CONSTRUCTION INTELLIGENCE / ELECTRICAL
Electrical takeoff, extracted from the plan set
Send us an electrical set from a live bid. Mirage agents return device counts, conduit runs, homeruns and panel loads, with every quantity traced back to the sheet it came from. We return it within a week, and you keep the output.
Takeoff agents in production at OCBM and John Cockerill.
THE REALITY
Electrical takeoff means counting every device on every sheet, then tracing each homerun back to its panel. When the architect moves a wall, the homeruns get counted again, while the bid clock runs.
WHAT MIRAGE DOES
Reads the set the way an electrical estimator reads it
Reads the sheets together, not symbol by symbol
The agents read power plans, lighting plans, one-line diagrams and panel schedules together, then resolve what each symbol means in context. A duplex receptacle on a power plan carries a different circuit assignment than the same symbol on a furniture plan, and the surrounding sheets decide. Scanned sheets, vector PDFs and DWG go through the same pass, with no pre-tagging and no template setup.
Every quantity carries its source
Each line names the sheet, the detail and the schedule it came from. Where two sources disagree, such as a luminaire schedule and the plan count, the line comes back flagged instead of picking one.
Exports for the estimating system you already run
Structured export to Excel or CSV, laid out for import into Accubid, McCormick, ConEst or your own cost database. You keep your NECA labor units, your assemblies, your pricing and your historical job cost data. Mirage replaces the counting in front of them.
WHAT IT COUNTS
Counts what you actually bid
- Devices
- Receptacles, switches, data drops, junction boxes and disconnects, by type and by circuit.
- Conduit and wire
- Runs measured by segment, sized against the one-line, with fill checked against the conductor count.
- Homeruns
- Traced from each device back to its panel, with the run length and the destination circuit named.
- Panel schedules
- Loads extracted per circuit, totalled per panel, reconciled against the feeder sizing on the one-line diagram.
- Luminaire schedules
- Fixture types and counts pulled from the schedule, then checked against the actual count on the lighting plans.
- Feeders and service
- Sizes read off the one-line and cross-referenced against panel loads.
Homeruns are the part manual takeoff loses the most time to, and the part that gets counted again every time the architect moves a wall.
THE OUTPUT
Two lines flagged before they become change orders
An illustrative example of the takeoff format, not client data: seven lines from an electrical set, two of them flagged at bid rather than found at rough-in.
| Item | Qty | Unit | Sheet | Circuit / Ref | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receptacle, duplex, 20A | 184 | EA | E-201 | Panel LP-2 | None |
| Receptacle, GFCI, 20A | 31 | EA | E-201 | Panel LP-2 | None |
| EMT, 3/4" | 4,820 | LF | E-201, E-202 | None | None |
| Homerun, 2#12 + 1#12G, 3/4" EMT↳ The circuit is tagged "LP-?" at grid F-7. Bid to the wrong panel, the feeder is undersized and the correction happens in the field. | 62 | LF | E-202 | Panel not identified | Tag incomplete |
| Luminaire, Type A, 2x4 LED↳ The schedule says 112, the plans show 96. One of them is wrong, and whichever it is, someone eats the difference. | 96 | EA | E-301 | Schedule LT-1 | Count conflict |
| Feeder, 3#3/0 + 1#4G, 2" | 240 | LF | E-001 | MDP to LP-2 | None |
| Disconnect, 60A, NEMA 3R | 14 | EA | E-401 | None | None |
PROOF
Takeoff already running in production
Mirage has not published an electrical deployment yet. These are the takeoff and estimating deployments it has, on other trades.
OCBM
3 agents in production
100% of quantities traceable to a source drawing
0 quantities without a source reference
John Cockerill
80 to 90% less time spent on piping takeoff
10x faster fabrication bill of materials
3 engineering modules on one platform
COMPARISON
Against what you are probably evaluating
We publish this because you are going to build the table anyway. Where a competitor is better for your situation, that is in the table too.
| Mirage | Trimble Accubid | McCormick | ConEst IntelliBid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A takeoff layer in front of your estimating system | Estimating platform | Estimating platform | Estimating platform |
| Material database | None, feeds yours | 42,000+ items, 13,000 assemblies | 55,000+ items | 140,000+ items |
| Labor units | Yours, not ours | Built in | Based on NECA, PHCC and MCAA | Industry standard, preinstalled |
| On-screen takeoff | Included | LiveCount, linked both ways | Built in, with auto count | SureCount, a separate product |
| Homeruns | Traced to the panel, flagged when the tag is missing | Not stated on its product page | Auto Home Run, patented | Not stated on its product page |
| Published pricing | No, quoted after seeing your sets | No | No | No, quoted by edition and users |
Where they beat us
If you need a complete estimating platform with a mature item catalog and labor units maintained for you, Accubid, McCormick and IntelliBid do that and we do not. McCormick's Auto Home Run is patented, from a company that says it has spent 45+ years helping contractors. IntelliBid's database covers low voltage, datacom and solar items, which we do not maintain. If your sets are clean vector PDFs and you already own one of these, adding our layer on top may not be worth it.
Where we are the answer
Scanned, mixed-format or hand-marked sets. Industrial and infrastructure work where the assemblies are not standard commercial. Teams with years of tuned labor units in Accubid or McCormick who want the takeoff faster without migrating off the platform. Sets where the one-line, the panel schedule and the plans disagree, and someone needs to find out before the bid goes in.
Sources, checked 2026-09-28, re-read 2026-10-01
- Trimble Accubid Classic, product page
- Trimble Accubid Anywhere, product page
- McCormick Systems, estimating software
- McCormick Systems, Design Estimating Pro (Auto Home Run)
- ConEst, IntelliBid electrical estimating
See Accubid alternativesSee McCormick alternativesSee ConEst alternativesSee all comparisons
PRICING
What it costs
Pilot on one live bid
Fixed fee, scoped to sheet count and trade scope. You get the takeoff, the flagged conflicts, and a working session with the engineers who ran it.
Production deployment
Annual, scaled to bid volume and number of estimators. Includes the export mapped to the import format of your estimating system.
What moves the number
How many sheets, whether the set is vector or scanned, and which system the output has to be formatted for.
What we tell you on the first call
Whether your sets are a fit. Some are not. Heavily marked-up scans of hand-drafted as-builts are a bad candidate, and we will say so rather than sell you a pilot that fails.
Send us an electrical set from a live bid
Not a sample, not a sanitized demo file: a set you are actually bidding. We run it, return the takeoff with the flags within a week, and walk you through what the agents found and what they missed. The output is yours whether or not we work together.
How a deployment runs: Observe, Map, Build, Run, Expand. See the method
Prefer to talk it through first? Book a call
FAQ
Questions estimators ask
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