Take-off is where estimators earn their keep, and where a lot of "AI estimating" claims fall apart. So let us be exact about what Chantro does with a drawing set and what it does not.
It reads quantities that are written on the sheet. Door and finish schedules, equipment schedules, fixture counts, labeled dimensions and tagged items. It does not measure unlabeled linework. If a wall has no length written on it, Chantro does not trace it with a virtual scale. Where it has to estimate a value, the row is marked as an estimate with low confidence, and you decide whether to import it.
What "reads" means here
Each sheet is rendered at high resolution and read in overlapping tiles. That matters because a door tag or a note in the corner of a large sheet is tiny, and reading the whole sheet at once misses it.
For every quantity it finds, Chantro keeps:
- the value and the item it belongs to
- the sheet number it came from
- a confidence chip, so you know which rows to look at first
Nothing goes into the estimate on its own. You get a review table first.
The flow, step by step
- On the Quantify step, open the Bill of Materials and choose "Read from drawings."
- Watch progress sheet by sheet. A large set can take several minutes, so plan for that.
- Review the table. Rows are editable and selectable. Untick what you do not want.
- Import. The rows land in your Bill of Materials with a "From drawing" badge.
- If you type over a quantity, it flips to manual, so the record shows a person set it.
What it reads and what it leaves to you
| Reads | Leaves to you |
|---|---|
| Scheduled items (doors, finishes, equipment) | Lengths and areas that are not written on the sheet |
| Labeled dimensions and counts | Measuring linework with a scale |
| Tagged and countable items | Judgment about means and methods |
| The sheet number for each value | Deciding what is in your scope |
If a quantity is not on the sheet in a way a person could read, any value Chantro estimates is marked as an estimate with low confidence, and nothing goes into the Bill of Materials until you tick it.
Formats
PDF and image drawings are readable. DXF is readable. Native .dwg is not. If you only have .dwg files, export them to PDF or DXF first.
When the set changes
Addenda are a fact of life. Upload the new revision and open "Drawing changes." Chantro shows what changed between the two revisions, with a rough dollar effect where your price history gives one, and you decide what to apply. You are never handed a silently updated estimate.
How we would use it
On something like the Southgate Medical Office, the finish and door schedules are exactly the kind of sheet that eats an estimator's morning. Let Chantro pull those, check the highest-risk rows, import them, then do your own take-off on the parts that depend on judgment: site work, framing layouts, anything the drawings show but do not label.
That is the honest split. The reading of schedules goes faster. The measuring and the thinking stay with you.
The same Quantify step also suggests crew, hours and equipment from your catalogs, and builds procedures from your own SOP library. When no SOP matches an activity, it says so and skips it rather than making up steps.
Cost and time
Reading drawings is heavy work. It uses credits, and the amount depends on how many sheets you read. Read the sheets you need, not the entire set by reflex. A big set takes minutes, not seconds.
The short version
Chantro is good at reading what the drafter already wrote down, and it shows its work: sheet, confidence, a review before import. For everything the drafter drew but never labeled, you are still the estimator.
