters and interprets the materials
  • Google Sheets captures a clean, structured list
  • Slack sends the results back instantly

It even includes specs where available — like beam types, rebar spacing, and concrete strength.

What we tested it on:

  • State DOT bridge drawings
  • Real plan sheets from public databases
  • Sketch-level detail and scanned images

The output?

Clean lists of precast components, UHPC overlays, girders, bars, specs — all parsed and structured in seconds.

And this isn’t BIM or CAD automation … it’s low-friction AI using tools most teams already have.

And it gives estimators, PMs, and engineers a faster starting point for early pricing and planning.

Curious what part of your workflow could be automated next? We’re building tools like this every day at AutomateBetter.ai … reach out and let’s chat about how we can automate some of your most time-consuming processes at hello@automatebetter.ai