Bidding · Session 7
Assemblies, the Cost Book & AI Import
Assemblies — your estimating templates
An assembly bundles everything a scope item takes — materials, shop labor, vendor services, field labor — into one reusable unit. Manage them at Settings → Assemblies: name, category, unit, waste factor, then add components with Add Material, Add Vendor Service, Add Shop Operation, and Add Field Operation.
Seven starter assemblies ship with your account — guardrails (steel picket and cable), a standard steel stair, bollards, W-shape structural steel, embed plates, and grating platforms — edit them to your numbers or build your own.
The cost book
Your cost book (under the Pay bucket) holds material and labor rates. On any bid, From cost book searches it and drops the rate straight into a line item.
Getting your data in — the AI importers
- Settings → Cost Book → Import quote — upload a supplier's PDF quote, and the AI extracts the line items into your cost book for review. Works today for electrical, lumber & trusses, plumbing, and steel quotes.
- Settings → Cost Book → Import assembly — bring a structured estimating workbook in sheet by sheet with column mapping.
- Settings → Import — the wizard reads a whole estimating workbook or customer roster, proposes what maps where, and you approve section by section.
Try it yourself
- Open Settings → Assemblies and duplicate a starter assembly with your own rates.
- Add a cost-book rate to a bid using From cost book.
- Run one supplier PDF through Import quote and review what it extracted.
Key takeaways
- Assemblies turn repeat scope into one-click priced items.
- The cost book is the single source for rates; bids pull from it.
- Three importers get spreadsheets and supplier quotes in — with a privacy gate on the AI path.
Practice this in the live demo
A fully loaded sample company — every module open, no sign-up, nothing you can break.
Open the live demo