The tender set
Hundreds of drawings, a specification that contradicts them in places, and a bill of quantities to check against both, all before the same deadline.
AI for general contractors: bids, takeoff and revisions
AI for a general contractor's preconstruction means four workflows, not a chatbot: the tender set read on arrival, the drawings measured, subcontractor quotes levelled against your scope, and each revision compared with the last, with every quantity and gap tied to the sheet, clause or quote line it came from. Your estimators validate; nothing reaches a bid without their sign-off. In production at OCBM, a general contractor, with three agents and every quantity traceable to a drawing.
Where a general contractor loses time before a bid
The work is not hard to describe. It is the volume, the deadline and the fact that every check is done by hand.
The quotes
A dozen quotations per trade, each in its own format, with exclusions in the small print. Whatever gets missed becomes a change order later.
The revisions
New drawing issues land after pricing has started, and someone has to find what moved and what it does to the quantities.
The checks
A quantity measured by hand has to be checked again by hand, because nobody can see which sheet and which revision it came from.
What Mirage runs for general contractors
One platform, several workflows. Most general contractors start with takeoff on a live bid and add the next workflow once the first one runs.
Takeoff and estimating
Complete drawing sets measured, quantities structured around your trades and cost codes, each tied to its drawing, detail and revision.
Tender review
Drawings, specifications, bills of quantities and tender documents read together, with missing scope and inconsistencies flagged before you submit.
Subcontractor bid leveling
Quotations read in the format they arrive in, every line mapped to your scope, exclusions and quantity mismatches flagged line by line.
Drawing revisions
Two drawing sets compared in full: what was added, removed or modified, and what it changes in the quantities.
What each workflow reads, what it returns, who signs off
The four preconstruction workflows, as deployed for a general contractor. Every output carries its source; a named person on your team accepts it before it is used.
| Workflow | Reads | Returns | Your team keeps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tender review | Drawings, specifications, bill of quantities, instructions to bidders, addenda | Scope gaps and contradictions, each pointing to the clause and the sheet that disagree; a summary against your bid/no-bid criteria | The bid/no-bid call, the clarifications you send |
| Takeoff | PDF, DWG and IFC sets, scanned or vector, with the specifications | Quantities by trade and cost code, each tied to its sheet, detail and revision, with a confidence flag where the set is unclear | Checking flagged lines, assumptions the drawings leave open, pricing |
| Bid leveling | Subcontractor quotations in any format, your scope of work | Every quote line mapped to your scope; exclusions, missing scope and quantity mismatches flagged line by line | Follow-up with subcontractors, the award |
| Revisions | Two issues of the same drawing set, addenda | What was added, removed or modified, where, and what it changes in the quantities | What the change does to the price, whether to qualify the bid |
Output lands in Excel, in the import format of your estimating system or in your cost database. Mirage keeps no material catalogue or labour-unit database: it feeds yours.
In production at OCBM
OCBM is a Moroccan general contractor that prices its bids from its own drawings.
3
Agents in production
100%
Of quantities traceable to a source drawing
“Mirage has helped us make our preconstruction workflows faster and more structured while keeping our teams in control of the final output. The platform is becoming a useful operational layer for how we review quantities, documents and project information.”
- Before
- Before every bid, OCBM's estimators read the drawings, measured quantities and priced the work by hand.
- Deployment
- Quantity takeoff first, on OCBM's own formwork and structural drawings. Then bid pricing into quantity schedules, then a consistency check across drawing revisions, DCE and CCTP.
- Now
- Estimators validate instead of measuring. Every quantity is reviewable against its source, and nothing reaches a bid without an engineer signing it off.
Every result can be checked against its source.
A quantity your team cannot verify is a quantity nobody will use. Each result Mirage returns carries the reference it came from, and your estimators and engineers review it against the original before it reaches a bid, a cost system or a project workflow.
- Quantity
- The drawing, sheet, element and revision it was measured on.
- Conflict
- The specification clause and the drawing that disagree.
- Revision
- The two sets compared, and each element added, removed or modified.
- Bid line
- The quotation line and the scope item it is compared with.
- Sign-off
- The person who validated it before it was used.
Questions from general contractors
It reads the tender set, measures quantities from the drawings, levels subcontractor quotations against your scope and compares drawing revisions, keeping every result tied to the drawing, clause or quote line it came from. Your estimators review and validate before anything reaches a bid.
No. Estimators validate instead of measuring, and the results land in the spreadsheets and systems they already use. The judgment call and the award stay with your team.
The one that fills the most estimator hours on every bid and whose output can be checked against a source: for most general contractors that is quantity takeoff, with revision comparison and subcontractor bid leveling as the natural second and third, because they reuse the same quantities and the same drawings. Pricing, bid/no-bid and the award stay with people.
It can read each quotation in the format it arrives in, map every line to your scope and flag exclusions, missing scope and quantity mismatches on the line they affect. Following up with the subcontractors and deciding the award stay with your estimators.
A proof of concept on your own documents one week after the first meeting, then the first workflow in production in 4 to 6 weeks. The pilot is fixed-price and you can stop after it.
Project management and document control platforms such as Procore and Autodesk Construction Cloud, estimating spreadsheets, ERP and accounting systems such as SAP, Oracle and Sage, and scheduling software. Where a documented interface exists, Mirage connects to it; where none exists, our engineers build the connector during deployment. Nothing is migrated.
Bring us the operation you need to improve.
Mirage will map the workflow, identify what can be automated and define the fastest path to production.
Start with a written plan
Tell us where your team loses time. We send back which workflows are worth automating, what a deployment involves on your systems and the shortest path to production. No commitment.