AI concrete estimating software for concrete subcontractors, general contractors and civil builders. Volumes come off the structural sections rather than plan area, rebar is weighed from the bar schedules, and formwork is measured as square feet of contact area with the reuse assumption stated.
A concrete estimate has three quantities, and only one of them is obvious. Cubic yards of concrete are easy to picture and comparatively easy to measure. Reinforcement and formwork are neither, and between them they usually carry more cost than the concrete itself. That is why so many concrete bids are lost on paper long before anything is poured: the yardage was right and the formwork was carried as a percentage.
BidcoreAI measures all three from the structural drawings. Volumes come from the sections and details — footing sizes, slab thicknesses, wall dimensions, column schedules — not from plan area with an assumed depth. Reinforcement is calculated from the bar schedules by bar size and length, giving a real tonnage rather than a pounds-per-cubic-yard rule of thumb that varies by a factor of three between a slab on grade and a shear wall. Formwork is measured as square feet of contact area, element by element, with the reuse count carried as an explicit assumption rather than hidden inside a unit rate.
Placement is priced by method and crew, because a pour reached by pump costs differently to one reached by crane or buggy, and a mat pour and a wall lift do not share a productivity rate. Finishing is priced against what the specification actually calls for — a burnished floor with a tight flatness class is not a broom finish with a different word in front of it.
The result is an estimate that survives a scope conversation. When a general contractor asks why your number differs from the one next to it, you can show cubic yards by element, tonnage by bar size, contact area by form type and the reuse count you assumed — and find out in five minutes whether the gap is a scope difference or a pricing one.
Measured from the structural set: plans, sections, details, column and bar schedules.
Everything below the slab, measured from the sections rather than the foundation plan alone.
On grade and elevated, separated by thickness because thickness drives both volume and finishing crew.
Walls, columns and beams by section and lift height, which is what sets the forming cost.
Weighed from the bar schedules by size and length — never derived as a ratio of concrete volume.
Square feet of contact area by element type, with the reuse count recorded as an assumption.
Priced by pour method and finish class, because both change the crew and the productivity rate.
Built around the three quantities and the two schedules that drive a concrete bid.
Footings, slabs, walls and columns detected across the structural set and proposed as measured quantities for review.
Thickness and depth taken from the sections and details, so a stepped footing or a thickened edge is not averaged away.
Bar schedules read by size, length and count, with laps and bends included, returning tonnage by bar size.
SFCA measured per element with form type and reuse count carried as explicit, editable assumptions.
Crew-based productivity by pour type — mat, wall lift, elevated deck — rather than one blended rate for all concrete.
Pump, crane time, buggies, vibrators and power trowels priced as their own lines instead of buried in a unit rate.
Over-pour allowance applied per element type and shown as applied, because a footing and a slab do not waste alike.
Quantities grouped by pour, lift and phase, which is what makes the estimate usable as a plan rather than a total.
A re-issued structural set is compared against the last one, so a slab thickness change shows up instead of hiding.
Different strengths, admixtures and aggregate specifications priced separately against your supplier pricing.
Quantity sheets and priced estimates to Excel or CSV, with sheet references on every line.
A proposal drafted from the priced estimate with inclusions, exclusions and allowances carried across.
Output organised to current CSI MasterFormat sections and mapped to your own cost codes on request.
Foundations and structure for every building type — plus the civil work that surrounds them.
Structural set in, priced concrete package out.
Mostly it changes what you can prove when the number is challenged.
Contact area measured element by element replaces the percentage-of-pour habit — the single most common reason a concrete bid is 15% out in either direction.
Tonnage by bar size is what a fabricator quotes against. A pounds-per-yard rule of thumb is not, and it is wrong in both directions depending on the element.
Measuring depth from the sections catches thickened edges, drop panels and stepped footings that plan-area estimating averages into nothing.
Crew-based rates by pour type mean a job full of small wall lifts is not priced as though it were one big slab.
When the structural set is re-issued, revision comparison shows the elements that changed rather than sending you back to the beginning.
Reuse counts, over-pour allowances and finish classes are stated in the basis of estimate, so a scope argument stays about scope.
Because the three quantities that decide a concrete bid are each measured on their own terms.
Formwork is measured, not factored, with reuse recorded as an assumption you can test rather than a number buried in a rate.
Bar and column schedules are extracted and reconciled against the plans, which is where most reinforcement errors originate.
Mix designs, admixtures and reinforcement priced against your actual supplier quotes rather than a national average.
Quantities organised by pour and lift, so the estimate doubles as the start of a placement plan.
No workstation licence. A superintendent can open the marked-up set on an iPad in a trailer.
When four bids land in one week, concrete estimating services run in this same platform.
When the structural set arrives on Monday and the bid is due Thursday, the tool is not the constraint. Estimators working in this same platform will measure the volumes, weigh the reinforcement, measure the formwork and price the package — returning an Excel estimate, a marked-up structural set and a written basis of estimate.
One platform, one cost database, one set of drawings — whichever scope you are pricing today.
Bring a structural set you have bid. Compare the formwork contact area and the rebar tonnage against what you carried.
